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Alex Kava's Maggie O'Dell series (minor spoilers maybe)

Juleeming

New Member
Maggie O'Dell is a FBI profiler with, naturally, a screwed up childhood, a terrible marriage, and a tendency to put herself into harm's way.

There are around 13 books in the series and they almost always involve Maggie trying to catch some crazy serial killer, and ending up getting caught by said killer and almost killed by said killer until she is rescued at the last moment.

The books in general are taught page turners, but as the series progresses Kava tries to find narrative space for the many different characters (rival cops, FBI partners, potential lovers) she has added over the years and it just gets confusing. And, over time, O'Dell is less involved in solving the crime. In the latest one I've read, Fireproof, she in fact doesn't solve anything at all and the story could have happened without her being in it. I'm awaiting to read its sequel, Stranded, but I don't have high hopes.

And, as a woman, I guess I do kind of object to the fact that, more often than not, Maggie finds herself knocked out/druggede/trapped by the killer she's pursuing and has to be rescued. This makes her look impulsive and reckless (which she is) incompetent (which she isn't) and too often a damsel in distress.
 
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