Mallory's Oracle (A Mallory Novel Book 1)

Well, this 1995 thriller is a real breath of fresh air! This year my biggest goal is to back up and read a lot of books from “the old days” of the 1990s and early 2000s. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of new releases, but there is also plenty of gold ready to mine gathering dust in the library.For some reason I have shied away from this series, probably because the title of book 1 scared me off with it’s supernatural feel. But after having so many Goodreads friends sing its praises I finally just had to see for myself.This book focuses quite a bit on characterization. Kathleen Mallory, a former child street thief, rescued and adopted by a cop and now a cop herself, is an intriguing protagonist. Her forte is computers. She is a master hacker and her work has helped solve a number of cases. But Mallory has been sitting behind a desk; she is totally inexperienced in being a field investigator, something she is determined to do in order to find the murderer of her adopted father, the man who took her in and changed her life. Mallory also has an unconventional mindset shaped by her early years on her own. We get a large array of quirky characters most of which get their time in the spotlight. I loved the relationship between Mallory and Charles (with his eidetic memory) and Charles’ introduction to the Tuesday night poker game with the dead cop’s friends.The plot is intricate and mystifying, involving the serial killings of several old ladies (nice touch, don’t you think?) along with the policeman. During the course of the investigation we are exposed to some old-fashioned police work (remember pens, paper, bulletin boards, and brains?), some old time magic, and a creep-out séance scene. There is some great twisty action towards the end.The novel is a bit of a slow burner because of the attention to detail with regards to the cast and the New York City setting. Also the chapters are long—only eleven in this over 300-page book. These factors actually did not bother me that much as the author had me captivated. I did however get a little confused at times with the baffling plot and large number of characters, but the search button was there to save the day.I thought this was a very good start to what is now a 13-book series. I recommend Mallory’s Oracle to all crime fiction fans interested in something a little different. I look forward to book 2.

If you like Stieg Larsen's Lizbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc.), you'll also like the star of this book (and subsequent series), policewoman Kathleen Mallory. Both women are charming sociopaths with genius-level computer skills, a past as abused children, and very strict, if unconventional, moral codes. (Mallory in fact predates Salander; Mallory's Oracle, the first book in this series, was published in the mid-1990s.) Mallory was luckier than Salander, having been rescued from life as a street thief at age 12 by a kindly, middle-aged Jewish cop, Markowitz, and his wife, Helen, who adopted her. Their love, the first she had known, made Mallory in turn love them beyond measure. She put on a veneer of civilization for their sake and followed her foster father into police work when she grew up, but, like Salander, she has remained feral at heart. Markowitz's friends (veterans of a long-ongoing weekly poker game), who include a fellow policeman, a psychiatrist, a lawyer, and a rabbi, simultaneously adore Mallory and are terrified of her.I looked up this book, the first in the Mallory series, after reading and really liking  The Chalk Girl (A Mallory Novel) , a later book in the series. Not surprisingly, this fills in Mallory's character much more thoroughly than the later book does, and it also introduces the ongoing supporting characters, which is helpful. It has more humor than the later book, which I very much enjoyed, and perceptive psychological insights as well. The pace is page-turner brisk, not getting bogged down in subplots as the Larsen books (especially the last one) tended to do.O'Connell starts her series by having Mallory face what surely must be her worst-nightmare scenario: her beloved foster father, Markowitz, has been killed in the line of duty, by an assailant who also has murdered several rich, elderly women. (Helen Markowitz had died of natural causes several years previously.) I am still early in the book, so I don't know who the villain is yet, but given what I've learned about Mallory, that person is sure to get everything he or she has coming and then some!

This reader was immediately sucked into this fast paced murder mystery. There were many suspects presented in this serial killer storyline and the suspense was well plotted. However, the characters in this book were the real gems. They almost became flesh and blood before my eyes as the author painted such loving images of not altogether loveable characters. First off, Kathy Mallory is a tough as nails young cop trying to avenge her sort of adopted father's death - Markowitz - and oh by the way, she was a runaway who was "found" on the streets by him when she was around 11. Her terrible and traumatic background is hinted at but never revealed. Mallory is unconditionally loved by Markowitz and his wife and even though both of these characters are dead as we read this book, the reader can see them as relevant characters and we feel her loss. Then there's Markowitz' band of poker buddies (The Rabbi, the Lawyer and the Doctor) who are three dimensional characters as well. Last but not least, there's her two sidekicks of Charles Butler (a modern day Ichobod Crane figure) and another cop named Riker(a drunkard with redeeming qualities). Sure her characters are flawed, but they all have principals that they hold true to and all of them can be admired. Kudos to the author for her skill in presenting such intriguing characters that seem so real. As soon as I finished this book I immediately picked up the next one in this series (The Man Who Cast Two Shadows).

I've dipped in and out of this series but having read the latest entries decided it's really time to go back to the start and read the books in their correct order. In this first novel we're introduced to Kathy Mallory, one of the most intriguing characters in modern crime fiction: brilliant, beautiful and most probably sociopathic.O'Connell writes stories which are macabre and twisted, which themselves take the conventional crime genre and twists it into something bolder, cleverer and darker. There's often an aura or theme of showmanship or theatricality about the books: here mediums and a magician's widow add a dramatic edge.At the emotional heart, though, of the series is Mallory herself and the men who surround her: police colleagues, her dead adoptive father, the little enclave of protectors, and genius Charles Butler. If you like straightforward and conventional crime this might well not be for you - but for something edgily urban, horrific and yet darkly humorous, O'Connell is unique.

Tries so hard to be hard nosed but the end result is a series of caricature characters in impossibly convoluted settings. The protagonist is ludicrously overpowered and staggeringly unsympathetic but only just rises above the others. I managed about 1/3 before giving up.

After reading the tenth book in the series I had to come back and start from the beginning, and I'm so glad I did. I really l like the style of writing, and the characters are well written each with their own quirks. I'm looking forward to reading more of the series and getting to know the characters better.The only problem I've had with either of the books I've read in this series is that I have to put them down to go to work.It is very easy to throw yourself into the book and loose track of time. I advise not reading in the train as I nearly missed my stop a number of times.

Have to read this back to front as normal page turning does not work and its a real pain having to swipe left to go on.

I really like this series of books. It’s great to be able to get books I haven’t read before at such a good price.