Psychiatrist Dr. Irene Cogan has never met a serial killer like Max. Max suffers from Dissociate Identity Disorder; he has multiple personalities. Max takes standard psychology tests: one day his results indicate that he is sane, the next day his results will indicate that he's a sociopath depending on which of his personalities, or alters, takes the test.

Max craves strawberry blonds. Usually they are plain young women. He woos them and talks them into running away with him within two weeks of meeting them. He never leaves any trace of his identity and his victims are never seen again. Max might never have been caught except that a traffic cop pulled him over and one of his victims was in the car; her stomach had been ripped open.

Special Agent E.I. Pender, known as the worst dressed agent in FBI history, believes some of Max's victims are still alive. Pender has only two years till he retires, but he wants to go out making a difference. He wants to discover Max's real name.

But Max is brilliant, very good-looking, can impersonate anyone and is extremely manipulative. He seems to have little problem getting one of his alters to do whatever it is he wants them to do - except go away. Thinking that Dr. Cogan can help him get rid of his alters and become the one and only personality, Max decides to kidnap her after he escapes. Besides, Irene Cogan is a strawberry blond.

The reason this story isn't compelling is because Max never loses control over his other personalities, his alters, unless he's under hypnosis. Other than that, he seemed to be able to bring them up and contain them at will. Frankly, I couldn't figure out why he'd want to get rid of them when they came in so handy, so many times.

The Girls He Adored is at its best when it pits Max and his alters against Dr. Cogan. Is Max telling the truth during their sessions? Can she get him to trust her? Can Dr. Cogan survive Max and his brutal alter? Can she get Max's kinder and gentler alters to help her?

Again, the problem here is that I never believed Max would lose control of his alters. What could and should have been nail-biter moments weren't. Maybe in the sequel, Max will have more internal conflict which will allow him to live up (or is that down?) to his potential.

--Judith Flavell