Fireproof

Fireproof
3.5 Stars

A serial arsonist is active in the D.C. area and Agent Maggie O'Dell and her partner, R. J. Tully, are hot on his trail. Unfortunately, a ratings hungry journalist also takes an interest in Maggie, and is not above using her personal and professional lives to further his career even if it exposes her to a killer.

The plot is fast paced, and the investigation into the arson cases and the possible serial killer connection keep the pages turning. That said, there isn't much in the way of character development and the book ends on a semi-cliffhanger.

The most common complaints about this series are 1) Maggie fails to learn and grow as an individual, and second, she never actually does any profiling even though she is an FBI show more profiler. Anyone expecting differently in this installment is bound to be disappointed. Maggie's personal life is stagnating and her professional skills are limited to chasing suspects, visiting the medical examiner and discussing the case with her colleagues.

Nevertheless, Kava's writing style is very engaging and she has a way of presenting characters that evokes an emotional response in the reader whether it is empathy or sympathy, fear or anger. Moreover, the details of the arson case and the question of whether the human fatalities were intended or accidental are very compelling.

Overall, fans of the series will enjoy this one, but readers in it for insight or growth in Maggie's character, or that of Tully, Julia, Ben or Gwen, will end up being frustrated. The open ending may also be an irritant for some, but for me the hook is baited and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the next book. show less

When a building bursts into flames on a cold winter night in D.C., investigators see a resemblance to a string of recent fires in the area. There is one difference, however: This one has a human casualty. The local team insists they're looking for a young white male, suffering from an uncontrollable impulse to act out his anger or sexual aggression. But when special agent Maggie O'Dell is called in, everything she sees leads her to believe that this is the work of a calculating and controlled criminal.

Jeffery Cole, a reporter looking for his big break, is also at the scene of the crime and decides to make Maggie part of his news piece, digging up aspects of her past that she would rather forget. Maggie's brother Patrick is also back in show more DC where he is working for a private firefighting company and is frequently called in as these fires continue to light up around the city.

As the acts of arson become more brazen, Maggie's professional and personal worlds begin to collide dangerously. The killer may be closer than she imagines.

My Thoughts:

This is installment no 10 in the Maggie O’Dell novels. I have read all of these in order as I do think it is best sometimes as you get to know the characters.

This book I can look at two ways. Firstly it is an average thriller with likeable cahracters. Not so many twists and turns but it does have a bit of a cliffhanger which may follow on in book 11 next year.

Or

It’s a Maggie O’Dell novel which has lost it sparkle. That reason being is that in the earlier novels there was Nick Morrelli who was really hot and was a potential love interest for Maggie. In the earlier books I couldn’t read them fast enough. Now with Nick not in the last few novels the books have lost that spark.

It would be really fun if Ms Kava could get the reader to reach the last page to the last sentence and have Nick turn up at maggie’s door and bring back that bit of magic that was making the books five stars rather than three.

This book can be read as a stand alone thriller but the earlier books are well worth searching out. show less

FBI Special Agent Maggie O'Dell has been called in to investigate a suspicious warehouse fire where the body of a young woman lies just outside the building and a man's skull is found inside the burned structure. The murders and the suspected arson do not seem to be related but Maggie cannot understand how such a strange coincidence could occur. While on scene, Maggie is approached by aggressive news reporter Jefferey Cole and his camera operator Samantha. Cole wants desperately to be noticed by the networks hoping to eventually anchor his own news program. Maggie brushes the reporter off and, to retaliate, Cole runs a two-part feature on Maggie forcing her into the unwanted limelight.

Maggie has been sharing her home with her recently show more found brother Patrick who, having graduated from college with a degree in fire science, has taken a job with a private fire-fighting company, a company who protects its clients from fires for a price. While Patrick is uncomfortable in this role that Maggie calls "nothing more than a hired mercenary" he has already ruffled feathers with his boss when he helped put out fires in buildings that were not clients of his company. Patrick's partner, Wes Harper, has no problem watching buildings burn and, in fact, loves the sight of the flames. As the arsonist escalates the number of fires and bodies Maggie begins to wonder why reporter Cole is always on site before the fire engines arrive. And what about fire lover Wes Harper? Maggie soon finds that she has become a target and she may lose everything before she solves the case.

I enjoy the Maggie O'Dell series very much. The stories are fast moving and suspenseful and the characters are likeable and believable. This would have been a 4 star read for me except that when the culprit was revealed at the end it seemed to be rushed and I was not at all satisfied with the guilty person's punishment. However, the last chapter is a great tease for the next book. show less

Maggie O’Dell is an FBI profiler who is trying to hide the fact that she’s still having issues from being shot in the head in a prior book when she is sent to the scene of a blazing warehouse. This isn’t the first, but one of a string of fires, although it’s the first one where a body is found. And it’s obvious the person didn’t die from the fire.

This is my first Alex Kava novel and it sucked me in right away not only from the FBI’s point of view as they work the case, but also of the perp, the homeless man who finds the body as well as a news crew that happened to get to the scene early. What I found was a very tight story with short chapters as the point of view switches to different people. This technique works very show more well for this story, giving well-rounded insights as well as keeping suspense alive as we don’t know until the end just who is setting the fires.

There are plenty of secondary characters that apparently are in many of the books. This book easily stands on its own by giving us more than “just enough” detail to explain the relationship Maggie has with each person. It left me wanting not only future books, but all of the prior ones to read about each of the things mentioned that helped shape Maggie into the person and situation she is in today.

I do have to say, though, that I found the reveal rather anti-climatic; at least from the FBI’s end of things. There is a cliffhanger, and I’m not complaining about that, but without giving too much away we know some of the who and the assumption on why but the method of confirmation left me wondering if this aspect is considered wrapped up or not.

Received free for review via Library Thing. show less

This was my third Maggie O'Dell book in the series, I don't know why I keep jumping around (so unlke me) but perhaps neither of the other two books grabbed me enough to make me commit to the series but I think this one did. I really like Maggie's characater (and her brother Patrick, I hope he sticks around). I'd pretty much figured the ending from the get-go but I give credit to Kava to throwing in some twists to make me question my theory as to who the arsonist/murder was and why, but ultimately I was right. Good entertaining read while stuck inside this winter.

I received this book from the Early Reviewer program.

I have read all of the Maggie O'Dell books and to be completely honest, I had not been all that impressed with the previous two installments. However this didn't stop me from wanting to give this book a try. And I am definitely glad that I did not give up on Maggie. This book was a million times better than the two before it. It was as if the old Maggie was back. And what a wonderful feeling that was!

In this particular book we get a lot more interaction between Patrick and Maggie and Maggie and Racine. Tully was also present, but played a much smaller role than before.

I think part of my complaint about the two previous books in this series was that Maggie seemed to play a show more supporting role rather than be the main character. But in this installment, she was back front and center.

While the arsonist was very predictable, there really wasn't any finality to it. He could be brought back. But what will definitely (or at least should be) the main focus of the 11th O'Dell book is the serial killer that was a continuous running sub-plot throughout this book. It will be very interesting to see where Ms. Kava takes that storyline, because the reader only gets such a small glimpse into him in this book.

Overall I would highly recommend this book. And while I definitely would tell people to start from the beginning of this series, I am pretty confident that you could start with this book and be hooked to the series where you would want to go back and read the previous books. I wouldn't necessarily say it could work as a standalone book, but I don't think that readers would be too terribly confused in the long run because there are enough references to previous books to fill in some gaps.

Very well done, Ms. Kava. It's great to see Maggie back in such a strong way. show less

This is the 10th book in the series and it's the 3rd one I have read. It also happens to be my favorite so far. Maggie has a lot on her mind, including the fact her brother is now living with her. She's still trying to recover from her near death experience in Nebraska (last book). She has been sent to try and help profile a recent rash of arson fires happening around Washington D.C. and so far she hasn't had much luck. Part of the problem is the ATF guy in charge seems to be stonewalling getting her the information she needs. On top of all this she attracts the attention of a pesky news reporter who decides to run a special on her in prime time TV.

Overall it was a pretty fast paced book and it was an enjoyable read. Kava gets a full 4 show more stars in this one because she was able to keep me off balance enough to never solidly decide on who dun it. That doesn't happen very often and she played the clues well I thought. Though the first clue the really through me off wasn't explained in this book, though I think the next one should be very interesting. show less