Jonathan Kellerman has written a lot of books. And that’s a good thing because he writes very well. There are many writers who write a lot of books and probably shouldn’t. I confess that this is the only book of his that I have read and centers around two characters that he uses a lot. But this book stands on its own.
The story is interesting, with layer upon layer of plot with a series of seemingly senseless murders. And there seems to be a pile of motives, but all the murders are tied together by the sex of the victim accompanied by a table for two with untouched food.
The structure is intriguing. The book is written from the viewpoint of Alex Delaware who is a psychologist advising a homicide lieutenant in the guise of Milo Sturgis whom Kellerman describes as, “wearing a dust-colored windbreaker and brown poly pants from another era, his olive vinyl attache dangling from one massive paw. Pale, pockmarked, paunchy, black hair limp and in need of trimming, he sagged like a rhino who’d lost out to the alpha male.” Kellerman’s descriptions are outstanding throughout the book, created with the ease of a master. His dialog tags are flawless with just enough information for the reader to keep on track but not so much as to interrupt the flow with unnecessary descriptive words.
His descriptive skill is enough to put this book on my keeper/reference shelf, books I use when I’m trying to study how it should be done. It joins Walker Percy, Ken Follett, Tana French, and Herman Hesse. I can clearly envision the character that Kellerman describes this way: “He had a soft voice designed for apology, bloodshot brown eyes, a face blanketed with two days of spotty gray beard and some sort of accent, probably Northern European. His left arm was ink from knuckles to above his biceps. The right one was clear. Plenty of pinholes in both ears, but no jewelry in evidence.” His writing makes descriptions like this seem easy.
This is one of those times when coming in in the middle of the series is an advantage. I have read other reviews of this book that claim that the characters are tired and overused. Maybe that is a flaw, but to me, as a rookie reader of Alex Delaware stories, the characters were shiny and new. People are people. They grow and they change, but inherently they are the same familiar souls. In some series - particularly on television - the writers use the characters’ personal lives to freshen up their stories. I like my friends the way they are and respect them for what they know and do. I don’t want them to be different, but perhaps characters in thrillers need to be regularly thrilling.
So if you enjoy good writing and a good tale, give Kellerman a read. I don’t know if all his Alex Delaware books are this good, but I wouldn’t be surprised.