Police Detective Kathleen Mallory recognized the crime scene: victim hanging, hair in mouth, fire burning. It happened twenty-one years ago, when Mallory was a child. She also recognized the victim...
Crime School
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Mallory, the feral street urchin adopted by an understanding police detective, grew up to be a tough, formidable cop herself, and in the five earlier thrillers featuring her exploits, Carol O'Connell has dropped few clues about her early life. Crime School fills in the blanks with this complex tale about Mallory's efforts to solve the attempted murder of the knife-wielding prostitute who once sheltered and later betrayed her--a copycat crime nearly identical to another that occurred two decades ago. Fans of this series and its unique, complicated, steely protagonist will welcome O'Connell back to the bestseller lists after a protracted absence, while those who've been waiting for the emergence of a kinder, gentler Mallory, able to return the affections of those who love her--like Charles Butler, the quirky criminologist whose unrequited adoration of Mallory knows no bounds, and her partner, Riker, who's known her since his old friend Markowitz plucked her off the streets--may be disappointed. --Jane Adams
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
In this seventh gripping entry in O'Connell's popular Mallory series, Special Crimes investigator Kathy Mallory again prowls the mean streets of New York, digging deeper into her past even as she and her cohorts ferret out a grisly serial killer. Each novel in the series reveals a little more about the utterly improbable and compellingly mythic life story of its protagonist, a tough cop and computer ace raised by hookers on the streets of New York. In this installment, Mallory's particular mentor, the prostitute Sparrow, is found partially scalped, hanging in a room decorated with jars of dead flies an M.O. that recalls a murderer from decades ago. The grim murder plot is offset by a cast of cartoony characters, ranging from series regular Charles Butler, Mallory's gentle giant best friend, to the rookie yellow-haired detective Ronald Deluthe, aka Duck Boy. O'Connell illuminates these oddballs with her lightly whimsical prose: "When Charles closed his tired eyes, he saw a tiny thief who ran with whores and lived by guile, surviving on animal instinct to get through the night an altogether admirable child." The side puzzle, a bibliomystery involving a series of pulp Westerns that obsessed Mallory as a girl, almost steals the show when it is solved. This novel is gritty, streetwise, funny and sure to bring in more fans for the still-enigmatic Mallory.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I wonder if I'm not a masochist. I hated this ... from the first book and while other readers gave up on her after a couple of books, I kept plodding away. As despicable as I found the main character, the writing had a powerful spell over me as I found myself involved in Mallory's perverted and quirky world. STONE ANGEL was a turning point, and this book continues the revelations started in the earlier book.
Part of what makes me continue reading the series is the hope that there is some spark of humanity in the woman, and there are indeed times that it looks like there is one there, but then there's the feeling that the character has coldly manipulated those around her to believe there's something that isn't there.
If you are to tackle this series, you should start from the beginning, MALLORY'S ORACLE, and be prepared for a long arduous journey into the character's psyche. There is a feeling of development in this book, but there's also frustration because the development is slow in coming. And yet I feel now that there is something coming up in the series that will reward me for continuing my relationship with Mallory.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By K. Edwards
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Like all of Carol O'Connell's books, "Crime School" is extremely well-written. Mallory, the main character, is a female detective and a sociopath - and all of the other characters are just as complex and fascinating as this one. Moving and thrilling, you really won't want to put it down! I could not reccomend it more highly! Fans of Patricia Cornwell, PD James, and Ruth Rendell (and anyone who loves a great mystery) will definitely want to check out Carol O'Connell!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By "lynkfri13"
Format:Hardcover
*~*~*~*~*
*
Mallory (don't call her "Kathy" if you want to live), is a unique detective hero. She's an NYPD "Special Crimes" Detective, who makes her own rules, takes no hostages, and can make you believe she'd kill for her own sense of justice.
*
Mallory (don't call her "Kathy" if you want to live), is a unique detective hero. She's an NYPD "Special Crimes" Detective, who makes her own rules, takes no hostages, and can make you believe she'd kill for her own sense of justice.
~ * ~ Mallory was taken in at age 10 ?? by an NYPD cop, who found her as a tough street kid, apparently a "throwaway". In earlier novels she is eerily without the type of "consicence" we recognize though we can sympathize with her ruthless pursuit of justice, especially in avenging her foster father's death.
In the novel, "Stone Angel", we learned a little about how she came to live on the New York streets.
In this story we learn more about her life on the streets, when a prostitute is found hanged at an arson scene. Riker, Mallory
s partner, a friend of Mallory's father, recognizes the victim as a woman who once gave sporadic shelter and comfort to Mallory as a child.
Mallory has a score to settle with the victim, but she is no less driven to find the killer, terrorizing firefighters and rookie detectives,and walking right over supervising officers's command.
This entry was wonderful for the haunting, yet strangely compelling back story of that illuminates the child Kathy's quest for a sense "home" and "comfort" with the prostitutes, drug dealers, and theives on the streets.
Supporting cast Detective Riker, and genius consultant Charles Butler are written very well, and their dedication to a strange blend of love, healthy fear, and protectiveness of Mallory is just wonderful.
I recommend "Stone Angel" as a companion to the story, together, they offer a wonderful portrait of our herione.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Vague characters in a predictable police drama
What a waste of time and money! I bought this book per a bookseller's recommendations and don't understand what the hype is all about! Read more
Published on Mar 24 2004
1.0 out of 5 stars
I don't get it...
Maybe I've read a different book than other reviewers, but this book is just plain awful! The cliches are waist deep, the characters are about as deep as a puddle, and the writing... Read more
Published on Mar 11 2004
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's time for there to be some movement now.
I really enjoyed reading Crime School, but this is the last Mallory novel I think I'm going to be able to read without her showing some signs of personal growth. Read more
Published on Nov 24 2003 by frumiousb
5.0 out of 5 stars
A little psychology with your mystery, hmmm...?
I love O'Connell's ability to characterize! Some of the other reviewers seem a bit frustrated with this book. Read more
Published on July 5 2003 by K. L Sadler
4.0 out of 5 stars
I'd Pay My Own Money...
...and bring my own cold drink and popcorn to see a catfight between Mallory and Eve Dallas.
There is a fascinating synchronicity between Carol O'Connell's Kathleen Mallory and... Read more
Published on July 1 2003 by Michael Weber
5.0 out of 5 stars
Look a little closer...
I have heard that all children are sociopaths, with the worrisome question being why do some stay sociopaths into adulthood? O'Connell's series featuring Sgt. Read more
Published on Jun 5 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtakingly spellbinding.
A book that was hard to put down.
This tightly written novel takes the reader deep into the psychological history of the protagonist, police detective Kathy Mallory. Read more
Published on Mar 27 2003 by ch0pper
3.0 out of 5 stars
Once more to the well, old chum
This, the latest entry in the Mallory series, is also the weakest. Not that first time readers would notice -- O'Connell is so darn good at her craft that even less-than-her-best... Read more
Published on Mar 7 2003 by High Plain Drifter
4.0 out of 5 stars
Both engaging and frustrating.
It's engaging because "Crime School" has a mystery that kept me guessing right up until the end of the book. Read more
Published on Jan 4 2003 by Andrea K. Johnson
2.0 out of 5 stars
O'Connell snatched by aliens?
Either the author is now being impersonated by an alien pretender with weak plotting skills or her editor has been on a years-long vacation to Tierra del Fuego. Read more
Published on Dec 24 2002 by Book-ee
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