The Jury Must Die

Kathleen Mallory #7

by Carol O'Connell

After bringing in a unanimous and very dubious acquittal in a murder case, only three of the original jurors remain alive. And someone, known only as the 'Reaper' because of the signature of a bloody scythe left on the crime scenes, is clearly determined to make a clean sweep of the terrified survivors. Detective Sgt. Riker, although on paid sick leave after a teenage psycopath pumped four bullets into his chest, has taken a keen but unofficial interest in the case. And his NYPD Special Crimes partner, Kathy Mallory, orphan, sociapath and computer genius, is resolute that there will be no more personal defects in her life, and determined to discover the identity of the killer before he, or she makes a complete mockery of justice.

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

310 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

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

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this series in only slightly interrupted sequence is strange, because it becomes very clear that while they are a series, the books are largely isolated from each other: what happens in one does not necessarily affect what happens in the next. A cat which figures prominently in The Man Who Cast Two Shadows and seems to have been adopted by Mallory is gone without trace or mention in the next book. Another case of unrequited love (besides Charles's, that is), disappears below the surface. A major fire in one book has little impact on the next, or those after. Long story short, the relationships – and, in fact, the characters' ages, as far as I can tell – remain static. Which detracts from an otherwise powerful and affecting book in Dead Famous.

Carol O'Connell is a past mistress of (to use a poker metaphor in keeping with the Tuesday games of Kathy's fan club) keeping her cards close to the vest, of anteing up in small increments until suddenly a stunning hand is revealed and she scoops up the pot. My brother plays cards like this: in a game (not poker) in which you're supposed to go down as quickly as possible with three of a kind, he likes to hang on to all of his cards, maintaining his poker face, risk getting caught with a handful of high-value cards, and go down all at once with a fan of matched cards, and one in the middle, and he's out before the rest of us know what hit us. This is so far the best example of O'Connell's poker face. There was a trial, we know – a murder trial with unshakeable evidence against the defendant. There was a Not Guilty verdict which shocked the nation. And now the jurors are being hunted and killed, one by one. Who was on the jury, who the defendant was, what the mystery is that Johanna Apollo carries around with her, and why – if there is a sane reason – the British-born shock jock Ian Zachary is playing the games he is playing with the remaining jurors' lives - - these are all questions left unanswered far past the point of ordinary plot suspense. I think with a great many writers that fact would have resulted in a wall-banger – there's a fine, fine line between suspense and frustration – but Carol O'Connell can pull it off. Her writing is compelling, and the need to know outweighs the less pleasant aspects of the wait.

Is the payoff worth it in the end? Yes and no. The ending is, really, the only one feasible within the Mallory universe, and there is an oomph to it that is gratifying. But personal matters for several characters do not work out as might be hoped … and part of the sadness that accompanies this for a long-term reader is the probability that – just as the rookie cop from the last book (whom I hoped would be a new recurring character) disappeared, and the cat "Nose" before him – nothing that happens in these pages will carry over into the books that follow.

The patterns each book follows become glaring after so many back to back. While I do still very much enjoy O'Connell's style and the characters, by this point it's hard not to eyeroll a little at the secrets kept by the characters from the reader, or at Mallory subverting authority again, or gosh there was some past occurrence five or fifteen or twenty years ago from which this story stems. Each book on its own is excellent. Taken sequentially, they lose something. So I guess my conclusion is: read these books, because they're very good – but don't ingest the series in a lump.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most excellent 5 star read! this one was fantastic, although Kathy needs to be a pinch more human

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book on goodreads. It's been sitting on my shelf so I decided to pull it out and see what it was about. This is my 1st book of the series so I don't know if reading the others prior would have helped or not. I can't decide if I enjoyed it or not, I'm torn. I really dislike Mallory's character but liked Riker and Johanna. There was a lot going on so you had to keep up. I don't think any of the characters in the book were playing with a full deck of cards so it was a bit hard to sympathize with any of them. I liked how we were kept guessing on where the book was going next and not predictable. It definitely wasn't your everything turns out perfect at the end of the book, and was upset with the murder suicide i was a sucker and hoped for a happy ending. Overall I was not bored reading it and thought the detail was there. it was interesting to see how everyone came together at the end as everything was spelled out like QA :)

[G.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro godibile, come gli altri della serie, con un assassino prevedibile, ma un finale che risolleva il tutto.

[briar ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love psychotic women.

[audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a problem for authors when they write really phenomenal books: sometimes, other books they write are simply good, and that can feel disappointing.

This is a decent installation of the Mallory series, which is good, but it's just not as good as others in the series, such as The Chalk Girl or Shell Game. The central mystery is good and chewy and makes you think about free speech, the FCC and social media. It has a fascinating and complex heroine.

And it also features a wounded and lovelorn Riker, which I'm not a fan of, and there's far too little Mallory. Everyone shows up like clockwork, which is nice, but... not great. But the other thing about authors who write really phenomenal books is that even good keeps you reading.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book very much. I see that it's part of a series featuring Detective Mallory, a very easy character to dislike. But this one centers more on her partner, Riker & a suspect/victim of an ongoing investigation. That suspect, Jo, is possibly why I like the book so well, she's interesting & complicated.
I'm also partial to Crazy Bitch.
It seems to me that the book contains such a big story for such a small book of 301 pages.
Characters are colorful, well defined for their own parts in the plot. There are multiple twists in the details & crimes. The police work is mostly in the background with the crimes & flow of the story taking precedent, making for an easy read. I would read another of the series even though Mallory is key to them because with this one the author impressed me in various ways.

[LJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

DEAD FAMOUS – Good+
Carol O’Connell – 7th Mallory
This story involves a seemingly unstoppable serial killer; a beautiful hunchback with tragedy in her past; a radio shock-jock who helps the killer find his victims; an extremely mean house cat; a gloomy veteran cop drinking himself into oblivion; and NYPD detective Kathy Mallory.

This is a tough book for me to rate. Mallory is a fascinating character and we learn even more about her past. But this is not at all the usual mystery. Mallory is almost a secondary player to other strange and, in their own ways, haunted characters. My reaction reminds me a bit of the way I felt about Lehane’s “Shelter Island,” in that I’m not certain I can say I loved the story, but I absolutely love her writing.

[J.D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seemed like a book that was trying too hard to break out of the norm of genre in order to separate itself but unfortunately this made it difficult to follow and thus simultaneously enjoy. There seemed to be way too many characters that were not easily distinctive coupled with copious amounts of unnecessary description that took time away from the story trying to be told. I was looking forward to reading this as the series has pretty good reviews however I can confidently say I have no desire to read any more in the Mallory series.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

By far my favorite book in the series! The story was fast paced and covered a lot. I liked seeing Riker’s recovery. I felt like Kathy was more likable in her way. I really enjoyed that there was no magic involved in this one too!

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want fame, and you want it fast - well, then you've got to kill somebody. That's the American way.

No-one, but no-one has a more twisted, devious mind than O'Connell. In a story where even a cat is psychologically traumatised, the plot is dense and complicated, and characters are flayed.

Here Riker takes centre stage, and his ordeals reveal new facets of the ever-fascinating Mallory. This isn't quite O'Connell at her best - sidelining Mallory ensures that - but yet again she delivers a crime novel that is fresh, baffling, and utterly unique.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathy Mallory is a detective with the New York City police, a unique woman who lives by her own rules and who has very little use for most of the people around her. One exception is her former partner, Riker, who has been on leave from the police after being shot 4 times by a young man. Riker is now running a crime scene cleaning service owned by his brother and showing no signs of interest in returning to his former post, in spite of the fact that Mallory keeps pushing him to complete the paperwork to hasten his return. Mallory is protective of Riker, and one of the crime scene cleaners that works for him arouses her suspicion. The woman is a hunchback, and it looks like Riker has more than a professional interest in her.

Mallory discovers that the woman is named Johanna Apollo and that she has misrepresented herself. In fact, she may have a connection to a gruesome series of murders of members of a jury from a controversial trial which took place in Chicago. The verdict had been so unpopular that three of them had been killed within the Chicago city limits. Another died while under FBI protection, and so on. Only three of them remained alive and at large. An out-of-control disk jockey by the name of Ian Zachary is running a contest to hunt the jury members down so that he can pinpoint their whereabouts on the air. And once he does so, the killer, known as "The Reaper", carries things to their unnatural end.

This seventh book in the series is unique in that it is told more from the point of view of Riker than of Mallory, a device which works very well. O'Connell exhibits a deft hand at creating interesting and complex characters, each carrying their own personal load of baggage. The hunchback Johanna Apollo is extremely clever and stands up well next to Mallory. There are several secondary characters who leap right off the page as well.

This strongly written work was diminished by a very artificial means of disposing of some of the characters quickly. It felt as if O'Connell just wanted to end the book, and set up a scene that was completely ludicrous in the way that it wrapped up some of the threads of the narrative. That was followed by a final scene that was sheer perfection.

O'Connell is a superb writer who has once again crafted a complex work peopled with characters of enormous range. Recommended.

[Pisces51 · Rating 4 out of 5]

DEAD FAMOUS [2003] MALLORY NOVEL BOOK 7 By Carol O’Connell
My Review 4.5 STARS****

Carol O’Connell was a “new-to-me” author when I read MALLORY’S ORACLE, the debut book which featured her sociopathic main protagonist the disturbed and dangerous female cop Kathy Mallory. It so happened in January of this year I made a New Year’s Resolution to try new authors with a specific focus on novels prominently featuring sociopathic main characters. I struck gold with O’Connell and her Mallory series is totally addictive. I have been totally impressed with her writing style, agility in juggling and brilliantly executing complex plot lines, and perhaps most of all the author’s uncanny ability to create colorful yet believable characters in her stories that feel real enough to step off the written page. The recurring cast in the book series is out of this world, and although arguably any one of the books could be enjoyed as a standalone reading experience, the Mallory novels in my opinion feel more like a soap opera format where you have Mallory and the people in her universe in each installment.

This installment is different from the other books in the series in that the central or pivotal character is Detective Sergeant Riker, Mallory’s friend, mentor, and partner in the Special Crimes Division of the NYPD. The narrative begins with Riker suffering from PTSD following an ambush in his own home by a ruthless teenage killer. The detective had been the main witness for the prosecution at the boy’s murder trial, and the man had been freed from the jaws of the judicial system by the always infuriating and often unjust “technicality”. The kid had shot Riker point blank with four (all potentially fatal) rounds to center mass. The barrel of the gun had been pressed against Riker’s eye socket for a coup de grace shot when the hammer “clicked” on an empty chamber. Riker miraculously lived through the ordeal after an extensive stay in ICU, but when the narrative unfolds, we find him on furlough from the police department and managing his brother Ned’s forensic cleaning service.

The underlying theme of the nature of our justice system in this country underscores the totality of this cleverly complex and multi-layered plot from the creative genius of O’Connell. Recurring character Riker has abandoned Mallory and is carefully avoiding all of his favorite hangouts to avoid running into any of his fellow policemen and friends. Moreover, he is just “going through the motions” of living, and emotionally crippled by the clutches of the residual panic disorder that followed him home along with the physically healed scars of the bullet wounds.

The enigmatic co-main character of a physically deformed Johanna Apollo is added to the mix when she is hired for work with the forensic cleaning service. Riker finds himself drawn to the warmth of her brown eyes and her shapely long legs. Jo, the “hunchback” is invisible to him. The maturing of the relationship between the mentally haunted Riker and the physically challenged and aesthetically marred Jo is the main force driving the narrative in my opinion.

The entire storyline is juxtaposed with the atmospheric backdrop and ambience of New York City as a living organism. This installment has a wonderfully complex plot that kept me guessing throughout the course of the novel. A seemingly unstoppable serial killer (self-anointed with the name “The Reaper”) is systematically slaughtering the jurors who sat on the panel of a controversial murder trial. The trial had taken place in Chicago, and the story has FBI Agents from both jurisdictions involved in the picture. The NYPD’s participation in the case due to killings in their city provides rich material for the author to render some entertaining “fights” over jurisdictional issues.

Ian Zachary, a nationally famous radio personality (and a sadistic narcissist), is hosting a call-in program five days a week with incentives and prizes designed to track down the location of the people who sat on the doomed jury panel, only three of the jurists still alive at the beginning of the book. The “gamemaster” Zach is encouraging the public to participate in a real-life hunt that culminates in the slashed throat of the hunted with the news media covering all of the action. It vaguely reminded me of the movie “The Running Man” (1987) where blood thirsty TV viewers had their eyes glued to the screen while the lone figure of (Arnold Schwarzenegger) attempted to escape with his life.

The author depicts a clear parallel between jury verdicts and violence. This connection applies to the prosecution’s star witness (Riker) ambushed in his own home by a teenage killer released on the famous “technicality” as well as a murderer walking free by the incredulous “Not Guilty” vote of 12 impaneled jurists. In the latter case, a mass slaughter is well underway when the reader first opens the book.

There are references to the recurring characters including Charles Butler, Dr. Edward Slope, Special Crimes boss Jack Coffey, the deceased Markowitz whose influence lives on, but Mallory clearly plays a pivotal yet supporting role in this memorable if not haunting installment of the series. In a very real sense she supplies the glue that ties many of the threads of the story line together.

The narrative pulls the reader in immediately and the momentum is steadily maintained due to the author’s remarkable and adroit talent for revealing a puzzle piece at a time. She peels the plot apart much like the layers of an onion and she is definitely in the same league as Julia Child “in the kitchen”. The reader inwardly gasps at each big reveal as the story moves along. This novel was released nearly two decades ago, but I won’t spoil it for any new readers by flipping a card over and sharing a single plot twist which are too numerous to count.

This is an unforgettable chapter in the Mallory series, in large part because of the enigmatic Johanna Apollo and her innumerable secrets that are gradually revealed to the reader. She is a fully fleshed out 3-D character, and the relationship between her and Riker is heartbreaking. Johanna has a cat in the novel, one who is suffering phantom pain from previous nerve damage to his spine from physical abuse. Jo’s relationship with the rescued cat serves to underscore the sheer depth of her empathy. I could have done without this component in the plot line but it is a part of the whole. The ending may not be satisfactory for many readers, albeit other fans of the series may have almost anticipated it and were less likely to feel a knot in their gut.

This novel may be one of the most adroitly executed complex plots in the whole series, albeit I have five more to go. The limited role of Mallory was not felt like a “missing part” to the extent that I had initially expected. Mallory was in and out of the narrative and she made every appearance count.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mallory is as sociopathic as usual... or is she.

spoiler alert
Mallory wavering in her resolve is an unusual sight, Mallory not compeletly understanding every nuance of Riker is even more unusual. The first third of the books was not as clearly explained as I would have expected and not enough of Charles in the book but this foray into Riker's personality and his recovery from a brutal shooting make this hard to put down. Dr Joanna Appollo -- a hunchback and a psychiatrist for the first time ever gets close to the man inside all of the pain and helps heal him enough to be able to get back to work.

[Raincat · Rating 1 out of 5]

To start on a positive note, the concept of the book is awesome. I think this could have been such a good book, if only there weren´t so many issues with it. Let me specify. For a better overview, I will be breaking it up on different sections:

Problems with the characters:

- First of all, there is way too many strong and atypical characters. This wouldn´t be a problem, but they just never got a true opportunity to shine, so they felt half baked and forced. If there was a little more pages, and we would get to see more of their uniqueness play out, it would help a lot for us to get immersed. It felt like there was a combination of a know-it-all kind of a narrator approach who has an insight into the characters minds, and a camera eye type one, that doesn´t. So a result ended up being a narrator who is supposed to tell us what is going on in the characters minds, but didn´t do so properly.

- Johana´s motivation didn´t make sense. If she acted reasonably, she could have ended the entire drama before it even started. I understand why she did what she did while being a part of the jury, why she chose to help the people she does etc. But there is a huge lack of motivation behind why didn´t she try to stop the entire drama when she could have done it, why she is so uncooperative with the police etc, so exactly the things that matter the most.

- Riker knew Johana is in danger, and that she is not in the radio station. He had his gun stolen. Despite that, he let his collegues go to a false place, endangering himself and Johana. If he acted reasonably, he would have rushed there with the entire police team and she wouldn´t have to die. If the author really wanted to kill her off, it would have been much more epic of her to do it while recording the interview.

- The killer´s identity was not a surprise. Zachary felt like a Disney villain, being evil in a very explicit ways to the extent that I wasn´t even surprised when it came to the reveal. I understand that he is a psychopath, however, psychopaths are often hiding it very well and are evil in a much more subtle ways, what is exactly what makes them so dangerous. So I think making him a less obvious and actually very charismatic villain would have made the book hit hard. He could totally be a radio show host covering the current cases, but do it in a much less obviously evil way. I´m sure he could have collected information on the remaining jury members as a mean of "checking on them and their wellbeing" or a simple report on the current situation without being loud about wanting them to die. And if his abuse of his sound tech was much more subtle, it would have been way more believable. He started of way too fast way too strong. The book describes her motivation being to become famous, but with this motivation, she wouldn´t have stayed with him for such cost, she would have simply found a different way to achieve her dream if her abuse was so sudden and strong from the start.

Problems with the story:

- There was way too many withheld information, that felt like they are being withheld for the sake of a shock later, or a very unclear wording was used, that (probably unintentionally) misled the reader into thinking that something happened when it didn´t. Also, there was so many lies and so much hiding things from each other, that it lost it´s weight.

- There was a lot of tell rather then show in the book, what is not a good thing to overuse. It would have been much better if the characters are shown in action that will make the reader come to the desired conclusion, rather then explicitly keep saying things and then support them by a tiny action at most. If the author chooses a tell rather then show approach, it needs a longer and deeper dive into the characters thoughts who is having them, rather then a short thought that tells the reader what they are supposed to know.

Despite all of this, I believe that writing a book is a very hard and time consuming work, and it is something that will get better with time and practice. This review is in no way intended to be mean or hateful, it is purely constructive criticism on things that could have made the book awesome if they were done differently for future reference. I´m looking forward to see some later work of the author and see their professional growth!

[Kenneth G · Rating 5 out of 5]

another brilliant addition to the canon

One of the best Mallory novels ever. but then I say that about all of the Mallory books. Don’t I?
This book was alternately published under the title: The jury must die, which gives you an indication of the general plot line.

As it happens a shock, jock radio disc jockey was acquitted of murder in a sensational trial, despite all of the evidence against him all 12 jurors voted not guilty Now One by one the jurors are being murdered, and the shock jock is hastening their demise by making a game out of it.

When this story opens, Riker is off the force with a disability. He had been shot four times and left for dead, the bullet wounds have healed, but the real damage is psychological. He says he can’t return to duty, but Mallory has other plants and she schemes to get him back in shape to rejoin the special crime unit.

Meanwhile, the murders continue until there are only two jurors left; one of whom is a psychiatrist. Riker is captivated by her and almost gives up his self destructive ways to win her favor. Even though you know it can’t last you almost hope that Riker finds what he was looking for all these years.

Mallory is still her menacing self, but she may have found an equal in the narcissistic sociopathic shock jock Who delights in torturing his producer and sound technician with extreme verbal abuse. he is also not above toying with Mallory as she tries to intimidate him into giving up information.

All in all at the end of the day, this is a wonderful story brilliantly written by O’Connell complete with the twists and turns that make the Mallory series such a pleasure to read

[Roberta Bianchessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

mi sono imbattuta in questa serie per caso, e ho avuto la fortuna di trovare ben 3 libri della serie.
La cura nel delineare i personaggi e le loro storie si intrecciano alla trama che vede un pericoloso serial killer, conosciuto come la Falce, alla ricerca dei giurati che hanno assolto un presentatore radiofonico. Uno a uno i giurati muoiono, nonostante la protezione dell'FBI.
Mallory si ritrova a seguire le orme di una dipendente dell'agenzia del fratello del suo partner, che in seguito all'aggressione subita è sospeso dal servizio, mentre affronta il ricordo troppo vivo della sua quasi morte.
Mallory è un'agente anticonformista, che quando fiuta una traccia non si ferma, armata del suo borsello da scassinatore ( retaggio della sua infanzia pre-adozione del poliziotto di cui ha scelto la strada, rivelandosi persino migliore) e delle sue manie di controllo, punta alla meta travolgendo amici e compagni.
Un'altra avventura azzeccatissima!

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

O'Connell creates fascinating characters, especially her "heroes" and minor characters. Villains tend to be a bit cartoonish. Johanna is the central character and is someone I'd like to know. Flawed but heroic in her own way. She is full of the heart that Mallory is awkwardly coming to know. Even Bunny, a minor character, stays with me.

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 3 out of 5]

These Mallory books are like opera plots: gloriously overcomplicated and wildly unrealistic, with an overheated emotional core. Really trashy and intense. This one is all grief, PTSD, and loss.

I’m a fan.

[Dick Ulmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very confusing book, at least in terms of the motivations of the serial killer, the radio personality, and Mallory's mentor Riker. I always enjoy the twisted mind of Carol O'Connell, however.

[Dinnl · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book suffered from the fact that I did not read it straight through, but put it down for a few days at a time. There was a lot to keep track of and I lost the thread a few times. Convoluted story but satisfyingly brought to a close. Too many psych/sociopaths perhaps.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not get into this book at all

[Sash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Killjoy! That murderer was too weak, wish it was the doctor murdering people.

[Carol Whetzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot was a bit hard to follow, but the ending made up for it.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of the same in this series, but still good.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bet I'm not the only one who thinks of Howard Stern when I picture shock-jock Ian Zachary. I doubt even Stern could get away with such broadcasts, ACLU or not.

[Ermanno Pesarin · Rating 3 out of 5]

P

[Rosa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't keep me engaged

[Giulia De Sanctis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un poliziesco ben scritto. Ma onestamente un po’ scontato. Finale comunque ben ricamato.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, I grieved with all of them