Guilt

The body of an infant is found buried in someone's backyard and the evidence indicates that it's been there for decades. Murder, or something else? Then a couple more bodies show up, and the case is on.

It seems that Jonathan Kellerman cannot write a bad book. He is one of my all time favorites. It is almost impossible to put his books down. This is one of them too. It was over too soon, as always. I wanted more of the complex characters and plot lines. Otherwise it was a great book. Looking forward to the next one.

Six-word review: Strange trail leads to ruthless murderer.

Extended review:

Not quite as cozy as, say, the Brother Cadfael yarns, because Kellerman doesn't shrink from the gruesome and creepy parts, the Alex Delaware mysteries are still a comfortable fit: page-turners with a core cast of likeable regulars and an endless succession of bit players who could be our neighbors, a story arc that plays like a scavenger hunt, and a perpetrator with a twisted psyche who makes us hope we don't actually know anybody like that.

In this twenty-eighth installment in the series, Kellerman enlivens the mix of quirky cameos with several featured performers of a sort that we're very unlikely to meet outside of fiction. As ever, Delaware's intuitive powers, show more appetite for the challenge, and capacity to stare unblinking into the darkest shadows pair nicely with Detective Sturgis's solid police skills and ability to work the system, including defying it when necessary.

Much of the entertainment here is in chasing the witness- and suspect-surfing process from link to link as psychologist and detective concoct one hypothesis after another. If author Kellerman didn't pause to create detailed miniature portraits of the characters, environments, and artifacts that they encounter along the way (a worried teenager with hypervigilant parents, a service that does every little thing that celebrities don't feel like doing for themselves, a spectacular custom-edition 1938 Duesenberg), the puzzle and its solution would be too thin to sustain a novel. It's the glimpses of hidden lives, with all their peculiarities and small guilty secrets, that hold our attention. Some mysteries have a hub-and-spokes architecture or are constructed like building-blocks; Kellerman's are daisy chains. show less

Once upon a time Jonathan Kellerman wrote books that had me staying up late to finish them. His characters were so well drawn that I actually disliked Robin. The plots so well thought out and the cases so interesting and complex that they hooked me. Alex Delaware was presented as a bright caring psychologist who helped out, sometimes reluctantly with crimes. Milo was usually the detective that roped him in as well as his friend. The cases almost had something psychologically creepy or baffling in them (hence the need for Alex). These were great books but now it is as if another person is doing the writing.
The characters are flat, the cases involve people I couldn’t care less about, the action is dull and the conversation boring. There show more is little to no complexity left in the books and this one is the blandest by far. Alex and Robin lead a very vanilla life, Alex and Milo have conversations that a 5th grader could follow, the ‘villians’ of the piece are unsympathetic and the entire story told as if the author himself is bored. The idea that Kellerman’s books are psychological thrillers is now preposterous. No longer is Delaware a highly valued psychologist with unique insight in expertise. He is basically Milo’s assistant.
The story isn’t terrible, the writing isn’t bad, and I read the whole thing, but it was about like I read magazines at the pool—just as something to do—I couldn’t get invested in any of it.
***This was an ARC show less

Mr. Kellerman has produced another fine psychological thriller starring our favorite team: psychologist-sleuth Alex Delaware and police detective Milo Sturgis. Their interaction, as they pursue the bad guys, is what makes these books work. Leads are discussed, clues examined, and most importantly, possible reasons for the crime or crimes. Doctor Delaware delves deeply into the psyche of various actors in the story as well as that of the possible perpetrator when he or she shows up.

This book starts with the discovery under a potting bench of a rusting strongbox containing two baby skeletons wrapped in newspaper sixty years old. As a cold case detective Milo gets the assignment and turns immediately to Alex for help in tracing the line of show more owners of the house which leads to a mystery woman, a nurse to several of the previous owners. But when two more recently dead infant skeletons are discovered the case shifts from cold to hot and a modern day malevolent killer must be found.

The writing is taut, finely honed and delightfully perceptive. How can you not like this description of a witness: “The duration and warmth of Grace Monahan’s smile said life was just grand in her eighth decade. One of those women who’d been a knockout from birth and had avoided addiction to youth.”

Nor is Mr. Kellerman parsimonious with commas, as too many writers are these days. To read his sentences is to hear the pauses and breaks that occur in everyday talk whether serious or humorous. His characters live.

Whether you are a long-time fan or a newcomer to these books, grab up GUILT and prepare for a “can’t put it down” read. show less

It is hard to believe this is the 28th Alex Delaware novel. I love this guy; as in the author and the character. I know the product will be an intelligent novel, albeit with a touch of sarcasm.

Alex and Milo make a fascinating long term crime fighting team; Alex as a tireless and caring psychologist with Milo as a hard edged gay detective. When the bones of a long buried infant are unearthed in an up-and-coming exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood, Alex and Milo are on the cold case. Additional, fresher bones and bodies pop up, and the investigation broadens across the City, enveloping many uniquely LA type characters (at least as this Midwest gal sees them). There is a mix of the 1950s' nostalgia meshed with current day drama that works show more terrifically.

The real craft is in the writing and dialogue, which is spot on. Even though the series is long standing, I never get bored with the action or the characters. I received this book on my first day of vacation and spent many late nights reading it with much joy. show less

While this was an entertaining read with mastermind Alex Delaware, it did not keep me on the edge of my seat. With wild speculations and a plodding intrigue, this books takes the reader in the world of eccentric movie stars who have more charisma than brains. I did enjoy the dynamic between Milo and Alex, as well as the incremental logic, but the buildup was predictable and as such, the story could have been shortened for more dramatic effect.

From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

Let's see...it's the 28th novel in the Alex Delaware series. I think it rocks, honestly. The main characters are Alex Delaware (duh) and Milo Sturgis, Milo is the detective that Alex helps out on occasion (in every single book - *giggle*). There was much more tension between Alex and Milo in this book. In the last novel Alex had saved Milo's life, add to that all the extra footwork Alex put into this one that the captain noticed and commented on while criticizing Milo.

We also got to see a few of Alex's buttons get pushed. He had a rough childhood and it's really colored his life as an adult. But basically Alex is a retired child psychologist. He did the hardest work for years, working with children with terminal show more illness, usually cancer. He had invested wisely, so now he works when he wants too. Yeah, I'm jealous. lol

I love these novels because it's like reading an episode of Law and Order. I don't have to worry about the kids seeing it, they don't read over my shoulder yet. It has all the crime, tension and interpersonal drama that one could ask for. Being that it's a series, it includes the loves of both Alex and Milo.

"'She didn't die pretty.'"
"An outraged activist might call that blaming the victim. Anyone with homicide experience would call it logic."

Hey all, did you know that Milo is a gay lieutenant who is basically given free reign to solve whatever he wants because he has the highest solve rate ever? It's a good thing, because being gay in a police department can't be easy. Kudos to Mr. Kellerman for including that bit of reality in this series. show less