Billy Straight (Mass Market Paperback)

by Jonathan Kellerman (Author) "IN THE PARK YOU SEE THINGS..." (more)
Key Phrases: blond cop, presidents book, Estrella Flores, Detective Connor, Ilse Eggermann (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Kellerman isn't just an Edgar Award-winning thriller writer, he's a prominent child psychologist, and it shows in Billy Straight. The hero is a 12-year-old runaway whose sharp mind and straitlaced moral sense make him fit to survive the lurid jungles of Hollywood. One night hiding in Griffith Park, Billy witnesses the butchering of Lisa Ramsey, the cokehead ex-wife of Cart Ramsey, a crummy actor-golfer once busted for pummeling Lisa. Did Cart knife Lisa, or was it his pathetic old football sidekick Greg Balch?

When O.J. was on trial, Kellerman said, "This wouldn't make a good novel," but some of Kellerman's toughest critics say this funhouse-mirror version of an O.J.-like case is his best, better than his famous Alex Delaware series. Psychologist Dr. Delaware has a bit part here, but the heroine is Detective Petra Connor, his distaff equivalent. Kellerman's main strength is his vivid invention of secondary characters and his skill at juggling subplots. When Petra's media-whore boss puts Billy's police sketch in the paper with a $25,000 reward, two marvelously sub-simian bounty hunters join the chase: a vicious Russian ex-cop and the vile biker boyfriend of Billy's stoned-out, trailer-park mom.

Like the kid hero of Russell Banks's Rule of the Bone, Billy enriches his author's customary milieu by viewing it from a new, low angle. The tale is more taut than Kellerman's 1997 bestseller Survival of the Fittest and more riveting than the O.J. case--the cops are smart and justice has a prayer. --Tim Appelo --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Although this is only the second of Kellerman's 14 novels not to feature psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware (the first was Butcher's Theater, 1988), it has all the author's familiar strengths: a broad cast of well-defined characters, a fast-moving plot and themes sponged from the daily news yet turned fresh. (And Delaware makes a brief appearance at the end.) Twelve-year-old Billy Straight, a precocious homeless kid with a taste for reading, flees Los Angeles in terror after witnessing a murder in Griffith Park. The homicide inquiry is headed by Petra Connor, a determined, intuitive detective, and her partner, Stu Bishop, who is distracted by a family tragedy. The murder victim turns out to be Lisa Ramsey, ex-wife of the famous, and abusive, Cart Ramsey, who plays a private eye on a late-night television series. Kellerman does a fine job revealing how memories of the Simpson case shadow the Ramsey investigation, affecting the ways Petra and Stu are allowed to go about their work. The search for Billy by the cops and several villains forces a comparison with John Grisham's The Client, but Kellerman's novel is far more complex, switching points of view among a multitude of characters and amid a series of distinctive subplots. By the dramatic climax, Kellerman has pushed a number of familiar buttons?but with enough panache and surprises to satisfy his most demanding fans.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (October 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345413865
• ISBN-13: 978-0345413864
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #298,431 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #72 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( K ) > Kellerman, Jonathan

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder/ cruelty/ pathos/a 12 yr. old & Petra Connor, November 1, 1999

By	Joy Marie "Lover of the Written Word" (United States) - See all my reviews

Want to find out about Kellerman's newest sleuth? Pick up this book and enter the terrifying world of a runaway boy who has witnessed a murder. I disagree with a lot of statements in the reviews I have read. First of all, it is not a refreshing change from Alex Delaware. That implies that I am tired of Alex Delaware. I have read all Kellerman's novels and could read about Delaware constantly. It is altogether different from his former novels - so it IS a change and a cleverly woven mystery that wins my applause. That Kellerman can just change his tack and produce as equally scintillating a mystery as he ever has is mind boggling to me. Petra Conner IS refreshing, different, not all brain, not all beauty but an astonishing mixture of both. Her thought processes in solving the many involved aspects of this mystery are fascinating to follow. And Billy Straight is right behind her. He is an intelligent, moral kid whose background does nothing to help him become a survivor, but somehow he manages his day to day life in a scary adult world. His character is very believable - if one is a survivor his/herself and Kellerman has a very good handle on that. A terrific read - no, the killer is not obvious - you just THINK you know. And the end is slam-bang! Kellerman is the consummate writer. I particularly am impressed, in all his novels, by the desciptions of people, places and things. He does it in such a way that you do not realize it - and suddenly the entire picture is in your mind-down to the color of a man's tie and the shape of flowers on the hillside. How interesting that he managed to insert Alex and Milo in between the cracks of his new mystery. I am curious if they will all be together one of these days. All of his books are great- I have already ordered his next book on Delaware: MONSTER - but I am looking forward to more of Petra Connor. Kudos to Kellerman for giving something different a try - and SUCCEEDING!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I hadn't read this book ..., February 8, 2000

By	Torben Hansen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews

... because then I could look forward to a great story and hours of thrilling suspension! I only just recently 'discovered' J.K. and I must say I haven't read a bad book by him so far. And Billy Straight is definitely the best. This is an absolutely great story with plenty of layers and a good plot. I was unable to put it down once I got started and it cost me a good nights sleep and ruined the next day - but who cares :-) Do yourself a favour and read this book - you won't regret it. And then check out some of the other books by Jonathan Kellerman...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ!, December 29, 1999

By	Rene Rieser (CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billy Straight: A Novel (Hardcover)

J. Kellerman leads you on a roller coaster ride of twists and turns in his new novel Billy Straight. I could not put this book down. Each character is so detailed. Billy is a fantastic, brave, and yet vulnerable boy, and Petra is a strong willed leader with a very sensitive side -- both are characters I would like to see in future novels. The book is filled with detailed information only a child phycologist could right about. An added bonus was Alex Delaware's cameo role. A must read for J. Kellerman fans.