A Necessary Evil by Alex Kava

Title: A Necessary Evil

Author: Alex Kava

Series: Maggie O’Dell (Book #5)

Next in series: Exposed

Previous in series: At the Stroke of Madness

My rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis: The one that got away...

FBI profiler, Maggie O'Dell is on the trail of two separate killers. One is leaving the decapitated heads of his victims all over the District and the other is killing priests in public. O’Dell has few leads when she receives an offer of assistance from a most unlikely source – her prime suspect in book one. Are these cases connected and will O’Dell accept the deal offered by a killer?

Review: Another enjoyable addition to the series. While the plot starts off quite slow and there seem to be too many perspectives, the threads soon begin coming together in an intriguing way and the story comes to an extremely satisfying conclusion – I even found myself chuckling with glee at the end.

I enjoy books where the reader can follow the clues and work things out but become frustrated when the hints are too obvious and the killer predictable. This was not the case here. The signs and evidence build up and while it is possible to figure out the killer’s identity, it takes some time and is not immediately clear.

As always, the character development is superb, especially Gwen Patterson’s and it was delighted to see the return of Nick Morelli, who has been suspiciously absent from the past few books. Maggie and Nick’s relationship is particularly engaging and it was great seeing their reunion and interaction.

In sum, an excellent thriller with all of my favorite elements: an intelligent plot, excellent characterization and no skimping on the gory bits. So beware as this book is not for the squeamish.