Victim by victim, the Route 66 serial killer is building an ever-growing network of ghoulish defiance: He leaves each fresh young kill on the highway, one hand chopped off, replaced with the hand bones of a previous victim, which in turn point to a new corpse. New York detective Kathy Mallory is on vacation, but she can't ignore this demented child murderer, especially as the death count climbs above 100. With the help of her partner, Riker, and police psychologist Charles Butler, she pursues the fiend. Carol O'Connell's ninth Mallory novel is in our view the most gripping and revealing.
… the new book is entirely accessible and self-contained. Read the others if you like, but start with this one. The author has pared and fine-tuned what was once a cumbersome style so that it is now as clean, lean and forceful as the series’s heroine, whose spooky beauty and daunting manner make an indelible impression wherever she goes.
— The New York Times
When the death toll of serial killer "Mack the Knife" exceeds 100 victims along historic Route 66 in America's heartland, Kathy Mallory, on vacation from her job with the NYPD, decides to give the locals a hand in bestseller O'Connell's exciting ninth thriller to feature the frosty, unapproachable detective (after 2004's Winter House). Aided by her longtime partner Riker and police psychologist Charles Butler, Mallory butts heads with just about everyone, pursuing the case as if it were hers and hers alone. She makes little progress until the killer starts leaving a new calling card, depositing fresh kills on the highway, all with one hand chopped off and replaced with the tiny hand bones of a previous victim pointing to a new grave. Stylish prose and a magnetic lead character more than compensate for an overly complicated plot that drags in spots, particularly in the second half. For readers who have never followed Mallory, this is as good a time as ever to get acquainted. Author tour. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
In Find Me, the ninth Kathy Mallory murder mystery, the corpse of an apparent suicide is found in the NYPD detective's apartment while she-armed with letters written by the father who abandoned her mother before she was born-is off on a quest to follow his beloved Route 66. On the way, she stumbles on a caravan of parents of missing little girls, led by an online psychologist with a checkered past. The FBI is also following the route and finding the graves of many of the children. Now, the serial killer is after the parents. The most interesting part of the novel is when information about Kathy's missing father is revealed. Alyssa Bresnahan expertly narrates this work. Though it is quite complicated and difficult to follow in the beginning, it redeems itself toward the end. Bresnahan's voice captures the emotions and personalities of the various characters very well. Recommended for public library mystery collections, especially where the Mallory series is popular.
—Ilka Gordon
Plenty of creepy goings-on along Route 66, including missing children and serial killing. Call her "Mallory." Just one name. It fits, for blonde, beautiful, brilliant as she is, she's tight-lipped and tough. All action and results. Sending her ace detective back onto the mean streets, O'Connell (Winter House, 2004, etc.) makes her even more intriguing than in any of the eight previous Mallory novels. From the get-go, she's on the run. In her own Upper West Side apartment, the police discover a corpse-Savannah Sirus, shot in the heart-and by her side, a cryptic note: "Love is the death of me." No way Mallory could be the perp-she's a legendary sleuth, envy of the department. But still, gun freak, control addict, computer whiz and orphan raised up wild in the urban jungle, she's no Joe Friday, but a truly strange bird. Another corpse turns up, mutilated in the Windy City "with one arm extended, pointing down the road to say: Follow Me." Mallory hits Route 66 and gets her kicks showing up FBI agents and other bumblers, all the while questing to connect the homicide dots. On the highway, she's drawn into the wake of a caravan of cars that soon figures into the labyrinthine plot. For they're a funeral procession of sorts, kinfolk of packs of missing kids. Stopping at roadside eateries, they flash photos of the disappeared and search for clues, and then it's on the road again, relentlessly seeking. "Relentless" has become synonymous with O'Connell's series. She gets all the genre stuff right: the cops' jaded inside jokes, the forensics jargon, the violence. Mainly, though, she's masterful at revealing the detective mind. Very smart murder fare complete with a rain-swept mood and psychologicalheat. Agent: Larry Kirshbaum/LJK Literary Management
Alyssa Bresnahan does a breathtaking job of making New York City Homicide Detective Kathie Mallory’s weird, cold borderline personality appealing, and of maintaining pace in this baroque plot. I’m not convinced the disparate parts of Mallory’s personality fit any realistic pathology, but she’s riveting to watch as she goes after a serial murderer of little girls who has notched 100 kills and is now raising the ante with a new MO. It’s unclear whether Mallory’s own father is a suspect, and oh, also, when she left New York, there was a dead woman in her apartment, plus, scores of parents of murder victims are in the mix, playing moving targets as the death toll mounts. Bresnahan keeps scores of characters vivid and distinct, and the story boiling. B.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
