Self-Defense

“Just because others have it worse doesn’t mean you have to suffer in silence.”

As usual, Jonathan Kellerman writes a potent tale with his lead detective/psychologist sleuth team. Alex Delaware, renowned retired psychologist, is enlisted by his best friend, detective Milo Sturgis, to help recover a potentially hidden murder from the memory of Lucy Lowell. It's nice to see Delaware in personal clinical setting again, delving into intense emotional sessions to uncover a morbid mystery. Suspense is here as always, and some of the characters such as Lucy's father, are unearthly revolting.

Kellerman's books featuring Alex Delaware have in-depth characterization and intelligent dialogue that seems genuine for the most part. Much of the show more writing style is dialogue based with short, colorful sentences.

One of the better parts of the books, especially if you've been a fan of the series, is that the witness/juror Lucy has a crush on Milo. I loved this awkward situation! Perfect! Alex shows a little more humor than he used to, although he still manages to get into hot water as much as ever.

Speaking again of Lucy, Alex delves into hypnotism, something I'm still not sure about. Is it valid? I have doubts. The scene almost seemed to be stretching it due to that, and also all the convenience that rolled into the plot as a result of this "quick-acting method."

Robin is again in the background as a supportive romance interest that doesn't add much, and again the highlights are the friendship and contrasts between Milo and Alex.

Twists abound and the ending left me surprised, uncovering something I hadn't been able to guess. This wasn't as captivating as some of his others, however. Some of the plot threads weren't as interesting, some seemed a bit too convenient, and there's a lot going on that can feel disjointed. show less

Kellerman lost my faith in him massively in this book. He is not a thriller writer of the traditional ilk. He is a keen observer and a great describer. He is at his best when he reveals the details of people and their habitats.

But the things he is good at are bad for the thriller genre. This bulky collection could have been a wonderful showcase of his talents and in a way they are. But Kellerman cannot make his victims count.

He can show violence brilliantly, but cannot reveal the tragedy behind the violence. Whenever he succeeds at this though, it is at the expense of interest, suspense, pacing, and development.

This Alex Delaware novel contains less over-the-top plotting than most in the series, so it moves along with reasonable assurance and plausibility for most of its considerable length. In short, Delaware's treating a young woman who's remembered a scary incident from her childhood. Was it murder? The complication is that the incident in question involves her father, who's a famously reclusive writer/artist. He's a silly character indeed -- Kellerman shouldn't have tried to make him sound like a dime-store Hemingway on speed every time he opens his mouth -- but this flaw isn't fatal. What absolutely kills off Self-defense is the last 30 pages or so, in which the intricacies of the denouement are explicated via a series of disastrously show more boring depositions given to lawyers. show less

Somewhat better motivated book than the last. Still nothing much in the way of psychological insight, not even real dream interpretation. Literary block and pseudo-Nietzchean blather.

I’m getting a bit tired of the little blonde innocents as patients. This is one instance where the date of publication definitely hinders reading it many years later. It might have been cutting edge then, it wouldn’t be published now.

Dr Alex Delaware doesn't see many private patients any more, but for a young woman called Lucy Lowell he's prepared to make an exception. Referred to him by the police detective Milo Sturgis, Lucy had been a juror at the harrowing trial of a serial killer, and having survived that trauma is now being subjected to further emotional stress: a recurrent nightmare of a young child in a forest at night, watching something as furtive as it is disturbing. Now Lucy's dream is starting to disrupt her waking life, and Alex believes the power of the dream and its grip on her emotions may be a repressed childhood memory of something very real.

If there was such a thing as a forensic psychologist procedural, this would be it. Lots of focus on investigative procedure, psychologist talking things through with his detective friend. Rather dry. The most impressive thing about the book is the way the author manages to pull together a conspiracy involving ten distinct characters in a way that makes sense in the end.