• A Perfect Evil

  • By: Alex Kava
  • Narrated by: Richard Rowan
  • Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (606 ratings)

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A Perfect Evil  By  cover art

A Perfect Evil

By: Alex Kava
Narrated by: Richard Rowan
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Publisher's summary

The brutal murders of three young boys paralyze the citizens of Platte City, Nebraska. What's worse is the grim realization that the man recently executed for the crimes was a copycat. When Sheriff Nick Morrelli is called to the scene of another grisly murder, it becomes clear that the real predator is still at large, waiting to kill again. Morrelli understands the urgency of the case terrorizing his community, but it's the experienced eye of FBI criminal profiler Maggie O'Dell that pinpoints the true nature of the evil behind the killings; a revelation made all the more horrific when Morrelli's own nephew goes missing.

Maggie understands something else: the killer is enjoying himself, relishing his ability to stay one step ahead of her, making this case more personal by the hour. Because out there, watching, is a killer with a heart of pure and perfect evil.

©2000 Alex Kava
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Critic reviews

"A well-crafted page-turner.' (Publishers Weekly)
"This debut thriller pumps the suspense....Maggie is gutsy and appealing as an FBI agent facing constant danger." (Library Journal)

What listeners say about A Perfect Evil

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Spoiler Alert

It reads like a porn movie -- two characters with no end of dysfunction find each other mutually attractive despite the grisly goings on around them. At one point O'Dell is thrown into a river, getting caught in fence posts and barbed wire. When she's fished out, do they take her to the hospital? NOOOO. The sheriff (the other dysfunctional character) takes her to his house, disrobes her and holds her while she sleeps. Puh-lease. In addition to that nonsense, we get treated to rationalization by the sheriff's sister, a reporter, about how she can behave with NO journalistic ethics because she has a son to support.

Never again, Alex. Fool me once, shame on you. It could have been a pretty good mystery, too.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

great story - where's the ending?

Very entertaining - but you should warn people that the crime will not be solved, nor the romance resolved - it's like a cheap way to get people to buy a sequel. I liked it - but I wouldn't have listened to all those hours, waiting anxiously for the resolution, if I had known that there was none!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

really stupid charcters

This book was entertaining and kept my interest. I have to say though, I got lots of mileage yelling at the stupid antics of the characters. They did such dumb things like letting their kids go walking alone at night while a child killer is at large in their small community. And the law enforcement officers go chasing the killer alone at night too. And the women get into cars with known creepy guys.
Oh well, it made for a fun listen.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Listen

I thought this was an excellent "read". My attention was held throughout and I did not want to pause it at any time. I wish all of her books were available and in the unabridged version - I would get them all today.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

just ok

this book was...well..just ok. It did the job of keeping me occupied at work but that's about it. Both the male and female leads were quite weak and uninteresting. I would say that i had the story figured out by hour four...

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Good Story, Poor Narration

I am wishing that I read this book and didn't listen to it. The story in itself was great. I can't say anything bad about Alex Kava. The narration on the the other hand was just terrible. As the book went on I found myself getting used to the reader's style, but in the first 1/2 I had to continually go back and re-listen to what was being read.

If I was Alex Kava, I would be very upset with the way my book comes off in this audio because it did not do the story justice at all.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Potential great thriller-bit like soap opera!!

I have many mixed feelings about this first Maggie O'Dell FBI profiler thriller. There was a lot of exciting writing and thrilling situations, but in many ways it felt like a story already told. Small boys are being ritualistically murdered, but someone was already executed for murdering three boys in the same way. Nick Morrelli has become sheriff after his father's retirement, but his heart really isn't in the job. He's a law school graduate, but his father talked him into this job. With these new murderers, it seems somebody in his father's department planted evidence, as the convicted murderer killed one boy as a copy cat killer, but two more were killed by someone else.

In comes Maggie O'Dell, with romantic and sexual tension, which doesn't feel original to the story. Her profile predicts someone that no one else believes is the killer. A bit to pat for me, though there was a lot of potential for a great story line. Then the book ends without a satisfactory ending. I'll definitely give this author another try, but I need and ending to my books, seems too much like a daytime soap opera otherwise!!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Fool me once

I can be fooled once into finishing a book expecting it to be worth my time, but I can't be fooled twice.

A ,mystery is supposed to keep you guessing for at least a little while. This book told me who the bad guy was in the first 30 minutes. I kept listening because I couldn't believe it would be that bad and that it would surprise me in the end. It didn't.

The narration was horrid, sounding like there was an echo most of the time. I kept waiting for that to go away. It didn't.

Don't waste your credit.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A so-so story with shallow portraits of women

This could have been a great book. As it is, I would rate is "acceptable."

The characters are shallow and cliched. A loud-mouth dad and his son, who just can't confront him (although he can be the police chief). A secretary who wears tight sweaters and is sweet on the boss. A newly divorced mom with a sweet-as-pie little boy, who is waiting for her big break at the local newspaper.

What I disliked the most was the relationship between the main characters, policeman (male) and profiler (female). The policeman and the profiler, rode in a car together. Every time, the policeman moved the gear shift, his hand unintentionally stroked the profiler's thigh. Oh brother! Really? Not in any car I've ever driven in.

This is also one of those mysteries that tells you right at the beginning "who dunnit," and then just allows the reader to watch the investigation unfold. Ho hum.

I hung on to the end, but this book is just not worth the money.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Avoid!!!

This was a complete waste of time. Move on! Audible has much better selections. And they rarely make you angry at yourself for listening.

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2 people found this helpful