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Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23)
 
 
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Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) [Hardcover]

Jonathan Kellerman (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)


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More from Jonathan Kellerman
When it comes to writing deftly layered, tightly coiled psychological thrillers, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman reigns supreme. Visit Amazon's Jonathan Kellerman Page.

Book Description

October 21, 2008
When it comes to writing deftly layered, tightly coiled novels of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman reigns supreme as “master of the psychological thriller” (People). Now, Kellerman has worked his magic again in this chilling new masterpiece.

The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something “real dead . . . buried in your marsh.” The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it’s a prank, but when a young woman’s body turns up in L.A.’s Bird Marsh preserve no one’s laughing. And when the bones of more victims surface, homicide detective Milo Sturgis realizes the city’s under siege to an insidious killer. Milo’s first move: calling in psychologist Alex Delaware.

The murdered women are prostitutes–except the most recent victim; a brilliant young musician from the East Coast, employed by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy, Selena Bass seems out of place in the marsh’s grim tableau.

Conveniently–perhaps ominously–Selena’s blueblood employers are nowhere to be found, and their estate’ s jittery caretaker raises hackles. But Milo’s instincts and Alex’s insight are too well-honed to settle for easy answers, even given the dark secrets in this troubled man’s past. Their investigation unearths disturbing layers–about victims, potential victims, and suspects alike–plunging even deeper into the murky marsh’s enigmatic depths.

Bizarre details of the crimes suggest a devilish serial killer prowling L.A.’s gritty streets. But when a new murder deviates from the pattern, derailing a possible profile, Alex and Milo must look beyond the suspicion of madness and consider an even more sinister mind at work. Answers don’t come easy, but the darkest of drives and desires may fuel the most devious of foes.

Bones is classic Kellerman–relentlessly peeling back the skin and psyches of its characters and revealing the shadows and sins of the souls beneath. With jolt after jolt of galvanizing suspense, it drives the reader through its twists and turns toward a climax as satisfying as it is shattering.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this run-of-the-mill police procedural from bestseller Kellerman, his 23rd novel to feature L.A. consulting psychologist Alex Delaware (after Compulsion), high school miscreant Chance Brandt has been assigned to perform community service at the Bird Marsh, a nature sanctuary near Marina del Rey. After Chance dismisses as a prank an anonymous phone call warning him that there's a corpse buried in the marsh, Lt. Milo Sturgis, now Special Case Investigator for the LAPD, and Sturgis's team find four bodies there, all women missing their right hand. When Sturgis identifies one of the victims as Selena Bass, who worked as a piano teacher for the wealthy Vander family, the police focus on Travis Huck, the manager of the Vanders' Pacific Palisades estate, as the prime suspect because Travis has a criminal past. Kellerman fans wanting more of the same should be satisfied, though Sturgis gets less benefit from Delaware's psychological expertise than usual. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Two intriguing preliminary chapters suck readers right in to Kellerman’s latest Alex Delaware thriller, even though Delaware is disappointingly less active than usual in the story—doing hardly more than relating the circumstances surrounding the crime that he and his cop buddy, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, are determined to solve. The mutilated corpse of a young music teacher, who turns out to be less than prim and proper, is dumped in a protected wetland. Nearby, buried in the marsh, are several more bodies, all of prostitutes whose right hands have been hacked off. Clues lead Sturgis and Delaware to the palatial digs of the music teacher’s young student, who is nowhere to be found. The only one home is the family’s gofer, who apparently has a juvenile record. Sturgis’ antennae really start twitching, though, when the young man disappears. Surely that’s the act of a guilty man. If the whole isn’t quite as suspenseful as initial chapters promise, Kellerman’s intriguing, often oddball characters (including a rookie detective) deliver the goods in this briskly paced procedural. Not among the long-running series’ best entries, but fans will be sufficiently entertained. --Stephanie Zvirin

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1ST edition (October 21, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345495136
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345495136
  • Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Kellerman is one of the world's most popular authors. He has brought his expertise as a clinical psychologist to more than thirty bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher's Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted,and True Detectives. With his wife, the novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored the bestsellers Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. He is the author of numerous essays, short stories, scientific articles, two children's books, and three volumes of psychology, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children, as well as the lavishly illustrated With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award.

Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California and New Mexico. Their four children include the novelist Jesse Kellerman.

 

Customer Reviews

63 Reviews
5 star:
 (16)
4 star:
 (14)
3 star:
 (19)
2 star:
 (10)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (63 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars I liked "old" Alex better....., January 22, 2009
By 
911gal (Mc Farland, WI) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) (Hardcover)
I just don't know about the direction this series is taking in the last few books. It used to be that Alex was a child psychologist, and occasionally he'd run across something he needed Milo's help on, or Milo would need Alex's take on a crime so that he (Milo) understood it better. Alex's patients were interesting and his cases were interesting.

Now, Alex might as well be a cop. He goes along with Milo on every interview and every meeting, sits by while he does on-line research, and only seems to go home when Milo is going to type his report. Also, in earlier novels only Alex talked like a psychologist (Witness: "I didn't really get what was going on." Alex: "You had a hard time understanding the situation.") In this book, both Milo and Reed talk that way too. Sometimes I had to go back and really figure out who was speaking as they all sounded like Alex.

This book was OK, but I'd like Alex to go back to his career and leave the cop work to Milo.
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51 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars He's back in fine form, October 21, 2008
By 
This review is from: Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) (Hardcover)
Jonathan Kellerman's books have been up and down for me in the last few years. It seems that once Robin left, the storylines left with her.

However, in Bones, Kellerman's newest book, I finally found the "old" Alex. Witty, genuine, interesting. The story of murder of prostitutes and of a music prodigy is the center plot, but for me, what worked best in this novel was the strength of the Alex character (something that had been missing in the last few books) he felt present in this storyline.

Of course, Milo is back and the banter and relationship between these two is always priceless.

The story moves at a rapid pace and was intriguing enough to keep me reading throughout with an ending that was a tad predictable, but nonetheless satisfying.

Finally, Alex is back.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Grim Treasure Trove..., November 17, 2008
This review is from: Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) (Hardcover)
When a body is discovered, via anonymous tip and openly displayed in a marsh near LA, the strangest thing about it is the missing right hand. Shortly thereafter, three other bodies are discovered - also missing hands.

Then a man who goes to auctions for the contents of storage units finds a carved box containing small bones. Polished bones, like a treasure. The bones turn out to be human hands.

Detective Milo Sturgis and his sidekicks, along with Dr. Alex Delaware, the psychologist who frequently consults for the LAPD, all team up to search for what now appears to be a very disturbed killer.

Almost immediately, the first victim's connection to a wealthy family, whose musical prodigy child is a student of hers, leads to the pursuit of the caretaker, who has gone missing. Or is he hiding?

Most of the fun in the story is following the clues as the assorted team of "detectives" pursues the connections and where they lead.

Like most of Kellerman's Alex Delaware stories, this one is told with Alex as the first-person narrator - this technique lends itself to understanding how his clever mind works, as he sorts through the clues and speculates about the possibilities. We also are privy to a bird's eye view of his personal life, including his long term relationship with Robin.

These segues into the lighter moments of Alex's life, including his friendship with Milo Sturgis, help to lighten what could otherwise be a very grim tale.

And not at all surprising is the final revelation as to the motives and nature of the perpetrator/s - after all, the art of misdirection has been at play throughout the circuitous path to resolution.

Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) is a must-read for Kellerman fans.


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Inside This Book (learn more)
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
marsh murders
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Moe Reed, Travis Huck, Aaron Fox, Simone Vander, Alma Reynolds, Debora Wallenburg, Selena Bass, Emily Green Bass, Save the Marsh, Steve Brandt, Susan Brandt, Bird Marsh, Kelly Vander, Faye Martin, Joe Otto, Buddy Weir, San Diego, Liz Wilkinson, Hong Kong, Marc Green, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Chance Brandt, Silford Duboff, Moses Reed
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