Publisher's Weekly Review
A serial arsonist is torching empty warehouses in areas of Washington, D.C., where the homeless take shelter in bestseller Kava's strong 10th Maggie O'Dell novel (after 2011's Hotwire). When the remains of two bodies, both severely beaten, turn up at the arson sites, the emotionally frayed Maggie must put the pieces together, despite being under pressure from her sadistic and politically motivated boss, injured by flying glass from an explosion, and tormented by memories of an earlier, horrific case. Might the arsonist and the killer be one and the same? FBI profiler Maggie works seamlessly with Julia Racine, a brash D.C. homicide detective with a wicked attitude, not only to track the arsonist, whose activities are escalating, but also to outfox an egotistical and ruthlessly ambitious journalist. Amid a barrel full of red herrings and a cluttered cast of characters, the suspenseful plot builds to a finale that offers an irresistible lure to Maggie's next outing. 6-city author tour. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell (Hotwire, 2011, etc.) goes up against an arsonist and a murderer who may or may not be the same person. Fires are all too common in the nation's capital, but the latest blaze is worse than most. It's obviously a case of accelerant-assisted arson. An anonymous phone call sends Detective Julia Racine of the Metro Police Department to a trash container outside the building, the final resting place of a Jane Doe whose face has been bashed beyond all recognition. And there's no telling what connection, if any, the fire has to the homicide. Working the case with Detective R.J. Tully, her best friend's lover, Maggie finds an unexpected sounding board in her half brother Patrick, who's gone to work as a private firefighter for Braxton Protection. But she's about to be dumped in hot water by hungry TV reporter Jeffery Cole, who's so provoked by their brief standoff at the scene that he plans an extended on-air profile of her. As the firebug continues to roam free and Patrick begins to make tentative romantic overtures to Cole's partner, photojournalist Samantha Ramirez, Maggie must survive a series of variously bruising encounters with her one-time lover Dr. Benjamin Platt, her unstable mother, Kathleen, ancient consulting psychiatrist Dr. James Kernan and homeless accountant Cornell Stamoran. None of them brings her any closer to the arsonist, even though most readers will be way ahead of her. Kava combines the clichs of serial-arsonist fiction with Patricia Cornwell's irritating habit of ending her heroine's quests not with a bang, but a whimper. To be continued.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A serial arsonist is at work in Washington, D.C., his fires increasing in frequency and deadliness, and confounding FBI special agents and profilers Maggie O'Dell and R. J. Tully, and police detective Julia Racine. And somehow ambitious newsman Jeffrey Cole, with camerawoman Samantha Ramirez, is always first on the scene. The case is complicated by the discovery at one fire of the body of a woman with a blackened skull whose face was bashed in. Working both arson and murder cases, O'Dell must deal with the intrusive Cole, the impasse in her romantic relationship with Ben Platt, and family problems centering on her difficult mother, who strenuously objects to Maggie's relationship with her younger half-brother, Patrick, a contract firefighter. The tenth entry in this series is a tightly written, fast-moving thriller that will leave readers eager for the next one. Maggie, who handles forensic evidence with ease, follows a suspect into a sewer, and is unfazed by the sight of a headless, eviscerated corpse, can give Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta a run for her money.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2010 Booklist