10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"She was like a murder magnet.", June 11, 2006
This review is from: Malicious Intent: A Novel (Paperback)
Thirty-four year old Anya Crichton, the Australian heroine of Kathryn Fox's medical thriller, "Malicious Intent," is both a forensic pathologist and a forensic physician. That is, she is qualified to conduct postmortems to establish cause of death and she is also an expert in assessing the wounds and injuries of people who have survived assaults. Anya has a great deal on her mind. Her marriage is kaput, her ex-husband, Martin, has custody of their three-year-old son, Ben, and she is scrambling to make a living.
Kate sometimes works with her friend, twenty-eight year old Detective Sergeant Kate Farrer, whose competence as a investigator is offset by her arrogant and brusque manner. One day, Kate informs Anya that she is looking into the unusual case of a pregnant nun named Clare Matthews who committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. When a pathologist looks at a slide of Matthews's lungs, he notices that they contain unusual hourglass-shaped fibers. What are these fibers and how did the nun come to inhale them? Stranger still, several other women are found dead, apparent suicides, and they have the same fibers in their lungs. What did all of these women, who apparently did not even know one another, have in common?
Kate and Anya have no way of knowing that a manipulative and clever man has embarked on a Machiavellian experiment. This individual's actions have already resulted in the deaths of at least four women, and the closer that Kate and Anya get to uncovering the perpetrator's identity, the greater the danger that they, too, will fall victim to this cunning and elusive sadist.
"Malicious Intent" features an attractive, smart, and vulnerable heroine who has already been compared to Patricia Cornwell's forensic pathologist, Kay Scarpetta. Unlike the self-confident and financially secure Scarpetta, however, Anya has few resources to deal with the many difficulties that life has tossed her way. She is particularly vulnerable because of a secret from her past that has never given her a moment's peace.
Kathryn Fox expertly shows how a forensic specialist can discern elusive details about the nature of a crime by reading autopsy reports and examining the victims who survive. There is a particularly effective scene in which Anya assists a fifty-five year old woman who was beaten and sexually assaulted. Anya comforts and reassures the victim, and then conducts a gentle but thorough forensic examination. The respect that Anya shows her client is a testament to her professionalism and compassion.
The Australian setting and colorful slang are entertaining for those of us who generally read mysteries set in the United States and England. (If nothing else, I learned that "stuffed up" is Aussie slang for "messed up.") Other aspects of "Malicious Intent" are not as strong. Anya's relationship with her ex-husband and son are a bit forced and melodramatic. The solution to the mystery is not only far-fetched, but it relies on certain conventional twists and turns that have been overused in many other novels of this type. To her credit, Fox wisely avoids wrapping up all of the various plot lines in a tidy bow, leaving a great deal to be resolved in the inevitable sequel. All in all, "Malicious Intent" is a promising first novel, and I look forward to the next installment in the adventures of angst-ridden Anya Crichton.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A shining new talent., May 1, 2006
This review is from: Malicious Intent: A Novel (Paperback)
Dr. Anya Crichton is a freelancer pathologist in Australia. She is one of the few women in the field. Anya is trying to get her new business off the ground so she can pay her mortgage, pay child support, and then go to court to fight for custody of her three-year-old son, Ben.
Anya's expert forensic evidence is instrumental in winning a very high-profile case and soon the offers for work come pouring in! She decides to help a lawyer, Dan Brody, look into the death of a young Lebanese girl. It looks to be a simple overdose. However, Anya notices some odd fibers in the girl's lungs. This seems to have nothing to do with the death, so it is simply listed as a side note. Yet soon other female suicides show up. All the victims had disappeared for a short period of time before their bodies were found and all of them have the same odd fiber in their lungs. None of the deaths seem to be linked, so the law enforcements shrug it off. Anya finds herself unable to let it go. And someone out there is determined to stop her from nosing around, permanently.
**** I found this novel to be an intellectual challenge! I simply had to see if I could figure it all out before the main character did. The author adds in a realistic personal life for Anya to give the story a deeper feeling of belief. The story is well written and moves at a good clip. Fans of the CSI series will definitely want to check out this new talent. ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good start!, August 21, 2008
This review is from: Malicious Intent: A Novel (Paperback)
This was a pretty good first novel. It got a little bogged down with TMI sometimes, lots of detail and then all of a sudden, lots of action. I had already figured out who "done it" midway through the book, probably because so many thrillers are so formulaic and you know it's someone you have `met' or who is close to the character or on the periphery so you just mentally start detecting them out. Interesting story of these all tied together but the culprit was just your basic ordinary psychopathic sadist. I will try #2 -- I rated this one 3.5 stars. The protag Anya is more interesting and more human than Kay Scarpetta or Tempe Brennan and I liked her a lot more. Like the Australian setting and her lifestyle.
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