Nasaw, Jonathan. The Girls He Adored.

If you enjoy Thomas Harris and lament his long lapses between Hannibal Lector tales, then Jonathan Nasaw is a contender for sloppy seconds. This was the first book I've read by this author, although there have been a few that preceded this title. The reader is intrigued by the chase, the villain--an ingenius killer with multiple personalities, one of his victims--his attractive psychiatrist, and his main adversary--a rumpled and rule-breaking FBI agent. The characters are more than one-dimensional, although the cast of supporting players are not as brightly painted as the first string. The fact that Casey, as the FBI agent calls his quarry, is a multiple personality is fascinating as well as a great device to draw on the reader's sympathy. You like, pity, abhor, and fear his manifestations as he slips from one to the other.

The details of his grisly crimes revolving around the strawberry-blonde victims are quite hard to take. I skimmed a few paragraphs. While the sex scenes are graphic they are not overly-prolonged or detailed. Harris and Patterson (James) readers can handle them easily.

Without giving anything away, I was disappointed at the ending because the immense build-up fell flat and did not ring as true as the rest of the book. The obvious sequel-baiting also occurred, and although the author did his best to scare me I anticipated his move because it is telegraphed in several places beforehand.

This was still a hard-to-put-down novel that was a toboggan ride from the beginning until the disappointing end. I especially enjoyed the internal dialogue that Irene--the psychiatrist--has throughout her captivity. The gruesome details were innovative and the characters engaging in a very scary way. Would I pick up that probable sequel? Yeah, just to see how Casey/Maxwell/Ulysses manages to boggle the minds of his pursuers once again.

Leane M. Ellis, April 11, 2001