Exposed (Maggie O'Dell Series #6) » (UBR)

Alex Kava is an international bestselling suspense writer. Her work has been widely praised by critics and fans alike, and her previous novels in the Maggie O'Dell series, A Perfect Evil, Split Second and The Soul Catcher, have spent several weeks on the New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller lists.

Agent Maggie O’Dell and Assistant Director Cunningham believe they’re responding to a threat made at Quantico. Instead they walk into a trap. Before they realize it, they’ve both been exposed to a killer who can strike at anyone, anytime and no one can predict who might be next…until it’s too late.

The killer’s tactics suggest he’s an aficionado of criminal minds. He uses bits and pieces from those he admires: a phrase from the Beltway Snipers, a clue from the Unabomber, a delivery method similar to the Anthrax Killer. His weapon is a deadly virus, virtually invisible and totally unexpected. His victims appear to be random but, in fact, they are chosen with a revengeful precision. The vaccine is limited and untested.

Maggie knows dangerous minds—from hauntingly perverse child predators to cunningly twisted serial killers. Now she faces a new opponent from inside an isolation ward at a biosafety containment hospital. Maggie must help Agent R. J. Tully find clues to catch the killer—while waiting to see if the deadly strain is already multiplying in her body. With every new exposure there’s the potential for an epidemic. And Maggie knows she and Cunningham may not live long enough to discover who is the deadliest, most intelligent killer they’ve ever profiled.

Publishers Weekly

With reminders of tainted Tylenol, the Beltway snipers, anthrax-laced envelopes and the hooded Unabomber, Kava creates an atmosphere of queasy suspense that reaches the ultimate in discomfort with a nasty madman unleashing the superdeadly Ebola Zaire virus (the so-called “slate cleaner”) on a blissful populace, including FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell. Tanya Eby Sirois takes all the terror in stride, narrating the thriller in a measured, levelheaded manner rather than trying to embellish the already chill-inducing prose with dramatic flourishes. It’s a good narration choice, suiting the no-nonsense mood of series heroine O’Dell whom Kava places in isolated jeopardy from the jump by infecting her with the virus. And it also fits the determined approach employed by O’Dell’s uninfected partner, R.J. Tully, as he performs the novel’s heavy work of sifting through the clues, grilling suspects and searching for the mystery maniac. A Mira hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 25). (Oct.)

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