Dr. Alex Delaware is a psychologist who does consultation work for the LAPD. He is asked by a judge to do a profile on two 13-year-old boys who murdered a two-year-old girl. Should they be tried as adults or juveniles? After submitting a vague report, the boys end up in juvey. One is killed six weeks after his incarceration. The other serves eight years, and three days after his release, he too is killed--but not before calling Dr. Delaware and hinting that he had some big secret to tell the doctor about the murder eight years eariler. The doctor's sidekick, detective Milo Sturgis, helps Delaware uncover deep dark secrets. Together they must find out what really happened eight years earlier, and find out who murdered these boys.

the back cover copy. The build-up to thinking this was going to be an exciting story was well-written and the reason I read the book.

anything else about it. The fragmented sentences outnumbered actual sentences. Every closet had a skeleton in it and tied in somehow (fancy that?). Magic-hat events were the salt of the book. Up against a sticky situation? Not to worry! Here comes Kellerman with his magic wand to make something highly convenient happen to smooth the way. Another glaring problem was that most of the book is dialogue between the psychologist and the detective--on park benches, in the car, in an over abundance of restaurants--and that's where most of the "mystery" lies. They didn't follow up on everything they could have or should have either. They found all kinds of unusable evidence, confirmation that some people were kind of shady and/or odd, and not a single search warrant was ever used at any time--all part of the "oh, how convenient" writing tool Kellerman is so fond of using.

toss it in the nearest trash bin, tear it into kindling, or demand a refund.

like I just wasted a few precious hours of my life.

Jonathan Kellerman is a best-selling novelist, and a psychologist.

I was shocked to discover that the author has written several books and has created quite a following for his Dr. Delaware character.

The writing style is most annoying. The story itself was interesting which kept me reading, but getting past all the fragmented sentences was beyond annoying and in no time, shot up to irritating. Premise: a toddler is killed by two early-teen boys. One of the boys is killed while in lock-up, the other killed three days after he gets out for good behavior eight years after the crime was committed. The rest of the book is about uncovering a story the boys were hiding. All kinds of dead bodies turn up; a few suspects; more crimes. It was all interesting enough to keep me reading but did I ever feel ripped off at the end. Did we ever find out who killed them for sure? Or did we find out for certain who killed all those other people? No! We're supposed to be satisified with one guy who did bad things getting killed and the others on the run. And the cop in charge of all this investigation? "Not my problem anymore." End of story for him - and apparently, for us.

There were so many magic-hat events throughout that make you shake your head and say, "Oh, how convenient." Girlfriend in the way? No problem! Her Gram, just at that moment, needs her to stay for a week. Need to find a particular Spanish-named person in LA - no problem - there are only TWO with that name. That's like saying there are only two John Smith's listed in the phone book of any given city. There were just as many poor plot devices as there were plot holes. And the thrust of the story - to find out who killed these two boys? We never find out. Was it the guy found dead at the end of the book, or the people who killed him? Who knows! You won't find the answers in this book. I checked to see who his editor was, sure there wouldn't be one listed. I was right. Divas - as I got the sense this man is from his bio combined with the horrid writing - insist their way is right, make life hell for the editor(s) who eventually is made to back off and let it be published as is. Divas think so highly of themselves that they can never see when they are in the wrong and they never thank the grunts. Is that what he's like? I'll never know for sure anymore than I'll ever know how his story ends. I'll remember that name: Jonathan Kellerman, so that I don't get sucked into reading one of his books again just because the copywriter who wrote the back copy did such a stellar job of making something out of nothing. Too bad Kellerman proved he's fully capable of just the opposite. He had a great premise and blew it.

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Created Mar 09, 2006 at 5:35am • Submit your own review...