Helpful Score: 1
I like Alex Kava's Maggie O'Dell series. I like the fact that the books are set at various locations around the country and NOT ones that are commonly used by other novelists. (This one is largely set in western Nebraska, for example.) I like the fact that the heroes while likeable have their flaws, and the bad guys have some redeeming social qualities not enough to actually be considered redeemable, mind you, but enough to provide some color to characters and organizations that many lesser writers would paint in black and white.
However, after reading a few (or listening to them read to me in audio book format), I find that "mystery" is a misnomer. I can usually determine who the culprit(s) is/are well before the end of the book, and any "surprise" is either in the "how" it is determined or because I missed out on additional members of what turned out to be a conspiracy.
Hotwire is no exception. Teenagers at a clandestine outdoor party in western Nebraska are electrocuted. School kids in Norfolk are sickened after eating their school lunch. WHAT is going on? Is there a connection? (Readers of this genre will, of course, anticipate that they MUST be, or they wouldn't be occurring in the same book!)
I treat the Maggie O'Dell series like popcorn. Enjoyable, but not filling. A quick snack, which I could certainly skip, but won't because I find it enjoyable.
RATING: 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.
However, after reading a few (or listening to them read to me in audio book format), I find that "mystery" is a misnomer. I can usually determine who the culprit(s) is/are well before the end of the book, and any "surprise" is either in the "how" it is determined or because I missed out on additional members of what turned out to be a conspiracy.
Hotwire is no exception. Teenagers at a clandestine outdoor party in western Nebraska are electrocuted. School kids in Norfolk are sickened after eating their school lunch. WHAT is going on? Is there a connection? (Readers of this genre will, of course, anticipate that they MUST be, or they wouldn't be occurring in the same book!)
I treat the Maggie O'Dell series like popcorn. Enjoyable, but not filling. A quick snack, which I could certainly skip, but won't because I find it enjoyable.
RATING: 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.
Helpful Score: 1
Certainly not the best in the series. It takes Maggie away from her "group" by placing her alone in Nebraska and then the entire story wraps up neatly and horribly far-fetched with Nebraska and Washington DS food tainting being connected. It has its thrills, but watch out for the over the top crazy ending.
The author has a style of writing that I am not use to so it took me a bit to get use to it...once I figured out how the two story lines were coming together it was very interesting...it took a bit to get them together but I think that is just the way that this author writes his books. I will have to try another to see if I like this writing style or not.
Not one of her best in the series.....just okay for me! A little disappointing!
I am a fan of the Maggie O'Dell series, but this one didn't hit the mark for me as well as others have. It felt like the author ran out of time and just decided to wrap the ending up way too neatly and too fast.
okay, quick read, however, I didn't find it exciting or suspenseful but it was quick and easy to read in one day
FBI Profiler Maggie O'Dell is sent to Nebraska to look into cattle mutilations. But when she arrives she is pulled into the investigation of a teenage drug party. Several of the teens are in shock, two are dead. On the other side of the country, Colonel Benjamin Platt is looking into the sudden illness of several school children. Is it food poisoning? The stomach flu? When another group of school children suddenly become ill, Ben must find what is causing an illness that may be fatal.
Alex Kava has given us two different mysteries. Both stories were fast-paced and held my interest. But, once again, Maggie O'Dell does something during the investigation that would get any other FBI agent fired. I don't understand why the author writes these situations into the series. It makes me want to throw the book against the wall.
I kept waiting for the two mysteries to somehow be part of one big conspiracy. That didn't happen, but I still enjoyed the individual stories. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
Alex Kava has given us two different mysteries. Both stories were fast-paced and held my interest. But, once again, Maggie O'Dell does something during the investigation that would get any other FBI agent fired. I don't understand why the author writes these situations into the series. It makes me want to throw the book against the wall.
I kept waiting for the two mysteries to somehow be part of one big conspiracy. That didn't happen, but I still enjoyed the individual stories. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
