Customer Reviews

Bad Love

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Bad Love was my first Kellerman book. I picked it up at a garage sale a couple of years ago. Needless to say when I was finished with it I was searching the bookcase for more of his. I had a hard time putting it down. I liked the style of writing, it kept my interest. It had a lot of characters and sometimes I had to think on which one was which, but it keeps your mind going. I fell in love with Delawares friendship (Milo), romance (Robin) and his own get up and go. I don't know if I found the book so good due to the fact that is was my first Kellerman or because it got me hooked on him. I think after reading 4 books of his that I picked the right one to read first. I liked Kellerman's style of writing, the introduction, climax and ending were all equal and made it very hard to put down. When I finished it I gave it to a friend and now she is on her 4th book of his, needless to say her hubby is not to happy with me. LOL You will be hooked on Kellerman's books after you read this one!!

The cassette tape arrives one morning in a plain brown wrapper with no return address. Alex Delaware, curious, puts it cautiously into his tape player, and a nightmare opens up before him. There is a long, soul-tearing scream, and then a child chanting the phrase, "Bad love, bad love, don't give me the bad love."

Shortly after, he receives a mysterious phone call, and then confronts a cruel act of vandalism against him, and is forced to admit that someone, for some twisted reason, has him in their sights.

He desperately searches his memory for recognition of the phrase "bad love", and eventually links it to a symposium he attended many years ago, dedicated to the work of child psychologist Andres de Bosch. Puzzled about how this could possibly link back to his taunter, Alex tries to get in contact with some of the other delegates, and discovers a chilling and random series of deaths amongst them.

This is the best Delaware book so far (I am slowly but dedicatedly making my way through the series.) It contains everything that makes Jonathan Kellerman books good. Plenty of psychology, his characters, his probingly analytical writing style (which, I must admit now, doesn't serve actions too well) and possibly the best plot he's dreamt up so far. Existing fans will love it, and newcomers to the series would do well to start at the beginning (When the Bough Breaks) and just look forward to this gem.

Kellerman's plotting is fluid, original, and moves at very good pace. It's also wonderful to witness Alex as he tries to work his way into the twisted and distorted logic of a killer and find even hints of a possible motive. The only times when this book falls down are when, occasionally, his prose seems too detached, and there are a couple too many characters. Otherwise, this is an excellent addition to a good series.

'Bad Love' starts off tame enough, but after a few chapters I was engrossed and intrigued. I love Rover/Spike the dog. He is so lovable.

I really enjoy Jonathan Kellerman's books. I am always eager to pick up another one and spend time with Alex, Milo and Robin again. This novel is excellent for the psychology of psychotics. I was burning to find out who was committing all these murders and WHY! The ending of this book was suspenseful, thorough and detailed. I don't believe J. Kellerman left any loose threads.

In this book, Alex is caught up in a whirl of brutal killings and possible murders and he may be the next victim. As he and Milo track the killer(s?)they slowly gather clues and motives.

I really enjoyed this book because the author keeps you guessing for a long time. I also like the friendship between Milo and Alex. Not too many friends like that around.

The extra treat in this book is the dog. What a sweetie!~

I have read a couple of Kellerman's books and I really liked this one. Kellerman has a knack for pulling you into the mystery until you too are rubbing your hand over your face in concentration and confusion like Milo. I was totally surprised at the ending. You were pulled from one murder to another with the only connection being the words "Bad Love". When Kellerman pulls all the loose ends together you still get a big suprise of who and why. I highly recommend this quick reading, enticing murder MYSTERY.

This is my third Kellerman book. It's generally pretty entertaining, but nowhere near as good as the other two I've read (The Web and The Clinic). As always, the Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis characters are a real treat, but this particular novel's plot is a bit on the dull side, and moves too slowly. And of course, to top it all of, you've got what Roger Ebert calls "The Fallacy of The Talking Killer," where the killer has the hero cornered, and only has to shoot the hero and be done with it, but instead chooses to tell a long, convoluted story of why he did it. It helps out the reader, but gee whiz, isn't there a more realistic way to wrap things up? Anyway, overall it was a fairly good read, but I highly recommend Kellerman newbies start out with The Web, or better yet, The Clinic.

I found this book very interesting, and well done, I enjoy listening to audio books in my car due to the fact I spend a lot of time there and can listen on a long trip or short one or just every time I get in it I listen to another piece of the plot. This book kept my attention so well I got to my destination before I knew it.

Bad Love is a well-written Alex Delaware novel, and we enjoyed it much more than some of his other earlier books in this series, as it moves along and also has good hits of Robin and Milo, his companions in life.

My wife has been bugging me to check out Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series for some time. She thought that my insatiable habit of reading mystery novels would be satisfied by Mr. Kellerman's work. (my mystery favorites include the entire Perry Mason run, as well as Robert Crais' Elvis Cole novels) She was correct, I am now a huge fan, and I highly recommend them to you!

Kellerman's Delaware series features a rich cast of characters, intelligent plot lines, and just the right amount of drama, comedy, and suspense. The main characters of Alex, Robin, and Milo (and to a lesser degree, the dog Spike) become familiar friends, whose adventures are compelling and exciting. Kellerman finds a good mix in advancing the story through detailed descriptions of characters or locations as well as engaging dialog. His ability to sweep you up in the action is reminiscent of Tom Clancy's roller coaster plots. I find that when I get to the last third of the book, I must keep reading to the end because I can't put it down!

I have two regrets regarding Kellerman, however. The first is that I did not read his stuff sooner. The second is that I did not read them in order. If you decide to read Kellerman's novels, read them in chronological order, and your enjoyment will be even greater!

Kellerman in BAD LOVE pens another story in the life of child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware. This time the story is intriguing, and will make the hair on the back of your neck stand! Alex recieves a tape that screams bad love, bad love. Next thing he knows he's the target of someone! For all he knows it could have something to do with a symposium he co-orated, on or it could have something to do with the two little girls he is counseling after their father murders their mother.

Join Alex in this extremely tantalizing, can't put down, keep you up reading at night book!

Kudos Kellerman for penning another exciting Alex Delaware book, and for making me stay up all night reading it! You will probably spend your nights awake reading it too!

I believe this book was written in 94, well thank God Kellerman has come a long way since then. I can't say I would or wouldn't recommend the book. It definitely wasn't great, it drolled on, much too detailed. Why in Gods name do I need to know that there were polka dots on the mans tie? Word fill - thats all it was- to make a fatter book I suppose - its a publication thing - word count and so on. Or he had a great idea for the book and had to have filler, cuz the general idea without it was too small for a grand novel. It was a good idea for a story, just way too drawn out, too much filler and crap mentioned that didn't have anything to do with the story or how it played out. I had it pegged who did what and why, so it was sort of predictable, but still good enough.
Kellerman has defintly come along way from this. If this is your first Kellerman read, don't bother 'til later, after you've read others. Enjoy some of the others and you'll see how great Kellerman really is. Billy Straight and Monster were awesome. If you did read this as your first and only Kellerman and then gave up on him - don't - keep going. Its worth it.

enjoy
heidi, avid reader
poe to patterson
iwannabaduck@yahoo.com