Gun Games

Gun Games is the 20th mystery written by Faye Kellerman featuring LAPD detective Pete Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus. It is the first one in the series that I have read, and now I must keep my eye out for the other 19 books when I pop into the many bookstores and thrift stores I frequent.

I didn't really get to know that much about Decker and his wife because this book focused on fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman, a young man whose father is a mob scion, who among many other illegal activities, runs whorehouses in Nevada. Gabe's mother fled to India leaving her son behind.

Gabe is a musical prodigy and a social loner, living with the Deckers. One day he is harassed at a coffee house by some tough kids with a gun, and he manages to show more diffuse the situation with his extensive knowledge of guns and his ability to think quickly on his feet.

After that incident, he goes to a different coffeehouse and meets a fourteen-year-old Persian Jewish girl named Yasmine. Yasmine wants to be an opera singer, and she and Gabe bond over their love of music and soon fall in love. They must hide their relationship from her parents, who would never let her date anyone who was not Jewish.

Meanwhile, Lt. Decker and his comrades are investigating two teen suicides at the local private school, the same one that boys who harassed Gabe attend. Although they were labeled suicides, Decker believes that there is more going on, and his team noses around.

Kellerman knows how to write scenes that make your heart pound, but it is her characters, especially young Gabe and Yasmine, whom I found compelling. She really got into the heads of these two teens, and her description of them falling in love really hit their target.

She writes entire sections of their text messages to each other, the preferred manner of communication for today's teens. You could actually feel them falling in love with each other with each text, and Kellerman perfectly captures the all-consuming feelings of first love. The methods of communication may have changed over the years, but teen love is still a heady mix of hormones and emotions.

I liked her characterization of the parents in her novel. The mother of a boy who was believed to have committed suicide was dumbfounded to discover certain things about her son. We all want to believe we know our children, but this book may disabuse you of that comforting feeling.

I recognized many of the parents in the scene at the police station. Some people like to complain about the portrayal of people of faith in media, but Kellerman did an admirable job with her depiction. The churchgoing parents of one troubled girl were the only ones who demanded that their child be held (somewhat) accountable. Decker and his wife regularly attend Jewish services, as does Yasmine's family. Religion is not a dirty word in this novel.

Gun Games successfully combines a cracker-jack mystery, albeit with some convenient coincidences, with a realistic depiction of teen love. (Although we don't want to believe fourteen and fifteen-year-olds have sex, many are. God help us.) If you are the parents of teens, this book will make you sweat. show less

I admire the stamina of authors like Ms. Kellerman who can sustain a series across twenty books. GUN GAMES is indeed the twentieth book in Ms. Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series and it's a good one. As with all long-running series some books are better than others and there is often a point where everything lags or is slashed and burned (I'm looking at you Patricia Cornwell and Laurell K. Hamilton). To be honest the last few books in this series have been okay, but just okay and I'm accustomed to these books being much better than okay so I've worried a bit that she might be running out of steam. GUN GAMES proves that there's a lot more life left in the series.

Kellerman writes what I suppose you would call police procedurals, show more but there are many things about her books that make her series so appealing. It's nice to see a police officer in a stable marriage with a huge sprawling religion and a faith (Judaism) that defines so much of how they live. Peter Decker's a good cop and a good family man - definitely not par for the course in the way we tend to think of cops. Rina Lazarus provides a nice grounding point - smart, sensible, intuitive, and a great cook. Best of all, theirs is not a perfect marriage or family - they have ups and downs just like the rest of us.

GUN GAMES focuses on a duo of prep school suicides that may or may not be actual suicides. Interlaced throughout the story is Gabriel Donatti, the Decker's foster kid - a piano prodigy and the son of a mob boss. Kellerman brings out the intoxicating moment of first love and even more accurately the decision that young, talented players in the classical world must make - play and perform or don't. It's hard to give up a life at 15 on your way to start attending Julliard at 16. Even when music is your world, everyone knows how much they'll have to sacrifice - scary decisions at young ages. Kellerman brings the two stories full circle in a lovely bit of plotting.

I thoroughly enjoyed GUN GAMES as a great thrill ride and absolutely perfect mind candy. Highly recommended for anyone who likes crime fiction and needs a good escape. show less

Remember Chris and Terry, the young lovers who sucked up more than their share of Justice? Now their 15-year-old son Gabe (Gabriel) and his charming girlfriend, Yasmine, suck up more than their share of Gun Games. In fact, since Gabe is the Deckers' foster son, Peter has to recuse himself from a case that could be connected to a disputed teen suicide.

Well, Wendy Hess disputes the coroner's conclusion that her son committed suicide. Marge Dunn and Oliver are sent to the boy's prep school, where they are snowed by the vice principal for boys. When a finger seems to point at the stepson of a very rich man, the VP becomes very uncooperative.

The mystery was fine. The truth was chilling. The agony and the ecstasy of teen sex (guess who felt show more the agony and who was ecstatic) I would have been glad to skip had this not been an audio edition. Having Rina relegated to some supporting scenes and Peter having to work around not crossing a line was not my cup of tea.

What truly vexed me was the fact that NO ONE even suggested using voice analysis to determine if the voice on a piece of evidence belonged to one of the suspects.

I won't say that this entry was a waste of time. I rather enjoyed Chris' role near the end (but that's a guilty pleasure). It's just that when I'm listening to a Decker/Lazarus mystery, I expect to have them be more than supporting characters. show less

I enjoy Faye Kellerman's books for a fun, not completely empty read. I just received Gun Games as an early birthday present and read it in a day. Yes, there was a good amount of teenage arousal, but I found Gabe and Yasmine's relationship pretty credible. It was a good counterpoint to the crime investigation. Come on, though- Faye, can't you let them use birth control? Still, an enjoyable installment in the Decker/Lazarus series.

I started reading Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series way back in 1986 when it first started. I haven't kept up with the last three or four books, so I thought I would pick up Gun Games, the 20th entry in this long running series.

Lieutenant Decker is petitioned by a distraught mother to investigate her son's death. It has been ruled a suicide, but she can't accept it. Decker agrees - and finds that her mother's instincts may be right. When another student at the same school also kills themself, a full scale investigation is launched.

Rina and Peter have taken in 15 yr. old Gabe as a foster child. He comes from a troubled background, but is having success as a talented pianist. He runs into a group of teens who are show more looking for trouble, but escapes unscathed - this time. Gabe also meets a family acquaintance of the Deckers - 14 yr. old Yasmine.

I have always enjoyed the personal interaction between Rina and Peter in this series. Their home life, learning of their Jewish faith, description of food, Rina's gentle nature and Peter's gruff competence. The supporting cops on Decker's team - Marge and Oliver are characters I've enjoyed following as well. Sadly, there is little of this in Gun Games. Rather we are forced to endure endless pages of texting between Gabe and Yasmine. Their undying love for each other. Promise? Poor Gabe's sexual frustration. Gabe's deflowering of Jasmine.Yeah, I know - I felt like I was in a (bad) YA novel.

I found myself skipping pages of italicized texting and moony phone calls to try and get back to Decker and his case - which ended up playing a sad second fiddle to Gabe and his libido. The police work seemed lackluster, only hitting some sort of action at the end, when a list of names and assignments is given (over and over again) in a ten page flurry.

A reference to a previous case involving New Mexico is introduced early in the book, ignored and brought back in the last few pages. It added nothing to the book except as a possible set up for book 21.

I was disappointed with Gun Games - Kellerman jumped the shark on this one. It just might be time for Decker to retire show less

Decker and Rina have taken in brilliant 15-year-old Gabriel, a talented and smart pianist. He is savvy and able to deal with gun-toting bullies from a private school, and then it turns out that they're involved with a couple of suicides that Decker is investigating. The romance that develops between Gabe and a 14 year old Persian American girl is hot and heavy, and at least in the audio version seemed quite belabored.

Gun Games is my first Faye Kellerman novel. I have meant to read her for years. I have read her husband and have even read her son, but for some reason haven't read her. I use to have this thing where I had to start the series from the beginning, but I have finally gotten over that. Yes you do miss character growth and some background, but I've found a lot of these suspense series, each book stands on it's own and that's how I feel about Gun Games. It's the 20th novel in the Rina and Peter Decker series and as I stated before the first I have read.

Gun Games seems to center around two separate stories, Gabe, the foster son that Pete and Rina are keeping who is a piano prodigy is the center of one of the stories. He meets a girl who is a show more year younger and is a Persian Jew. Gabe is white and not a Jew at all. A romance ensues secretly. Gabe keeps up his piano studies and is trying to decide what to do with his life. All-in-all I really enjoyed this story line. I liked Gabe and Yasmine. They were cute and sweet and everything young love is when you are 15 and 14.

The second story centers around a suicide that Pete and his detectives have been asked to look into at an exclusive private school. The mom just doesn't think her son could have committed suicide. Crazy things start showing up. I really enjoyed this storyline. The detective work and the way things unfolded really made the story. And I always enjoy reading about exclusive prep or boarding schools.

And then the storylines intersect like you would not believe and I won't give anything more away. But thing go completely crazy. If you think you couldn't put the book down before this point, there is no way you are putting it down after this point.

I think Ms. Kellerman does an excellent job creating believable characters and scary characters. She interweaves a plot that is so crazy that it is believable. I was enthralled. It's one of those books that is so calm and easy going in the beginning that it sucks you in and before you know it you just cannot put it down.

Overall I think this was an amazing book and if the others in this series are anything like it I am definitely starting at the beginning and working my way through. In fact I'm going to my library website now to reserve The Ritual Bath. I can't wait to get more of Peter and Rina Decker. show less