When She Was Bad: A Thriller

Ulysses and Lilly, two people suffering with multiple personality disorder, fall in love. This story starts there and goes full tilt until the very end. One personality is a serial killer, another a hard-edged biker babe unafraid to kill. Then there's the sweet, naive man-child and the trusting, hopeful young woman. Personalities fight for dominance and the good and bad guy are all wrapped up in one package. Nasaw is an excellent writer. He tackles a fascinating subject with sizzling suspense that kept me on the edge throughout the book. If you enjoy psychological suspense, this is one book you shouldn't miss.

Oh, I enjoyed this one quite a bit! It was a very fast read, and it made for a rather happy ending for everyone. I suppose I was a little disappointed for Max's fate - he was a pretty charming killer in the first book... also, the end of this one was pretty preachy about child abuse, but it still made for a very exciting book and one that I'm happy to have read (even if the first one, The Girls He Adored, was BETTER!)

Excellent reading. Highly recommended. You will read this book in one sitting. Jonathan Nasaw's new thriller, When She Was Bad, again demonstrates why Nasaw has been called "the new master of the psychological thriller" (Toronto Sun). The plight of Lily touches you because her character is so well-developed that you sympathize with her even while she angers you. FBI agent, E.L Pender, is again onboard as is the serial killer, Max/Kinch/Lissey. Readers will better understand this one if they have already read The Girls He Adored, Nasaw's first book in the series. Although the subject is serious (dissociative identity disorder--once called multiple personality disorder), a quirky humor is present throughout and makes the tension more bearable. Nasaw delves deeply into the psyches of two sexually abused individuals and wants the reader to understand how events in their young lives fractures their minds so badly that they can no longer cope. It seems as though is not Nasaw's objective to try and trick the reader as to who killed whom. His writing is much more intelligent and serious, with humor thrown in for a read that is both thrilling, while seeking to define what happens to sexually abused individuals in our society today.