Saturday, June 19, 2010

Damaged (A Maggie O'Dell Novel) by Alex Kava

Product Description
New York Times bestselling author Alex Kava joins the Doubleday list with her best novel yet.
On Pensacola Beach, the Coast Guard prepares for a Category 5 hurricane that has entered the Gulf of Mexico. When the air crew patrols the waterways, they spot a huge fishing cooler about a mile offshore. Drug traffickers have been known to dump coolers with smuggled product to avoid detection and pay fishermen to retrieve them. But when the crew open this cooler, they’re shocked by what they find: body parts tightly wrapped in plastic.
Though she is putting herself in the projected path of the hurricane, Special Agent Maggie O’Dell is sent to investigate. Eventually, she’s able to trace the torso in the cooler back to a man who mysteriously disappeared weeks earlier after a hurricane hit Port St. Lucie, Florida. Only Port St. Lucie is on the Atlantic side. How did his body end up six hundred miles away in the Gulf of Mexico?
Cliffhanger chapters, behind-the-scenes forensic details, colorful characters, and satisfying twists have become the trademarks of Kava’s psychological thrillers. In Damaged, she ratchets up the suspense a notch by sending Maggie into the eye of an impending monster hurricane to track down a killer.


My Thoughts:
I couldn't put this book down! This was my first Alex Kava book and apparently the newest in a series of books about the FBI agent Maggie O'Dell, but it stood well on its own. At no point did I feel lost or that I'd missed something. Liz is a rescue swimmer trying to prove herself to her new team, and she pulls a cooler out of the ocean that is filled with human body parts. Platt is trying to figure out what is killing solders, O'Dell is trying to solve a murder mystery and all of Pensacola is having to prepare for a cat 5 hurricane.
This book has several twists and turns, you know pretty much through the whole book who the killer is but the big question is how they will be caught! I very much enjoyed the different story lines and how they are all woven together. The race to figure out the mystery before the storm hits makes the drama of the book even more intense. This may have been my first book by Kava but it definately won't be my last!

Overall I give this book a 5/5. It was a great read and I say go get it today, you won't be disappointed.
Disclosure: Thank you to Double Day for the free review copy. I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinion above is 100% mine.

3 comments:

  1. Good review and blog. Glad I checked out your "follow for a follow' post.
    Looking forward to reading more here.
    J Perry
    http://madameperryssalon.blogspot.com

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  2. Good to know. I haven't read this author, so I'll have to check her out now. I always enjoy finding a new author who has a back list.

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  3. Ohh - I like Kava and haven't read any of hers for a few years. This sounds good!

    I saw your follow request at Book Blog. Best wishes on your blog! Have fun.

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