Reading a series out of order has its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, you go into the book with almost no expectations and no preconceived notions, and flashbacks to a previous entry in the series are news to you. On the minus side, while reading it you sometimes get the feeling that you are a little late to the party, that characters are talking about things that sound important but only make a little sense to you. Reading Alex Kava's Split Second, the second in her series about FBI Profiler Maggie O'Dell, includes all of the above.
It's a competent thriller, with engaging characters and a steady pace. The prose, although occasionally a bit too straightforward for its own good, is effective, and Kava keeps things rolling, with short chapter after short chapter. But throughout the book, one gets the feeling that one's missing something, mainly because Maggie and many of the characters in the book keep mentioning that the villain, a serial killer dubbed The Collector, is so evil and devious, yet the impression the writing actually gives the reader is that of a villain so over the top he is almost cartoonish, and, to be honest, not very original.
Still, this is an enjoyable thriller, with a couple of good twists, plenty of violence, and a likable central character. But it feels like part of a series, with dangling plot lines and a lot of foreshadowing, which doesn't make it an easy recommendation as a stand-alone novel.
Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2020.
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