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Tampa Homicide Lieutenant Carl Kane has a tough job. His day to day consists of decomposing dead bodies and removing murderers from the general public. But, when two women’s bodies are found under similar circumstances, it quickly turns into more than your average case. The killer is clearly looking to make a name for himself, and his plans for these women go far beyond death. When the media runs with the story, the killer’s moment in the spotlight arrives.

It’s up to Lieutenant Kane to bring the man the press has dubbed the ‘Psycho Surgeon’ to justice. Yet, being the lead on the case has its drawbacks—like becoming the focus of the killer yourself.

As Lieutenant Kane closes in on his suspect, he soon realizes that the case has become far more personal than he could have ever imagined.

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2014

2991 people are currently reading
2718 people want to read

About the author

E.H. Reinhard

46 books181 followers
E.H. Reinhard is the author of over twenty novels in the crime fiction and police procedural genres. Residing in sunny Tampa Florida, when not putting pen to paper, or more accurately, keys to keyboard writing his next novel, Reinhard is an avid fisherman and a general enjoyer of everything outdoors.

To see what he's been up to lately, you can find him on social media, or can contact him directly using the contact form at: http://ehreinhard.com.

Find him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ehreinhardau...

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5 stars
1,822 (38%)
4 stars
1,733 (36%)
3 stars
866 (18%)
2 stars
182 (3%)
1 star
87 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 329 reviews
Profile Image for Lynda Kelly.
2,205 reviews106 followers
February 27, 2017
Got only 4% into this and I'd already seen 5 mistakes so I'll pass, thanks. I don't understand why authors keep refusing to hire a proofreader these days and just publish and be damned as they're doing in the e-book format. I don't remember ever packing in books in paperback or hardback because they were rendered unreadable by errors !!!
I spotted a missed apostrophe and then edition was used and not addition, off and not of, they and not the (they local media) and finally, "His suit looked like it cost a minimum or four figures".
I'd seen enough by then.
Profile Image for Stephen Clynes.
656 reviews41 followers
October 18, 2018
Follow Lieutenant Carl Kane of the Tampa homicide squad as he investigates an unusual killing.

Malevolent is a regular police procedural crime thriller and it breaks no new ground. Usual range of characters making up the ranks of the police force. Regular use of the killer’s actions and motives are told through alternate chapters.

So Malevolent is quite ordinary except the method of murder employed. I found Reinhard’s writing style quite tabloid. There was nothing sharp that made me think “this is good”. Yes, there is action but I thought “so what”. I did not engage with the detectives or the killer. I found it frustrating to read that the killer could have stopped their crimes and remained a free person. The story lacked realism and became a drag to read.

There was one creepy observation, that of a victim who survived but that in essence, was more like the plot of a B-movie.

There are odd bits of humour scattered through this novel, the best being from the killer when he asks “How is my wife? Was she still watching the television? That’s all that bitch ever did.”

I was disappointed with Malevolent, I thought it was a POOR read and only gets 2 stars from me.

Malevolent was written in 2014 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.
Profile Image for Sherry Fundin.
2,305 reviews162 followers
June 14, 2023
Malevolent: having or showing a desire to cause harm to another person.

The cover for Malevolent by E H Reinhad is fabulous and the fact the book takes place in Tampa, Florida, only adds to the spice of murder and mystery. Any books in Florida hit a special place for me, sand, sun and surf. I love it.

The Prologue is a gripping hook!

Lieutenant Kane is thirty eight and resembles Mr Clean. The simple description makes it easy to picture him…and his cat, Butch, a hybrid between a domestic and wild cat. He is an interesting character all by himself, growing and developing in the story.

“Death by drill and boiling water.”

I almost wanted to puke at some of the graphic details of his murders. I love it.

We have some light hearted and fun moments and dialogue, along with the gruesome.

There were some moments when I was shrugging my shoulders, not happy with what was going on. The writing did not make this a five star read, for me, but I did read it in one sitting and I would definitely grab another opportunity to read more of E H Reinhard’s work.

Profile Image for Toni Osborne.
1,602 reviews53 followers
September 3, 2018
Book #1, in the Cases of Lieutenant Kane

This story is very intense no doubt about it with its fair amount of gory descriptions and its suspenseful drama that keeps coming up no way any reader can say that “Malevolent” is boring. I was kept me on the edge furiously flipping the pages to see how it will end. …. This is one twisted story that may be somewhat realistic but is captivating to read….if you are into gruesome murders and police procedural this book is for you.

The main character, Lieutenant Kane, is a homicide detective from the Tampa police department and his day to day consist of decomposing bodies and hunting for murderers in order to remove them from the public. This first story is about a killer looking to make a name for himself by doing gruesome experiments on women. The media has dubbed him the Psycho Surgeon. Kane’s main focus is to get him before he kills again or before the case becomes far more personal…….

The killer’s point of view is soon said in alternate chapters as he goes about doing his draconian methods to alter his victims’ behavior. Not a dull moment and as the plot moves quickly along it is easy to be fast pulled into this top shelf drama filled with funny scenes to give us a break from all the mayhem and crime scenes. This is one riveting cat and mouse game that pins the bad guy against the good guy.

I enjoyed the plot and its characters and to steal words from a reviewer “As thriller mystery goes, this one fills the bills in every way”
Profile Image for Gabriel Boutros.
Author 3 books15 followers
February 25, 2015
My first thought when I started to read this book was: "Oh great. Another book about a flawed but determined cop chasing after a twisted serial killer. Haven't read one of those recently."
Of course, that isn't entirely fair. A book should be rated on its own qualities, and not on how many other books about the same subject have already been written. Still, unless you've just graduated from picture books, most readers of modern popular fiction will have come across one or two (hundred) serial killer novels in their lifetimes, so it's impossible to read another one without thinking about how such and such a scene has been done before, or how a character resembles one or more in other books.
That whole long preamble is to say that, despite my very low expectations, I found myself liking Malevolent quite a bit. It is far from perfect: the banter between cops is a bit lame, way too much time is spent on mundane details of the main character's day to day life, and I didn't think the killer was particularly interesting. But the characters grew on me, because for the most part they were well-drawn and realistic. The story worked well as a police procedural as well as a thriller, building through the complex murder investigation toward an exciting, action-filled climax as the killer gets up close and personal with the cop who's chasing him. And the author, Reinhard, knows how to pace his scenes. Scenes between the killer and victims made my skin crawl, while other scenes of the cops rushing to find someone before their time ran up were tense, edge-of-your-seat stuff.
So if you're looking for a solid cop vs. maniac story, one with some surprising plot twists and that'll keep you turning the pages late into the night, then you'll enjoy Malevolent.
9 reviews
October 6, 2016
Hate to say it...

I was interested in this series but the writing style was very distracting to me. No compound sentences, little punctuation to help guide interpretation, and a monotonous tone completely turned me off. I couldn't finish it.
Profile Image for Una Tiers.
Author 6 books374 followers
December 20, 2015
This book lives up to the title. There is much unnecessary violence, little character development, weak dialogue. The description should list blood and gore.
Profile Image for Bonnye Reed.
4,696 reviews109 followers
July 24, 2023
Also Have #2, Requite

Malevolent is a police procedural, book 1 of a series, featuring Homicide Lieutenant Carl Kane and set firmly in the Tampa, Florida area. Carl is a bit disheartened, recovering from a painful divorce, feeling pressured by the day-to-day viciousness of his job, the soulless perpetrators of murder, and the near-daily look at decaying bodies. Not in a good place to become introduced to what the press will soon be calling the Psycho Killer. That's his life, however. He has to get over it and get to work.

Even a jaded homicide cop finds he can be shocked by the depth of depravity this killer is capable of. Karl finds himself hip deep in the case, sleep deprived and always just one or two steps behind the Psycho Killer. And with victims number 4 and 5, the case becomes very personal.

E. H. Reinhard writes a compelling story, fast-paced and with very human protagonists. This is a book hard to put down. I will be looking for the rest of this series.

I received this novel free from Digital Book Spot. Thank you!

Reviewed on November 19, 2018, at Goodreads, AmazonSmile, and Barnes&Noble.
Profile Image for Marleen.
1,867 reviews90 followers
March 11, 2018
I've read this book in one go being stuck on a high-speed train halted by an electrical failure. When you're unable to move forward for a few hours, reading is the best remedy. Unfortunately, I wasn't enamored with this read, on the contrary. It was dry, stilted and devoid of authentic characters. Right from the very first page, I couldn't get used to writing style; it was so clinical, so amateurish, with no fluidity. As for the plot; it was unoriginal : again a sicko who tortures women - and there were pages where that sicko took center stage - no thank you!
I picked this book because it was described as a police procedural, which is my favorite genre; but here, I wasn't convinced at all.
Profile Image for Robin Everson.
3 reviews
February 17, 2015
I downloaded it as part of a Kindle free book. It was very good but extremely long (52 chapters).

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys police murder mysteries. Great detail, kind of gruesome but well done.

Personally, I think E.H. Reinhard's second book should be free as well to get people hooked but since it isn't I will pass. There just wasn't enough in the first book to make me actually want to buy the second.
Profile Image for Jim A.
1,267 reviews82 followers
May 17, 2017
Pretty good book in a very tough genre for authors, police procedural.

In this novel the killer is lobotomizing his victims (not a spoiler). I'm not sure I have ever read that trait in a serial killer. I thought it was unique.

The end game became a little predictable, but there are not a whole lot of ways for an author to have his cop catch a killer.

First of a series that I will follow up on, for sure.
Profile Image for Tulay.
1,202 reviews2 followers
March 16, 2016
Interesting subject.

This book is not for the bedtime reading, detailed descriptions of injuries/murders will be in your nightmares. Like Kane character and Butch, was good cat and mouse chase. Time to time I noticed I was holding my breath, going to be good series.
1,537 reviews5 followers
November 6, 2018
Bone chilling

Kane is tenacious in his hunt for a lunatic. The serial killer sets his sights on Kane and wants to be famous. This is a brutal, haunting tale of horror and Kane is tracking an extremely intelligent, physcotic killer. Hard to read, harder to put down.
Profile Image for Sharon Michael.
663 reviews50 followers
March 9, 2015
Solid police procedural, a bit on the dark side. Good basic characterization though some of the interactions of the characters seemed a little superficial.
Profile Image for Russ Leavitt.
1,441 reviews1 follower
September 28, 2016
I must say I really enjoyed this first book in the series. Not quite James Patterson but then, who is? Looking forward to more books by this author.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
1,018 reviews
July 31, 2018
Well written

It was written well but not for me. I enjoy some murder/mystery books but the villain was a psychopath and not something I enjoyed reading.
Profile Image for Denise.
7,492 reviews136 followers
November 4, 2018
With several women turning up dead in similar circumstances, it's beginning to look like Tampa has a serial killer on the loose. Lieutenant Carl Kane of the Tampa PD is in charge of the investigation, which turns increasingly personal the further he gets as the killer seems to take a special interest in him.

Solid murder mystery, but somewhat predictable and nothing that stands out in plot or characters.
Profile Image for Jenna Golik.
100 reviews1 follower
January 29, 2018
I enjoy how the story unfolds. It takes you through his day to day life.

All the other people mix in nicely .The story has a good flow. You do not want to stop reading this book. I am looking forward to reading more of his books. I like Lieutenant Kane.
373 reviews4 followers
August 16, 2020
Too sick for my taste, but Kane has potential. If all the books are so graphically violent, it won’t work for me.
609 reviews1 follower
July 3, 2019
Am good story

I enjoyed this book and the way the author told the story. I like it when you can "feel" what the character is going through. I will read more from this author.
Profile Image for Jim.
1,108 reviews19 followers
December 8, 2015
Lt. Carl Kane of the Tampa Police Department who is originally from Wisconsin but now is loving the weather in FLA. Wisconsin is still home where his father and sister still live. Kane also has an ex-wife Samantha who talked him into taking job in Tampa several years ago. Which was an excuse for Samantha to cheat on Carl and force a divorce. Kane is now the senior detective in Tampa's homicide department. Along with his de facto partner Sergeant Hank Rawlings the two make a formidable investigative team. Where Kane is bald and usually rumpled, Rawlings is always very nicely dressed and groomed. (Hank's wife is a DEA agent and tough on Hank). Kane, and Hank are called out to a woman's body found in a dumpster wearing only a some green lingerie. To the horror of the detectives the victim's head had holes drilled into both sides of her skull . Making matters worse was boiling hot water poured into both holes going into her brain. They also find out she has the powerful drug "xylazine" in her system. Killer used horse tranquilizer to subdue his victim. It seems Sarah McMillian just got into town to give a training seminar and was abducted somehow at the airport. When the second victim Diane Robbins, 26 is killed by a "leucotomy", The press has now named this killer the "Psycho Surgeon". Luckily the killer's third victim does not die, however a note is left on her back for Kane. Kane and Rawlings are running all over the city tracking down leads. They finally get a break when someone points them in new direction. This sizzling plot was like a steamroller. It moved quickly and surprisingly twisted. Kane gets to find a little romance in his local bar with barmaid Callie. But Kane's cat Butch is not safe in his condo. Hard hitting characters with very lively dialog gave this read a pulp feel to it. ( Reminded me of Max Allan Collins at times) About 220 pages, I love it when a book gets into the story quickly presenting the action, and witty characters then goes into a quick wrap up. Sometimes less is more. Thriller doesn't have to be hundreds of pages to entertain. I've already started reading the second Kane book in author E.H. Reinhard's Carl Kane series. Book was just a blast ! Really enjoyed it. Five stars out of a possible five stars for a book/ series not to be missed.
Profile Image for Marjorie.
667 reviews6 followers
January 24, 2018
The best thing I can say about this book is that it is fast paced. You hurtle through the pages in a mad rush to the end. There are two reasons for this, one is that the writing style is such that it propels you through the book the second is that you can't wait to get to the end of it.

The murders are graphic and strangely compelling. Certainly not a methodology that I have come across in the multitude of books and TV programmes of this genre I have watched. I also enjoyed the fact that the killer did not want his victims to die, he wanted them to live, to be his branded legacy.

Unfortunately, away from that the procedural story is, I am sorry to say, boring. The characters are all flat and stereotypical and no empathy could be felt for any of them. Away from the originality of the murders, the behaviours of the protagonist are laughably easy to predict and you know how this is all going to pan out and how.

I can see that the author was trying to give a more realistic view of the procedures in place to investigate a dumped body and I do applaud them for that. In fact the plotting was pretty good (if predicatable, but then we know the cop will always get his man or woman when going in to these tales) and the writing was pacy and strong. what let this down for me was the complete lack of any reality to the characters. All the usual cop tropes were there and nobody was anything more than two-dimensional and restricted to the paper and ink they were created from. Because this genre is so predictable to make a real impact the characters need to be fresh and realistic and lack of such when held up against an overfull library section means that it will always be marked very poorly.

Not for me and I am reluctant to risk any more in the series - I am strangely tempted to see what twisted way of dispatching victims E. H. Reinhard can come up with next so may give the next one in the series a go on a slow reading day
Profile Image for Kevin.
Author 22 books242 followers
February 15, 2018
E.H. Reinhard has created an interesting character in Detective Cole Kane, and in “Malevolent” we are treated to an intricate story involving a serial killer and Detective Kane’s attempts to stop him before he does more damage, including damage to Kane’s own loved ones. The plot moves quickly (sometimes a tad too quickly) and early on we get a glimpse into the killer’s point of view, which is an interesting technique. The reader gets pulled into the story and it becomes a real page-turner right to the end.
I really enjoyed this novel, even with a few quibbles and wishing that there was a little more about Kane’s back story. There are hints and small peeks into it, and his ex-wife plays a pivotal role, but while the author gives us just enough to care about, at times there could have been more. But, perhaps we will learn more in the next book(s). There are a few places where the plot points come together a little bit too easily (which coincidentally is also happening within the plot itself) and sometimes a level of detail is lacking, but on the other hand the quick pace of the story is part of what makes it such an easy and entertaining read. It’s not intended to be deep literature, so I’ll give a pass to the author in these small points.
The writing style alternates between the first person narrative of Kane and the third-person narrative of the killer, but the quality of the writing is very good and it’s generally well-edited with only a few minor issues. This contributes to the easy read aspect of this book. I’m looking forward to following these characters into the next episode.
6 reviews
February 15, 2017
Great read

I enjoyed reading this book because it wasn't a run of the mill mystery. Looking forward to the rest of the series
Profile Image for Charles Ray.
Author 557 books153 followers
July 23, 2015
When an unidentified dead blonde is found in a Tampa parking lot with a brand on her hand, Tampa police Lieutenant Carl Kane is put on the case. He soon learns that they’re on the trail of a serial killer who is experimenting, and when they finally find a victim who hasn’t died, there’s a message for Kane, and the case becomes intensely personal. This is Malevolent by E. H. Reinhard.
An interesting book—written in two different points of view, first person when we’re in Kane’s head as he tracks the killer, and then in third person when we see the world as the killer sees it. Before reading Malevolent I would have dismissed this technique as gimmicky and probably impossible to effectively pull off. Reinhard surprised me, though—he did it. By the one-quarter mark in the book, I was no longer really noticing point of view—it just seemed natural.
A police procedural, it goes into a bit of detail on how the cops work: normal for the genre, and I assume accurate, having no knowledge of how Tampa PD works, but not so much that those of us who want to focus on clues and red herrings are turned off. It did not disappoint.
Profile Image for Forgetfulone.
432 reviews1 follower
November 13, 2017
This is the first novel by Reinhard that I have read. It was a slow start, but it picked up. Overall, I thought it was good.

The story's main character is Lieutenant Kane, a police detective with decades of experience who prefers to work alone. He doesn't always make the decisions I would expect a police officer to make, which is how he gets himself into some trouble. There is a killer on the loose, and Kane becomes his focus. The killer is out to prove that he is sharper than the police, Kane, in particular.

I believe the story could have been told in a more concise narrative. The author focused on too many nit-picky details about coffee, food, clothes, the cat, etc. that did not lend themselves to moving the plot forward. Sometimes I felt like the plot was predictable, and I don't believe some of the criminal's behavior was sufficiently explained.

On the other hand, I liked this book because it reminded me of an episode of Criminal Minds. It was graphic, dark, and twisty. And while it was at time predictable, there was enough suspense to keep me interested. I might even read another book in the series.
Profile Image for Tracey.
240 reviews
March 26, 2015
Malevolent is a book that will keep you captivated throughout the story. You will want to keep reading to know what is going to happen next.

Lieutenant Kane is a dedicated cop who takes his position seriously and works crazy long hours. There is a psycho out there who is kidnapping women, holding them captive by drugging and bounding them and more that needs to be captured before more women meet the same outcome.

The killer is trying to get exposure for what he is doing to his victims. But Kane and his department are keeping as much information away from public consumption as to not cause chaos. The killer leaks the information to the press about details from the scenes because he seeks notoriety.

What happens when the suspect/killer targets closer to Kane? Do they catch the killer or does he get away!

I recommend you read this book. It really kept my interest and I didn't want to put it down. It's a great read.
5 reviews
February 4, 2016
This is not my normal genre, but I enjoyed it very much. I'm not a fan of blood, gore, and guts, but this IS a murder mystery! I was on the edge of my seat with white knuckles gripping my Kindle. I will say that the gory parts were very well done, and I didn't throw up - even a little bit. I knocked it down a star because I am from Tampa, Florida, and Mr. Reinhard wrote about the "underground" parking lot. We have NO underground anything here! It's a fact that underground equals wet. I did read that he lives in Tampa now, but he should know there are no underground buildings here. Part of the reason I picked this book up is because it was set in Tampa. I plan to read the next in this series soon. Otherwise, well written, gripping, page turner.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 329 reviews

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