The Murder Book

I'm really enjoying the Alex Delaware series, and this book didn't disappoint. What made it my favorite so far, though, is the way Kellerman delved into Milo Sturgis' character and brought him to life in a new and more careful fashion, so that we got more of his backstory and persona than I'd really seen before. I'm sure some readers might disagree and feel that the balancing between Sturgis and Delaware was a disappointment, as it did make for a different book than others in the series, but I thought it was a fantastic choice which offered a change of pace while still delivering on all of the story, depth, and character I've come to expect from this series.

This is one of the older Alex Delaware books and it felt a bit dated to me. I found myself skipping over sections, finding the story a little predictable and having little interest in the drama in Alex's personal life. The analysis by Alex seemed fairly rote and I could see the ending coming for a while, the only surprise being the appearance by the bounty hunters which seemed more of a device to not involve a possibly corrupt police force. I liked Milo and would have liked the story to revolve more around him. It's an okay book, not bad, but not good.

Alex Delaware, psychologist and consultant to the LAPD, has just taken his longtime girlfriend, Robin, to Paris to try to repair past ills. Instead of falling back in love with him, she's gone off on an extended music tour. He's alone in Los Angeles when the official blue album shows up at his door, filled with hideous and seemingly unrelated crime scene shots and titled "The Murder Book." He promptly calls his friend Milo Sturgis, an LAPD detective. Turns out one of the victims in the book, a badly mutilated teenage girl, was Milo's first unsolved homicide -- a homicide he might have closed if he hadn't been mysteriously shut down from within his own department. The two men's determination to discover who sent the book quickly grows show more into a need to resolve once and for all an atrocity that has been closely guarded by the rich and powerful for over twenty years.

The Murder Book is really Milo's story and the suspense unfolds as he reopens the case without much backup and a lot of interference in the department. It's a good read. show less

Interesting for a non-serial killer killing. The detection is good, albeit Alex's guessing is just too good. I am not sure I understand the ending. I hope this clears up in the sequel. Alex turns into a real asshole when Robin leaves. To me, evidence that relationships should not take center stage in good detective fiction.

I decided to give J Kellerman one more try but I find with each of his books I never really get engaged with the main characters. I don't feel a desire to find out what will happen next. They are not bad or poorly written, but neither are they very interesting to me.

Alex Delaware's relationship with his longterm partner is on the rocks. He is floored when Robin announces she's heading off on a three-month music tour. But he soon has other things to think about. He is sent an envelope with no return address. Inside, he finds an album with gold letters on it – THE MURDER BOOK. It's full of macabre pictures of murders, with brief descriptions of how, and why, the victims died. One picture is marked 'Not solved' – the horrifically mutilated body of a young woman. Unsettled, Alex calls his friend, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, who seems strangely familiar with the case. What connects the photograph with Milo 's past? What's more, why has it been sent to Alex – and by whom? Ingenious, shocking, show more unpredictable, THE MURDER BOOK is a masterpiece of suspense fiction that is Jonathan Kellerman at his best. show less

Meh. I didn't like Alex Delaware or Milo Sturgis. Could be because I was reading #16 instead of #1. Still, I didn't like the book or the characters enough to go back to the beginning. Other than that, the writing was strong. I would recommend this for any that likes crime/suspense/thrillers.