The Man Who Cast Two Shadows

Kathleen Mallory #2

by Carol O'Connell

At the heart of The Man Who Cast Two Shadows is NYPD Sergeant Kathleen Mallory, a wild child whose intelligence is matched only by the ferocity with which she pursues her own vision of right and wrong. She now is faced with a case that strikes close to home - a young woman is found dead only a few blocks away, her skull and hands crushed, her neck snapped, and a label in her jacket which reads "Kathleen Mallory".

Nothing can prepare Sergeant Mallory for what she finds in her investigation - a cradle in a closet; a concerto filled with silences and creams; a cat that dances without warning; and three men, each with a great deal to hide and a great deal to lose . . .

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Detective, Suspense

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Born in 1947, Carol O'Connell studied at the California Institute or Arts/Chouinard and the Arizona State University. She lives in New York City.

Series:
* Kathleen Mallory

Reviews

[Phrynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book in this series about Kathleen Mallory, a child on the streets who was adopted by Inspector Louis Markovitz and his wife, and who has grown up into an exceedingly intelligent young woman. She has followed her adoptive father into the police force where she shows some very special abilities.

To be truthful Mallory is not actually a likable character. She has very little empathy and makes no attempt to understand other people's feelings. However it is fun to read about someone so incredibly smart and something must appeal to people since all the men in the book seem to be a little bit in love with her, or at least always willing to do as she asks.

There is a lot of action and regular police work but there is also a mystical side to the story which I am not sure about yet. I need to read book three now to see how deep we actually go into this. Charles did irritate me with his creation of a dead woman.

Nevertheless this was a very entertaining read and I look forward to #3 Killing Critics

[Valleri · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first started reading this I felt it wasn't my kind of book. For some reason I kept reading it and found there were parts I really, really liked. Mallory is definitely an intriguing character and the parts where she was doing police work were fascinating. There just was so much other STUFF that took away from the main story. There is not a doubt in my mind that there are a lot of people who loved reading the plot lines that wandered around but, unfortunately, I wasn't one of them.

Warning for animal lovers: The parts I disliked the most were the parts about the cat. I know. I know. It's just a story and these things didn't really happen to a real cat, but I still found it hard to read everything the cat went through, and didn't find them amusing. At all.

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathy Mallory, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

This second instalment in the Mallory series is a brilliant development of Mallory’s history and character. Carol O’Connell has created a wonderfully enigmatic, dark, often terrifying heroine and is developing and enriching the character with every book in the series. There are some chilling revelations about Mallory’s history here, and her present-day behaviour means that I would probably run away from her very fast, but she’s a wonderfully complex character whom I love to read about and always want to get to know better.

The story is good, involving a difficult murder case with some high-profile suspects and a dysfunctional family who bring their son to Kathy and Charles’s consultancy for investigation into apparent paranormal activity. It’s all well done with some vivid characters and sordid secrets, while Mallory’s unorthodox (and often illegal) methods are darkly entertaining.

I found one aspect of the story rather hard to accept (I won’t say more because of spoilers) but this is another fine book from O’Connell, who both revels in the genre and sometimes subverts it by blurring lines between good and bad and refusing always to provide a “just” resolution to each strand. It’s a great read and I can recommend it (and the whole series) very warmly.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The badly beaten and decomposed body of a tall blonde woman is found in a New York City park, and when a label inside her blazer states it belongs to Kathleen Mallory the entire NYPD seems to find out in minutes that Mallory is dead. It isn't till her erstwhile partner Riker actually sees the body that he can – with great relief – correct the ID – by which time the press has already gotten the news … The connection makes this personal for Mallory, and – suspension or no suspension (a separate entity from her bereavement leave of the first book), assignment or no assignment, she will be investigating this murder.

The actual victim becomes another character in the cast, as Mallory discovers an unfinished novel on her computer which seems to be her own thinly veiled story – a tale of seduction, pregnancy, and loss, terminating abruptly in midsentence with the words YOU LIAR typed over and over. Mallory is certain that whoever the other half of the victim's real-life affair was had to be the killer; from there it is a matter of determining which of a handful of suspects he is, and what the lie was.

There is a secondary storyline in which a boy whose IQ is off the charts is brought to Charles by his father and stepmother in hopes that a seemingly small but increasingly menacing mystery can be solved: objects have a tendency to fly through the air when the boy is around. His mother died; his first stepmother killed herself; stepmother #2 is growing hysterical with the situation, especially as some of the objects tend to fly toward her, and some of them are pointy. Charles, in his capacity as a genius who evaluates other emerging geniuses, is asked to look into this situation.

Once again, as in Mallory's Oracle, there is an element of magic to the story, an almost paranormal edge, only beginning with the possible telekinesis. It's uncomfortable here, because … is what's happening evidence that a character I like is losing his mind, or is it what it starts out to be, a wildly unique method of investigation? We'll never really know, I suppose. Poor bugger.

Mallory herself is an almost paranormal presence. She is repeatedly described as a sociopath, and this takes some getting used to: a sociopath on the side of the law. Conditioning makes me expect bloodshed and mayhem when I hear (or read) the word – which is not to say that Mallory blinks at either bloodshed or mayhem. However, her conditioning has trained her to distinguish the innocent from the guilty, and she knows – as schoolchildren know the state capitals, by rote – that one does not harm the innocent, annoying as they might be, and one ought not to harm the guilty either but merely apprehend them. The part of that she seems to like is that "ought not" is less rigid than "shalt not", which makes hunting and apprehending the guilty more her cup of tea.

The writing is graceful and smart. If Mallory remains something of a cipher, the characters who surround her are wonderful – everyone should have such a support system. (It might be heart-breaking in reality to see such love and care squandered on someone who shows nothing in return, but in fiction it's a good plot device.) The story is handled in a manner unique to O'Connell. All in all, it's the supporting cast and the writing which keep me coming back.

[Aisling · Rating 3 out of 5]

The very unlikeable Mallory is a great, and actually, likable character. The main protagonists all are. Some secondary characters were a little too overdone for me; it felt like watching an 80's tv drama. The plots were interesting but it was a very uneven read for me. Some days I loved it, other days I dragged myself through pages. I will pick up another O'Connell in a while.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder, twisted love - and a dancing cat

In this second of the Mallory series, Kathy continues to rampage through NYPD: this time she is drawn to a case involving the inhabitants of a city apartment block who she terrorises even as she solves her case. At the same time, her sideline with Charles Butler leads to her involvement with a dark and twisted family who have a tragic history... and, possibly, future.

O'Connell is one of the most original and macabre writers who takes the crime novel and turns it upside down and inside out. Her creation of Kathy Mallory, especially, is genius in all kinds of ways, and her cold, sociopathic, green-eyed 'heroine' is offset by a cast of characters who leap off the page.

This is another story which mixes up crime with a narrative full of dark wit, daring and an interest in the quasi-occult and theatrical. I'd previously dipped in an out of this series but am now reading it through from the start and can see how carefully O'Connell builds on what has gone before.

If you like your crime straightforward, easy and with clear lines between good and bad then this series may not be for you - but for something refreshingly deviant with a very twisted sense of humour and some heart-stopping emotional moments O'Connell is brilliant.

[Fara · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the third or fourth book in this series that I've read, and I have to say that I find myself more and more compelled by O'Connell's characters. There is as much mystery in who and what Mallory is - and how she affects the people around her - as there is in the murders that fascinate her. And with each book, there seems to be a growing sort of . . . other-natural? subtext as well, in the paranormal investigations that Charles and Mallory supposedly do.

Good mysteries, but different, not procedural so much as intuitive and thinky.

[Linda Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second Kathleen Mallory book is a character study revealed by those in her orbit. From the mistaken identity beginning to the poker table discussions to tap-dancing with a fellow dark traveler, we learn more about Mallory from Charles Butler, Slope, Riker who whisper to us what they think they know. But maybe not. O'Connell is letting us in on what she knows about Mallory, enticingly like a magic trick performed slowly. The crimes are the stage. Well done.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're the type of reader who prefers likable, touchy feely main characters, move away from this book (and the entire series). Kathy Mallory is not the character for you. Found living on the streets as a young child, she was taken in and raised by a police officer and his wife, both of whom soon realized that Mallory's sociopathic tendencies required special handling. Mallory does not form relationships like normal people. She doesn't bond; she doesn't chit chat; she doesn't smile; and she certainly doesn't laugh. She's like a hand grenade with a loose pin-- Handle With Care. A small portion of her past is revealed in The Man Who Cast Two Shadows, and although readers will be moved to feel compassion towards her, rest assured that Mallory herself will show none to anyone.

The plot is tight and suspenseful, dealing with the woman's death, Mallory's toying with a killer, and a boy who may have telekinetic powers. The setting of New York City could be declared one of the cast of characters. O'Connell shows a touch of poetry now and again in her prose, but the tone of her poetry is bleak. More of the story could be told from Mallory's point of view, and there are a few too many times when we're told about her behavior rather than seeing it for ourselves. All in all, Mallory is like a black hole at the very heart of this book, and if you can withstand her gravitational pull and resist the need for her to change, you are in for a treat involving one of the most fascinating characters in crime fiction.

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE MAN WHO CAST TWO SHADOWS - Ex
O'Connell, Carol - 2nd in series

A homicide report states that the woman lying on the autopsy table is none other than the mysterious "Kathy" who can bewitch the most complex computer system. But the real Kathy, now a detective in the Special Crimes Section, impersonates the corpse to catch the killer.

1995 Top Read - As much as I loved the first book in this series, I may actually like this one more. I am so intrigued by Mallory.

[Melliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. That was one kick-ass mystery. Intricate and convoluted, lots of red herrings, lots of character insights and psychology galore, but still exciting right down to the last page. She upped her game exponentially from the first book--I'm so glad there are a bunch more to read!

[Pisces51 · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE MAN WHO CAST TWO SHADOWS [1995] By Carol O’Connell
My Review Four Stars****

This novel was the second Mallory book, the sequel to O’Connell’s highly praised debut work MALLORY’s ORACLE which featured a damaged but dangerous female detective who happened to be a beautiful sociopath. The background of this police procedural-serial killer thriller published a quarter of a century ago is really pretty interesting. The new author originally sold the debut novel in Britain, and its successful launch in Europe did not escape the attention of Putnam here in the US. They pounced on it to the tune of $800,000 (to include the rights to this sequel, released in the UK as “THE MAN WHO LIED TO WOMEN”). I read the debut novel earlier this month and agreed that the hype and publicity the work enjoyed was largely deserved. However, it was my hope that in the second outing the main protagonist of Mallory would be less two-dimensional and that the author would flesh out the main character of Mallory.

The story begins with a case of mistaken identity, namely a dead body in Central Park identified by the first responding detective at the scene as that of Sergeant Mallory of the NYPD. This prompts Mallory to set herself up as bait by moving into the prestigious Coventry Arms, the apartment building that her three murder suspects call home. She is a whiz with computers and uses her talents to apply pressure to all three of her potential killers which is richly entertaining and often darkly amusing. Mallory also wastes no time is soliciting the assistance of her partner Charles in a truly fascinating manner. She is aware of Dutton’s impressive knowledge of magic and illusion. His cousin was Maximillian Candle, a renowned Magician whose specialty was creating the illusion of death in his magic shows of miraculous escapes reminiscent of Houdini. Charles was also knowledgeable about arguably the greatest magician who had ever lived, the legendary Malakhai who performed his act with the assistance of a dead woman. The elderly Malakhai had successfully created a three-dimensional presence of the wife and soul mate he had lost when she was but 19 years old. Mallory is curious and interested in whether such an experiment could be duplicated in order to obtain information from the murder victim [Amanda]. The “succubus experiments” are likely too far-fetched for readers who do not enjoy murder mysteries that travel down the streets of the supernatural.

To be fair, the author on the one hand deals scientifically with purported acts of telekinesis and debunks illusions that are designed to deceive the observer into being convinced of the existence of paranormal phenomena. Conversely, she introduces the reader to wildly unimaginable feats of the mind that feel grounded in the occult. The devoted Charles Dutton attempts to replicate the succubus experiment from the literature he remembered from Effrim’s “Think Tank” and his memories of the powerful and remarkable magician Malakhai.

“There’s an experiment with an Asian monk who created a succubus under lab conditions. I want that one. His profile fits the stigmatic. The succubus, in front of witnesses, was seen to bruise the man’s flesh.”

The title of the book in the US is derived from the murder victim’s “succubus” illusion manifesting the ability to cast a shadow on Charles’ wall.

Readers of the first novel will recall that Mallory initiated the creation of a PI partnership with her deceased father’s friend Charles Dutton (“Discrete Investigations”). Mallory had used the cover of the new partnership to track down her adoptive father’s killer while she was on forced leave. Mallory decides to keep the partnership in effect because she knows that the NYPD will re-assign her to Special Crimes and confine her activities to sitting in front of computers every day.

Charles possesses a genius IQ and after leaving the isolation of the “Think Tank” established himself as an Independent Consultant to evaluate unique talents of individuals whose gift(s) may have real-world applications. Early in the narrative Charles (and Mallory) are approached by Effrim Wilde, head of the” Think Tank”. Wilde would like to re-employ Charles, but his immediate goal is to engage Dutton’s interest in accepting the case of a young boy who purportedly uses telekinesis to terrify and endanger his current stepmother. Charles is dismissive of the boy’s alleged paranormal ability. Mallory, however, is hooked by the fact that the mother of the boy and his first step-mother are both decidedly dead, and now the present step-mother is terrified of the frequency of sharp objects flying in her direction at their home.

The author attacks another complex plot in this second book of the new series, a multi-layered murder mystery with a lot of bells and whistles. The narrative is consistently articulate, crisp, and compelling. The plot presents two separate murder mysteries with different victims and different suspects. It is inevitable that the two plots ultimately converge and dovetail into a dynamic and unexpected climax.

The reader is treated to two separate homicide cases, and in addition to doling out some fascinating bits of backstory about Mallory, this second novel gets the reader much better acquainted with the men in Mallory’s life who have watched her grow up and provide the underpinning that is the foundation of her support system.

Louis and Helen Markowitz, Mallory’s adoptive parents are both deceased, but she has refused to sell their house, the home they shared with her. Male figures who play prominently in the novel include Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Edward Slope, Detective Sergeant Riker, and Lieutenant Jack Coffey who replaced Markowitz as the Head of the “Special Crimes Section” of the NYPD. He now occupies Markowitz’s Office and is Mallory’s boss. There is also Markowitz’s close friend, neighbor, and Harvard educated attorney Robin Duffy who resides in the house next door to the vacant Markowitz place. Rabbi David Kaplan and his wife Anna also populate Mallory’s universe, and perhaps most prominently there is the sympathetic character of Charles Dutton, a bona fide genius with an identic memory and a heart that beats only for Mallory.

This second novel begins to feel like a recurring repertory cast of characters who are interesting in their own right and will be in a position to provide insights into Mallory through their eyes and past experiences with her which is augmented by the knowledge of her behaviors while growing up with Markowitz and his wife Helen.

Markowitz essentially leaves the task of mentoring Mallory to Charles Dutton, which puzzles Charles since he respects the other men Markowitz did not select. Markowitz also willed his “chair” at the 4-Man Weekly Poker Game to Duffy (which is often amusing). It also provides a venue for the men who know Mallory best to often voice their personal convictions about her.

O’Connell is prone to using descriptions of Mallory’s behavior to provide insight. This second installment, while doling out bits and pieces of backstory and describing what Mallory does in certain cases is certainly helping to flesh out the main character. That said, still not enough of the story is told from Mallory’s POV.

Overall, I really enjoyed the second installment of the series. It dispersed any lingering doubt I might have had about reading all of O’Connell’s Mallory novels.

[Deb Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot is interesting and suspenseful, the characters colorful. This series is a police procedural only in name only because the murder investigation team is being led by our protagonist, Sargent Kathleen Mallory, in ways that defy belief.

If you can get past detectives with decades of service and experience deferring to this young woman, you will likely enjoy the stories. I'm two books into the series and will likely read more titles yet. It is an interesting reading journey.

[Jamie Jonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing of Carol O'Connell is--and I'm sure will always be--exceptional.
This second installment of the Mallory series is spectacular enough that I finished it in three days, which is very unusual for me as a "meandery" kind of reader. As noted by others, the character of Kathy Mallory is such that a "cozy mystery" fan won't want to come anywhere near it--but for me the development of this cop who started as a street child/master thief is some of the best writing by far among today's often lackluster murder mystery purveyors. There are even quite a few moments when O'Connell's powers of description approach those of John Steinbeck, and that's high praise indeed.

My four-star rating here owes to the fact that for me the author was still getting her literary feet under her, and that some of the characters on the fringe of Mallory's frenetic orbit are drawn so cartoonishly that they momentarily affect the believability of the story. A very temporary problem, though, and not at all an indication that I wouldn't recommend this work to anyone with an appreciation of masterful character creation. I doubt, in fact, that I will give less than 5 stars to any of O'Connell's other work--but I guess we'll see. I will most definitely be reading everything she writes, regardless.

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the whole I liked it, but the author does get rather repetative with stressing home points about the main character within the same book. Honest, I got most of them the first time I read them. You really don't need to tell me that Mallory has cold green eyes every thirty pages or so. Still, a decent story and the main character is interesting. Definitely one of the influences for Lisbeth Salander.

[Anahi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a murder-mystery homage to Sir Walter Scott's "The Lady of the Lake." O'Connell ranks right up there with Paretsky, in my book!

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Bonnie Morse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have been a five star read had they not shot the cat. That was uncalled for, y'all.

[Pati Roberson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 2nd good Kathleen Mallory mystery.

[Marco Battipaglia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lettura leggera, scorrevole anche se a tratti confusionaria. Triller senza pretese. Bello il personaggio di Mallory

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Mallory book. Again, not the best in the series but still masterful writing.

[Anne, Unfinished Woman · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT

When Amanda Bosch is murdered, Lt Coffey reluctantly assigns Kathleen Mallory to the case, with specific instructions. Her research on the victim's computer leads her believe that someone in the building that Betty Hyde lives in is the killer. Hyde, a gossip columnist hired Bosch to do research for her. The killer had come to Bosch's apartment to clean obsessively after the murder, so her must have spent considerable time there. Someone who trained Bosch's cat, Nose, to dance on command, perhaps through fear. She finds only one missing name on the computer that is in the Roladex. She has the idea of putting herself in the Coventry Arms to trick the killer into showing himself. Given other information gleaned from her apartment, the man has to be over six feet; Mallory whittles the men in the building down to three that fit the profile. Judge Emery Heart is in line for an appointment to the Supreme Court, but her is a wife-beater, and possibly beat his mother to death. Eric Franz is supposedly blind; his wife was killed by a hit-and-run driver, with Eric looking on. Arthur, the doorman of the building saw the accident. Handsome Harry Kipling, a financial rep, is married to an ugly, but very wealthy heir, Angel. She has gotten him out of a number of scams and scandals and suspects him of an affair. Mallory hacks into the computer system of the building, that gives the residents daily schedules of events, etc. She sends incendiary messages to each of the suspects, whose wives may also see the notes.

At the same time that Mallory is investigating this case, the partnership of Mallory and Butler has taken on as clients the family of Robert and Sally Riccalo. They are experiencing psychokinesis, pencils and other objects flying around and objects falling off shelves. Even at the office of Mallory and Butler, things are moving. Justin, the son, appears to be frightened of the events. He is taken under Charles' care, being shown the magical tricks of his friends Max Candle and Malakhai, and all of their magic possessions in the basement.

In the end Mallory, with a strict schedule for getting the killer will find herself confronted by Harry Kipling, without her gun which has been stolen from the condo, only Candle's knife on the shelf. She calls for Charles to bring another gun from the office, and he is rushing to get to her. They will both be faced with the scary appearance of a sinister Justin, holding her gun, and she will overcome Harry, hogtying him before Justin can fire. Charles will get there and will start shooting an unloaded gun at Justin, who Mallory will also tackle. Sgt Riker and Martin will show up then. All has been recorded. Nose, shot during the altercation will survive.

In the process of her investigations, Mallory will reveal the corruption of Det Polanski, who watches the activities of the rich families in the building, will set some of them up, and them blackmail them. His corruption will be substantiated during the process.

Charles will find himself hallucinating the person of Louisa Candle who had composed Louisa's Concerto haunting piece used by Max during his shows. He uses her vision as a method of asking Amanda Bosch what happened to her. It is very creepy and alludes to the frustrations and mental issues of Charles for Mallory. The strange and cold personality of Mallory is continually evaluated by the various men in her life including the four who weekly play poker, a game from which Mallory was banned: Dr Edward Slope, Rabbi David Kaplan, Charles and Robin Duffy.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second in the series and the second I have read.

I now realize that there is a touch of the supernatural here. I didn't quite grasp it in the first novel. Kathleen Mallory's close friend, Charles Butler, with whom she has gone into a partnership in investigations, is a brilliant and odd character. He is in love with Mallory but knows he does not cut the figure he thinks she should have as a love partner. He is funny-looking and has funny habits. It's clear in any case that she values him, though.

Charles has an eidetic memory. Also known as photographic memory. There have been no cases in the real world of adults possessing such a memory, and certainly none as acute as Charles'. He uses his memory in this case to construct a "succubus" of a woman now dead, so he can talk to her and ask her questions. It's all very strange. Yet both Mallory and Butler contend that there is no such thing as magic or supernatural powers. This had me shaking my head.

The story in brief: a young woman jumps off a subway platform to her death. Mallory is close by but not close enough to save her when she realizes what she is doing. Meanwhile another young woman dies by the hand of some mysterious person in a park.

Mallory is determined to find out why the subway woman took her own life. Everything seemed to be going well for her until she learned something that changed her. But what? This is where Charles gets involved. He reads a manuscript the young woman had been working on, and discovers the parallels to the woman's own life.

There is much more to it and to Mallory's character. Mallory comes off as uncaring but sticking to her own sense of moral rights. In a way it reminds me of Dexter - who learned how to use his own compulsion to kill into a compulsion to kill only specific very bad guys. Not that Mallory is a killer -at least not yet, now as far as we know - but she behaves in a way that is often at odds with society's norms, but sticks to her own rules, limits.

I was disappointed by the supernatural aspects. Do we really need this? Some people obviously enjoy it. I will finish reading what books I have in this series and that will be the end of it for me. The books are well-written and intelligently plotted, so they do deserve the praise given them.

[Kenneth G · Rating 4 out of 5]

stunning character study of a relentless sociopath

This book was published in the late 1990s, so I’m obviously late to the game. But what a game! Mallory (don’t dare call her Katherine) is a broken, almost feral child who matures into a Sergeant on the NYPD. Her ferocity is well known by her associates and even her superiors don’t dare cross her unless they absolutely have to, and even then they approach the subject with great trepidation.
As this story opens, Mallory is on suspension while her shooting of a suspect is under investigation. So the Sherlockian Mallory teams up with her Watson, a Charles Butler, and start moonlighting as consultants. Their attention is drawn to a case of mistaken identity when it is reported that Mallory was strangled to death. The only evidence of note is a cashmere sweater with Mallory’s name on a label that the victim was wearing. From there, Mallory pieces together not only the crime scene, but where the victim was living before she was murdered.
Getting herself encamped in that apartment building, she quickly narrowed the suspect list down to four. Meanwhile Charles has a case of his own. Charles is trying to unravel the secret of a dysfunctional family a member of which is using telekinesis to drive one of the others into either madness or death. The father has already buried two wives who died under suspicious circumstances, is he about to bury a third?
These two storylines eventually converge at the end but not in any way anyone could predict. Not even Mallory?
O’Connell is brilliant in developing Mallory’s character. She is able to create an aura of dread whenever Mallory enters a scene without Mallory having to lift a finger. It is quite impressive storytelling. Along with that, in this volume, OConnell provides a little backstory to help explain why Mallory is, well, Mallory, and it is not for the faint of heart.
In short then, this is an incredible series and I don’t know how it escaped my attention all these years.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story begins with the report of Mallory’s death. Mallory has a personal investment in finding the misidentified young woman’s killer. She finagles a move into the building of her three prime suspects, then uses her honed computer skills to communicate her unsettling messages through the building’s bulletin board and email systems.

Concurrently, Mallory’s partner in an investigative firm, Charles Butler, is sorting out a teen with potential telekinetic skills whose mother and first stepmother have died suddenly. Stepmother number two is terrified. Mallory teamed up with Charles during her suspension for shooting a suspect in an earlier case.

Mallory is a unique, brilliant, determined, and yet solitary cop. The story reveals more of her history and character, but she is still a mystery. Her colleagues are devoted to her in spite of her idiosyncrasies. Recommended as a complex mystery with complicated characters.

Readalikes:
Margaret Maron’s Sigrid Harald mysteries; the mysteries of Minette Walters; Barry Eisler’s "Livia Lone novels; Bill Loehfelm’s Maureen Coughlin novels; S.J. Bolton’s Lacey Flint mysteries; Robert Ellis’s Lena Gamble thrillers; T. Parker Jefferson’s Merci Rayborn mysteries; Richard Castle’s Nikki Heat mysteries.

Pace: Fast-paced
Character: Complex; Flawed; Mysterious background
Storyline: Intricately plotted
Writing style: Compelling
Tone: Menacing; Suspenseful
Frame: NYC; Contemporary
Themes: Found family; Mysterious past; Abandoned children

Red flags/Trigger warning: hatred toward women; mental illness

[Sandra Jackson - Alawine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mallory adopts a cat. Since the cat loves Mallory I can't believe she is as bad as the men in her life make her out to be.

Charles is investigating a boy, Justin, who seems to be making objects fly through the air, Step-Mother #3 is terrified of him and his own Mother and Step-Mother #2 meet suspicious ends, but Charles refuses to believe the boy could be behind everything. In an effort to find out what Mallory sees in the boy Charles lies to Edward Slope and discovers that Mallory barely escaped being the victim of a snuff film when she was a child. And that Riker beat one of the men in the film to death, the other had been killed by FBI agents.

Mallory on the other hand is investigating the murder of a woman, that was reported to be her on the news. In an effort to help Mallory Charles reconstructs the woman from her book.

Mallory's plans for the killer go awry when Justin steals her gun. When she realizes her gun is missing she calls Charles and demands he bring her another gun. While Charles is rushing to her side she manages to get a confession from Amanda's killer and well as a confession from Justin by playing them against each other. Charles arrives in time to save Mallory's life and contrary to what Mallory thinks if the gun had been loaded he would have killed Justin for her.

The cat survives the shooting and seems to have a permanent home with Mallory.

[Ian Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Man Who Lied to Women” by Carol O’Connell (1995) First Edition

Overall Rating 5/10 – A poor balance of writing

Plot
Kathy Mallory, A New York cop, has to find out who killed Amanda, why Amanda (who doted on her unborn child) had an abortion and what the “lie” was that made her do it and led to her death.

Writing Style
Complicated and convoluted structure. Requires “focus” to maintain understanding. Some irritating uses of the word “for” (as in “for” he felt it too soon, “for” there were too many of them etc).

Point of View
Written in the 3rd Person / Past Tense (standard convention)

Critique
For me, there was way too much backstory. Keeping up with the characters was made difficult with the constant digression into their past. The convoluted writing style also made reading difficult and each time I picked up the book I had to re-read a fair amount to put the pictures back into place. The storyline was compelling (basically a murder mystery) and, as always (and we all expect it) there is a twist at the end. Unfortunately, I never discovered WHY Amanda terminated her baby OR what the great “Lie” was that the protagonist chased the whole way through. This is because there was no such revelation OR the writing was so difficult to follow I never realised it when I saw it. Either way, it goosed the novel completely. If it had been written differently in a more modern style I guess it would have been much better.

[Gillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Net als bij de eerste van deze reeks begon ik super enthousiast aan dit boek.
Het is zo eens wat anders dan de klassieke whodunit: karaktervolle personages die ook met de nodige diepgang worden uitgewerkt, een vrij complexe plot met 2 verhaallijnen (= op te lossen mysteries) naast mekaar en een ietwat aparte schrijfstijl.
Naar het einde verliest de auteur mij echter telkens weer. De complexe plot blijkt toch wat te complex waardoor het soms wat moeilijk te volgen is en waardoor je als lezer zeker niet zelf het mysterie 'mee kan oplossen'.
Ik heb ook telkens moeite om te 'geloven' in het personage van Kathy Mallory. Het is zeker een heel goede poging om een wat excentriek en origineel personage dat afwijkt van de klassieke detectives en rechercheurs vorm te geven, maar bij mij werkt het niet echt en voelt het altijd alsof er iets niet klopt.
Er is ook net iets te veel herhaling (de groene ogen, de lange rode vingernagels, de koude blik, ...) en hoe verder je in het boek komt hoe meer dat begint op te vallen en te irriteren.
Neemt niet weg dat dit toch een boek is dat de moeite van het lezen waard is en waar ik dus zeker en vast geen spijt van heb.
Misschien neem ik zelfs de volgende delen van de serie nog eens ter hand... Maar het zal wel niet voor onmiddellijk zijn.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this better than the first in the series.

Without giving away the plot I would say part of what I liked about it was the way it highlighted that the violence of misogyny happens on a spectrum. The suspects were less cartoonish and the plot was in general less ridiculous than the first book's, though I liked that the thread of illusionism continued in this book, as another "guilty" pleasure of mine, besides mystery novels, is magic (as in illusions).

Got to learn more about Mallory as a character. So far her development is promising and I am curious to see how the series progresses. Mallory and Charles both manage to be pretty kick-ass in this volume.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is the sequel to _Mallory’s Oracle_, following the adventures of Kathleen Mallory, gifted, highly intelligent policewoman with the psyche of a sociopath. Although it has some formulaic aspects, I really enjoy Mallory. It’s nice to have a female, tough, gifted detective whom no one can thwart or put down. And there are parts which are incredibly funny.

I have not yet figured out the title, but I did figure out the commonality between Mallory and the little boy Justin. I also really liked the cat.