Flesh and Blood

Alex was a little more judgemental than usual with some of these suspects, but I'm glad the author showed him again that sometimes there are just good people out there after all. This one hits closer to home and we see an emotional side of Alex when he discovers a bad fate of a formal patient. It's not my favorite of the mysteries, but as always, a good one.

As always, a trusted and enjoyable read!!
This one was heavy on the treatment of gays, which is something I haven't noticed in the previous books of his I've read and something I found interesting. In no way complaining!!

This was a great summer read ... nothing gory or heavy. Just enjoyable! Well, as enjoyable as a murder mystery can be :-)

Adrianne

When Alex Delaware first saw Lauren Teague she was a sullen teenager with the usual problems: bad grades at school, moody, uncommunicative with her parents – which is why they thought she needed to see a psychologist. Then years later, a shock: at a bachelor party for a fellow doctor, Delaware finds himself uncomfortably watching two strippers going through a degrading display – and one of them is Lauren Teague. And now her mother is pleading for help once again. Lauren has disappeared – and she thinks Delaware can find her. He's not so sure – but when her disappearance turns into a murder investigation, he knows he owes it to the dead girl to find out what demons drove her to such a horrifying end

Flesh and Blood has all of the elements required for a good murder mystery, mostly believable characters, a number of suspects emerge and fade, until the real baddie appears with powerful motives and the bodies begin to pile up. The essential twist in the tail comes not with the revelation of the murderer but with the consequent rehabilitation of previous suspects and surprising bloodline connections. The plot veers between seedy low life and seedy high life with the occasional unlikely segue but that can be forgiven as I found this to be an enjoyable, well structured and nicely paced thriller.

My review from February 25, 2003:

An enjoyable, fast -paced who-done-it!

It's been a long time since I read a Jonathan Kellerman novel but it certainly does not seem like he's lost his edge! This was a fast-paced , hard-to-put down mystery and I had fun reading it.
This is another story about Alex Delaware, the child psychologist turned criminal investigator, his long-time girlfriend Robin and his friend, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis. This time Alex is dealing with a blast from his past when a patient, Lauren Teague, who he treated 2-3 times many years before turns up in a dumpster after being murdered. Her involvement in prostitution and stripping thickens the plot and leads Alex and the reader to some fascinating conclusions.

This book show more kept me guessing until the end and has re-awakened me to Jonathan Kellerman's writing. show less

Flesh and Blood isn't an outstanding novel, but it is a decent novel.

It has all the elements of a good murder mystery/'who dunnit' without any of the gaping plot holes that some other novels of late have included.

Essentially a young woman turns up dead whose past is less than innocent involving prostitution & stripping. As the story develops a number of possible motives emerge along with a number of possible suspects, none quiet fitting the bill. Then the second half of the story frames the underlying plot developments, a few more bodies emerge and the story hones in on those responsible in a climatic main plot ending, after which the novel continues a little to resolve all of the secondary plots.

Enjoyable read.

Although the plot of this potboiler is preposterous at points, I'm finding Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series disarmingly fun to read.