Twisted

If you're a Kellerman fan who has found the pairing of psychologist Alex Delaware and cop Milo Sturgis growing stale lately, you're in for a treat. Neither makes an appearance in this taut, suspenseful thriller, featuring ambitious L.A. homicide detective Petra Conner (last seen helping Delaware in "A Cold Heart"), and brilliant, but socially immature young PHD student, Isaac Gomez, who nearly steals the limelight from Conner.

This is a police procedural that has it all: murderers to apprehend, character relationships to explore, and the tension of a race against time.

Conner is awakened by an early morning call that four teenagers have just been gunned down in the parking lot of the Paradiso Club on Sunset Boulevard. Disappointingly, show more the eighteen "know-nothing" witnesses provide minimal information, no leads and no motive. In fact, the mystery is compounded by the fact that one of the young victims has no identification. Thus, the department quickly reduces the manpower assigned to the case and it appears that it may end up in the cold case file.

At the same time that Petra struggles with no leads except rumours of a possible witness in hiding, Gomez has been analysing homicide statistical patterns. A poster child for immigrant Hispanic slum kids, Isaac graduated college at 19 and was headed for medical school. But, needing a break, he sidestepped to a doctorate, and now, at 21, he's doing his thesis on patterns in LA homicides. At first sceptical - the victims have nothing in common but the date and manner of their deaths (blunt force trauma on June 28) - Petra becomes more intrigued as she reviews the old cases.

Meanwhile, she's developing a theory of her own about the drive-by, and letting Isaac trail along on some of the footwork in both cases. Isaac is nearly as smitten by the details of police work as he is by Petra, but she can't always be babysitting him. The prickliness between them works: Petra's got her own complicated life, and she's aware of Isaac's infatuation, while Isaac is painfully shy and conflicted between the lure of the wider world and the pull of his impoverished, close-knit family.

The dynamics of the two cases contribute to the tension (June 28th is looming, but Petra develops a hot lead on the drive-by), as does Isaac's loose-cannon quality. Smart he undeniably is, but he's also impulsive, quick to succumb to temptation, and secretive.

The story builds to a nail-biting climax with a satisfying last-minute twist. I predict we haven't seen the last of Isaac Gomez. show less

I liked this one better than recent Delaware installments. A little stretch in plausibility and some other false notes, but I enjoyed the Isaac Gomez character--his genius and his escapades in love.

This was my first Kellerman book, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I don’t know if any of the characters have a back story. Even so I found them believable and complex with some flaws. I prefer my characters real as opposed to heroic. They had flaws but were interesting and likable or unlikable in some cases. Another Petra Connor story would be of interest to me.

The Los Angeles settings were painted descriptively and thoroughly without excess verbosity. I can picture them clearly in my mind. I think I most enjoyed the scenes in the precinct house with the interactions of different police staff.

In my opinion the plot did not stray into implausibility. The finale was satisfying and not overly tidy. I expect I will be reading Kellerman again.

A year has passed since the Cold Heart murders and Detective Petra Connor is, once again, working Hollywood Homicide solo. She has just solved three gang-related killings and is feeling pretty good about herself – about life in general – when Isaac Gomez waltzes into her office and tells her he's found something she might want to take a look at. A twenty-two-year-old prodigy researching a Ph.D. in sociology, Isaac has gained access to LAPD case files. But while combing the files, the brilliant young man has come upon a series of apparently unrelated murders all committed shortly after midnight on the exact same date: June 28. Can this be purely coincidence? As Petra 's curiosity leads her to investigate further, she becomes convinced show more that something evil has managed to conceal itself within the dry pages of the cold-case files. Killings so diabolical and meticulously constructed that they would have remained invisible but for the probing mind of a young, naive genius. To make matters worse, June 28 is only a month away… show less

In Kellerman’s second book to focus exclusively on LAPD detective Petra Connor, Petra is involved in two cases simultaneously. First, four teens are gunned down at a concert with no apparent motive and one victim is proving difficult to identify. Second, Petra’s genius intern has identified a pattern of murders occurring on June 28 every year with the same cause of death.

Both investigations move at a realistic pace (which I appreciate, because a lot of crime shows and novels portray crimes as being solved in a matter of days which never happens in real life); when one slows down, the other picks up and keeps up the suspense of the novel. Though I found the book difficult to put down throughout, it was impossible to tear my eyes away show more from the last four chapters. I think I spilled juice on myself trying to read and drink at the same time. I really like Petra and wish Kellerman would write more about her. show less

A fine novel. Interesting plot, not too over the top. Kellerman writes a story centered on Petra Connor, the Hollywood homicide detective from Billy Straight and A cold heart. The secondary characters are well rounded and somewhat unpredictable. We are reintroduced to Eric Stahl, who's become attached to the anti terrorist unit and no longer partnered with Petra but has become her long distance lover.

Kellerman also created a character that could have been the ultimate Marty Sue but somewhat isn't. Isaac Gomez is a young genius from an immigrant family who at 22 is finishing up his Ph. D. with a internship at the Hollywood police station looking thru old cases and trying to find patterns. And he does. A serial killer that only kills on show more June 28th. It's a page turner.

There's a librarian character that, well, it does break some stereotypes but probably creates others. Do you really think a librarian would jump a poor younger student in the library? I don't know. It's fun to read about a librarian that's not all frumpy and prim but going to the other extreme is also not really what I find interesting. But the character was a competent librarian. Horny but competent. show less

This was a super fast read and one of Kellerman’s better works. I really do like Petra but Kellerman is very, very vague with her development, although that surprisingly doesn’t hurt the story. Delaware and Sturgis are briefly mentioned in this, but aren’t involved. Again, there was a way to work them in easily but I like that Kellerman didn’t. While the title character from the first work is briefly mentioned, I think Isaac would be interesting to have as a pop-up character from time to time. I’m disappointed to see that Kellerman hasn’t continued the series, especially as he left the opening there for future works. Here’s hoping that this isn’t really the last we see of Petra.