Killing Critics

Many years have gone by since someone first recommended the Kathy Mallory series to me and I’ve finally read one. The ‘will you like it’ predictor on LibraryThing also thought I would. Granted, it was not the first in the series and I usually start at the beginning, but I’m not impressed and I doubt I will read another.

First of all there’s the problem of Mallory herself. No, let me switch to calling her Kathy because she seems to hate it so. I loved it when she would correct people and they’d go on calling her Kathy. She exposed her buttons so easily that I wouldn’t have been able to help pressing them either. For a person who’s supposed to have no emotions, she sure shows a lot of them; anger, frustration, hostility, show more pride, malicious glee. They all add up to a person who is not in the least likable, so once again the author has to make her so stunningly beautiful that men become her devoted slaves no matter how many times she attacks them, sets them up and screws them over.

This is pretty much all she does during the whole novel. Her police work is sloppy at best, non-existent at worst. Every new development is some brilliant leap or intuition and really shows up the author’s lack of procedural or detection knowledge. And of course Kathy’s an expert in everything, never loses an argument or a fight and stays thin to the point of emaciation and has incredible physical prowess despite never exercising or training.

Another thing the author seems to be clueless about is sociopathy. She must have heard about it somewhere in passing and thought how cool it would be to have a character who was a sociopath. All well and good. Then she made her a cop. A cop. Really. Exactly why would a soulless, emotionless, conscienceless person become a cop? How exactly would a person with no conscience function successfully as a law-enforcement official? Come to think of it, this shows how little the author knows about cops, too. There are so many better, more immediate ways of positioning oneself in society to both serve one’s ends and be in a position to manipulate and deceive. Being a cop is too dangerous and requires one to know right from wrong. Sociopaths do not like to put themselves at risk and have no empathy with society’s moral fabric, both requirements of law enforcement.

Which brings me back to the emotions thing. People in the book who supposedly know her best describe her as not having any, or at least having a pool so shallow as to not endanger even an ant with drowning. But then she shows remorse over having hurt someone and performs an apology gesture wrapped in destruction and violence. She also lovingly cleans Riker’s filth-encrusted apartment and spares his hideous plastic Jesus nightlight. Oy vey. On what planet? This last act was reasonably selfless and provided no leverage or edge for her to use against Riker and so in the context of sociopathy, makes no sense.

Then there’s the awkward phrasing that is so frequent that I laughed out loud several times over it. Here’s an example; “he smashed the phone into his pocket”. Smashed? What the hell was in there already, a brick? Another gem; “his white-gloved hand was a bloody rag of ripped cloth and flesh”. Ew. Clunky and ew. The whole thing is littered with stuff like this. Took me right of the story which was unfortunate because it was an interesting one despite involving fawning idiots and abrasive fools. What a waste. Wait, there was one bright spot – when Kathy’s childhood home burned down. Yeah, that was it. show less

Carol O'Connell is hard to put down. The pleasure of the read is enhanced by Putnam's fine binding. Mallory is saved from being a completely unbelievable characters by the fine cast of those around her, brought to life and well developed with great nuance by O'Connell. Her plotting is also excellent. I wonder how many other people out there in this vast and diverse country share my experience in reading the Mallory novels, that of great enjoyment with just a bit of cringing about that classic NYC, well egocentric view as if from the very center of the country, if not the universe.

Third in the series.

Our hero, the superhuman Kathy Mallory ("just Mallory"), is still on the hunt for the real killer of an artist and a dancer years before. Her dad had insisted that the wrong person was convicted for the murders, and now that he is dead, Mallory is determined to find the answer. Especially when persons involved in that murder are starting to be killed themselves.

As she pounds on doors and talks to people, she gets pushback from her superiors in the police force. It becomes clear to her that they do not want her to find out the answer. Hence there even comes a time when her life is threatened. But Mallory is afraid of nothing. Or at least she wants others to think so.

It's a long, complicated journey that ends with a show more significant change for Mallory. What will this mean in the next book, I ask? show less

This was a good mystery which didn't leave much food for thought. I had trouble believing that a detective sergeant could run the C of D's out of office. I had trouble believing that a man could mutilate corpses in that fashion and remain rational and functional. But there were many pleasures, especially seeing how the charismatic Mallory's friends (enablers?) continued to function as her support system.

In Killing Critics, by Carol O'Connell, New York City police detective Kathleen Mallory investigates the killing of an artist in a SoHo gallery and quickly discovers connections to another - more brutal - murder that her father, Louis Markowitz, investigated 12 years earlier. At that time, the case had not been solved to Markowitz's satisfaction. The case wasn't closed, but no more funding was available to investigate further. Mallory, along with her partner Riker and close friend Charles Butler, begin looking into both the new and the old case, discovering more connections that draw them further into the New York City art world.

Killing Critics is O'Connell's third book in the Mallory series, and it is her strongest so far. The reader show more is beginning to see chinks in Mallory's armor - she is starting to understand a little more about other people's emotions, and may be starting to feel her own emotions as well. I found the mystery interesting, and mid-1990s New York City is the dirty, grungy, pre-Giuliani New York of legend. The 12-year-old murder is fairly gruesome, and not for the faint of heart, but otherwise the violence is toned down. Overall, I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next in the series. show less

3rd in the Mallory series.

The first Mallory novel I read, Dead Famous, is the 7th in the series. I liked that book overall, thinking that the plotting and writing was very good. What bothered me, though, was the ending, and the characterization of Mallory herself. I have no trouble with a sociopath working for the NY Police Department. I do have trouble with improbability and omniscience in a plot and character. Mallory to me was not quite believable.

Granted that this is an earlier book, and one can assume that O’Connell learned as she went along. And I know that my problem is that this is an earlier book. But what I disliked about Dead Famous is here in spades in this book—too much omniscience on Mallory’s part and too much show more telling me on the author’s part that Mallory is a sociopath without actually showing me that this is so. Mallory is rude and inconsiderate, but only the author, by putting into the thoughts of other characters, says that she’s a sociopath. As a matter of fact, some of her behavior is in direct opposition to that characterization.

The characters don’t seem real, somehow. O’Connell is not among those who can write mystery or police procedural and have solid, believable characters as protagonists. Her main ones seem too one-dimensional. Yet she has fascinating criminals and minor players. Really odd.

The writing is good, but the tendency to get jumpy towards the end is quite noticeable. It’s as if O’Connell really doesn’t know how to wrap things up.

This book is good but not all that conducive to reading on in the series. show less

This book is one of a series of books by Carol O'Connell about a beautiful, damaged, maverick, and almost sociopathic detective named Kathleen Mallory (who insists on being called simply "Mallory"), and the people that love her despite her flaws: Charles, an intelligent, rich, but ugly family friend; Lou, the cop that takes her in; and Riker, her adopted father's partner. The relationships that develop between these characters as they solve crimes together are the focus of the series.

This story (the third in the series), has Mallory investigating a murder which has links to a case that her adoptive father, Lou, worked on years previously. Another interesting and touching story in the series. Carol O' Connell's writing is lyrical.