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Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)

I'm guessing this is the first Alex Delaware book. Creepy tale of child abuse and murder. A good read.

mochap | May 29, 2009 |

The Alex Delaware series is one of the first I read in this genre, probably 15 years ago. Of course, I started in the middle of the series and had yet to get around to the first books. This was okay. I got a little bogged down in the mystery because a lot of the characters were similar to each other and I sometimes forgot who was being referred to. There was a lot of "the bad guy explains the entire scheme" at the end. However, it was worth it to see how Alex starts working for the police and the beginnings of his friendship with Milo and relationship with Robin. (

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miyurose | Dec 12, 2008 |

Fairly good tale with psychopathic child molesters as bad guys. The ending is a little too much. (

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Darrol | Mar 30, 2008 |

This is the first Alex Delaware novel. As a beginner, it is a good novel. It introduces us to Alex Delaware, and Milo Sturgis, his detective friend. The story itself is pretty dark, with a little girl witnessing a murder. Overall a good read and very good start to the Alex Delaware series. (

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willow23 | Mar 26, 2008 |

This is the first of the Alex Delaware novels. In this one, we get the background on how Alex and Milo Sturgis met - over a child abuse case - and details their semi-first case together.

The plot's a somewhat improbable one; Melody Quinn possibly saw murderers on their way to commit a crime, so Milo calls Alex in to talk to her, that being his specialty. The plot wanders up to - perhaps over - that line between 'complex' and 'ridiculously unlikely with one coincidence too many'. Workmanline, certainly readable and enjoyable. (

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rotheche | Nov 10, 2007 |

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Series (with order)

Alex Delaware series (1)

Canonical Title

When the Bough Breaks

Original publication date

People/Characters

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Important events

Awards and honors

Edgar Award (First Novel, 1986)

Anthony Award (Best First Novel, 1986)

IMBA's 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century

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Disambiguation notice

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Wikipedia in English (2)

Alex Delaware

When the Bough Breaks (novel)

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345466608, Mass Market Paperback)

In the first Alex Delaware novel, Dr.  Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry.  Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and  sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when  he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific  Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but  they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old  Melody Quinn.

It's psychologist Dr. Alex  Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret  buried in Melody's memory. But as the sinister  shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex  discovers that the mystery touches a shocking  incident in his own past.

This connection is  only the beginning, a single link in a  forty-year-old conspiracy. And behind it lies an unspeakable  evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it  claims another innocent victim: Melody Quinn.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400)

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