Book info

• Title A Perfect Evil
• Author Alex Kava
• Year 2000
• Genres Thriller, Suspense, Mystery

On July 17, a convicted serial killer, Ronald Jeffreys was executed for three heinous murders. He went to his grave with a terrible truth no one would listen to. Three months later another body is found killed in the same style as Jeffrey's victims. Sheriff Nick Morelli knows he isn't equipped to handle the killer who is terrorizing his small Nebraska community. He's grateful when the FBI sends one of their best criminal profilers, special agent Maggie O'Dell. Maggie quickly recognizes this is someone who has killed before. When another victim is found dead and a third kidnapped, Nick and Maggie realize they're running out of time. And the terrible truth becomes clear. Ronal Jeffreys may have been convicted of crimes he didn't commit.

Review

A while back, I was keen on starting new book series’ all the time - what joy to get to the end of a book and know that if you enjoyed it, you could dive right back into the world with the sequel. However, at the moment I’m not feeling quite on that same page, I’m more about the standalone work, dip in, dip out, move on.

That being said, the end of this book is designed solely to get you hooked on reading the next one. There’s a kidnapping/murder mystery at the heart of the novel, and two believable, courageous and mostly likeable protagonists to try and unravel what’s been going on and who’s behind it. I quite liked the twists and turns although it felt a bit weird that we knew all along who it was and that is who it turned out to be. Also, the fact that Timmy was kidnapped was not even slightly a shock, I don’t know if it was meant to be.

The relationship between our two heroes does feel a bit accelerated at times, but equally, these are two people going through extreme circumstances and it’s been demonstrated plenty of times that throwing two people together can cause fireworks like that. And then we get to the end, where there are now two unresolved cases and whilst there’s a satisfying ending to the mystery, there’s still a lot more story to be told.

Rating: 3 / 5