Obsession

I've enjoyed the Alex Delaware series for years. Great characters, fast-paced and surprisingly twisting plots, with plenty of intrigue, banter, and intelligence, as well as a healthy dose of criminal psychology. I think most of the ones I've read have been 4-4.5 star reads for me. This one, in comparison, fell a little bit below Kellerman's standard. It was fine as thrillers go, and his characters were just as engaging as always. The plot just felt a bit more scattered and messy, the case overall a little bit less urgent and immediate. As an escape read, it was just fine, but I suspect it's one that will be seen as lower than the normal bar when it comes to this series.

Eh. I was obsessed by this book! I literally could not put it down ... but I kept waiting for it to get better! I wasn't interested in the whole "death bed confession" and "protecting Tanya" angle. I kept waiting for the "OMG!" and it never came ... Never.

During the conversation scenes of the book I wanted to be there so bad! I kept saying, like, "You're missing something ... maybe his palm print got there another way!" and overly analyzing Tanya's words -- "I don't know how someone lives with killing someone else..." She did it! She's the killer! And then the white convertible ... OMG IT'S THE BOYFRIEND! I knew he couldn't be trusted!

And it wasn't any of that ... ::Heavy sigh::

Still, you can't go wrong with Alex Delaware

Mega-best-selling Kellerman delivers another psychological suspense tale starring shrink hero Alex Delaware.

This is a better read than the last couple in this series. As looked inevitable at the end of the last one, Delaware's lover Robyn is back - but there is no explanation or backstory. Milo is still Milo. There are some interesting additions tothe normal cast, including Petra and Raoul, both detectives. At times the plot is sketchy and other characters are sketchily drawn, except for Delaware's new dog, Blanche, who receives far more intensive development than any human in the book. Kellerman also takes the shortcut of having his characters deliver plot details and provide background motivations in artificial dialogue that should show more have been left to an omniscient narrator.

The story centers on a young woman, whom Delaware treated as a child and who returns to tell the psychologist of the deathbed confession of her aunt and adopted mother - a woman whom Alex remembers as a heroically capable mother and nurse. The recently deceased woman allegedly told her niece that she had killed someone.

The crux of the mystery is whether there was a murder at all, or whether it was the medication talking, or guilt over a patient's death. Delaware and Milo follow the tangled trail to a surprising conclusion.

There is no doubt this is a well-written pacy tale, but the series is losing some of its initial impact. Alex seems too good to be true; Milo is turning into an archetype; and other characters are not well developed. Perhaps it is time to rest this pairing - or maybe even kill off some of the regulars. show less

A former patient, Tanya Bigelow, wants his help in contacting Milo to get some help in checking out what seems to be a death-bed confession from her adopted mother, Patty, a highly regarded ER nurse. Alex correctly points out that there may be no crime at all, but Tanya wants to know. Tanya becomes Alex's patient again as her obsessive-compulsive tendencies resurface in the wake of becoming an orphan for the second time.

If you have not read any of this series, I would encourage you to avoid this one. Many of the early ones in the series are outstanding. This one is just mediocre. I gave it three stars because I like Blanche, the dog.

Having been lured back to the Alex Delaware series by "Killer", I moved on to "Obsession" and found myself sadly disappointed. Before getting to the reason why, I should note one major positive. Like "Killer" (and unlike several other fairly recent books in the series), "Obsession" does show Alex functioning as a believable psychologist, and it does develop a real relationship between him and his patient, even going into what he tries to do to help her. But the story seems wrapped up in in talk: events are retailed though long discussions and conversations, characters get blurry, and at times the plot was less than clear. Also, the violence seems almost gratuitous, and there is a simmering undertone of anger in a lot of the show more conversation, particularly among the cops. I'm sure that's realistic, but it's not related to the story, and it gets wearing. After reading "Killer", I was ready to jump back on the Delaware train, but this book doesn't provide much incentive to stay there. show less

This book was something of a curate's egg - good in parts. As far as I was concerned, the plot strained credulity, and I kept loosing track of who the characters were. My habit of finishing a book I've started kept me going to the end, but I wonder why as I rushed through the last chapters just to get it over with. Having said that, there was some interesting stuff about OCD and how psychologists deal with it that were worth reading.

Kellerman writes an intelligent, compelling story. Psychologist Alex Delaware moves the story along. In this tale, Tanya Bigelow suffers from OCD. Her aunt/mother makes a death bed confession that causes her to seek Alex and Milo Sturgis' help. Each event unfolds on the next leading eventually to the killer(s).