Compulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$2.81 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Compulsion (Alex Delaware, No. 22)
 
 
Start reading Compulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Compulsion (Alex Delaware, No. 22) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jonathan Kellerman (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)

Price: $9.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
  Special Offers Available
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Monday, January 30? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
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

August 26, 2008
Once again, the depths of the criminal mind and the darkest side of a glittering city fuel #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s brilliant storytelling. And no one conducts a more harrowing and suspenseful manhunt than the modern Sherlock Holmes of the psyche, Dr. Alex Delaware.

A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. These and other bizarre acts of cruelty and psychopathology are linked only by the killer’s use of luxury vehicles and a baffling lack of motive. The ultimate whodunits, these crimes demand the attention of LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his collaborator on the crime beat, psychologist Alex Delaware.

What begins with a solitary bloodstain in a stolen sedan quickly spirals outward in odd and unexpected directions, leading Delaware and Sturgis from the well-heeled center of L.A. society to its desperate edges; across the paths of commodities brokers and transvestite hookers; and as far away as New York City, where the search thaws out a long-cold case and exposes a grotesque homicidal crusade. The killer proves to be a fleeting shape-shifter, defying identification, leaving behind dazed witnesses and death–and compelling Alex and Milo to confront the true face of murderous madness.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • This item is eligible for our 4-for-3 promotion. Eligible products include select Books and Home & Garden items. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

Compulsion (Alex Delaware, No. 22) + Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) + Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel
Price For All Three: $29.97

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together
  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) $9.99

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel $9.99

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rubinstein, who has had a long, successful run as the voice of Kellerman's popular hero, Dr. Alex Delaware, has seldom been more appreciated than on this rather mediocre entry in the series. While the doctor and his gruff, gay LAPD detective pal Milo Sturgis slog through a now too-familiar witness-to-witness search for a killer (in this case, a particularly loathsome one who uses disguises and pricy black automobiles), Rubinstein revs up the action, providing the secondary characters with an energetic array of on-target vocals and refining and deepening his stellar interpretations of the leads. Thanks to him, there's a nuanced wistfulness in Delaware's approach to both the hunt for the killer and his ever-shifting relationship with girlfriend Robin. And Sturgis's gravelly growl has a definitive quality that suggests a maturity both tougher and more thoughtful than in the past.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Booklist

L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware’s insights into human behavior once again prove invaluable to his friend, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis. In the duo’s twenty-first crime outing, narrated as usual by Delaware, a stolen black luxury car provides the two with the first link in a case of brutal murders that ultimately leads to one of Kellerman’s most warped villains. When Sturgis is called in by a young officer to consult on a bloodstain found in a recovered Bentley, Delaware rides along, as he does later when Sturgis hurries to the scene of the brutal stabbing of an elderly woman, which took place in broad daylight. The perpetrator of this second crime was identified as an elderly man driving a pricey black car. Add to this the mystery of a missing thirtysomething party girl, and there’s plenty to occupy investigators. Though their path to success seems less grounded than usual, the comfortable banter that has helped make Delaware and Sturgis such durable crime-story heroes is as rapid-fire, keen, and wryly funny as ever, and the mystery they aim to solve is certainly not routine. Enhanced by an assortment of quirky supporting characters cut from vintage Kellerman cloth, this is a genuine page-turner sure to please the author’s legion of devoted fans. --Stephanie Zvirin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (August 26, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345465288
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345465283
  • Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 7.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,938 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

89 Reviews
5 star:
 (14)
4 star:
 (26)
3 star:
 (17)
2 star:
 (18)
1 star:
 (14)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (89 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars 2008 Installment in the Alex Delaware Crime Series, March 25, 2008
It's early spring, time for Jonathan Kellerman's latest addition to his Alex Delaware crime novel series. For those who don't know Alex is an LA psychologists who often works with LAPD detective Milo Sturgis to solve crimes perpetrated by crazed psychopaths. The strength of these novels is Kellerman's clear crisp writing and his knack for describing LA life (in this latest novel Alex also makes a quick trip to Manhattan) for the poor, the mighty and those in between. The weakness is the preposterous elements of some of his latest plots though this years COMPULSION is actually better than last years really unlikely OBSESSION. Another weakness in many of the latest books in the series is Alex's ever annoying, "perfect", girlfriend, Robin, but thankfully she is off stage for most of this outing. Milo, Alex's gay detective sidekick is a much more interesting and sympathetic character.

The plot of COMPULSION involves a series of disparate murders and the victims include a twenty something shop clerk, a retired school teacher and two beauty salon workers. All these crimes seem to have in common is the murderer arrived in a large dark luxury car and the murders were especially brutal. Will Alex and Milo be able to tie the cases together and solve them with one suspect? Well, what do you think? There is also a subplot about a young boy who has been missing for years and of course our heroes are able to tie that crime up too. COMPULSION is a fast paced very readable novel and Kellerman is a good enough writer that this reader forgives his increasing "by the numbers" approach to plotting.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


50 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre outing -- even JK seems tired of our buddy Alex!, April 13, 2008
By 
Gerald M. Bull "Jerry Bull" (Fairview, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
We've read every single Alex Delaware novel, so are big fans, well-informed about this series. What started out great - the child psychologist by profession who consults with the police; specifically Milo Sturgis, a gay, very interesting, and persistent homicide cop; on murders where the police feel they need a consultant's help - has resolved into little more than two detective buddies, one paid, the other an amateur hardly more skillful than we at surfing the web, chasing clues until typical procedure dissolves into dénouement. Alex joins Milo seemingly whenever he wants (presumably being paid at premium consultants' rates), often as little more than a pastime, not because his skills are pertinent, which is pretty far-fetched in terms of the state of most public budgets! His relationship with live-in girlfriend Robin, always an on-again, off-again, "affair", barely gets a nod herein, with a silly custom musical instrument buyer paying too much attention to her a lame attempt at stalker suspense, resolved equally poorly in our opinion. Meanwhile, the excuse for the plot, a serious of murders involving luxury autos, barely holds our attention, and while we plodded along to see whodunit, we hardly cared by the time we got there.

To us, the series has run its course. While Milo per se is one of the more interesting police characters to come along over the last couple of decades, and while the original premise of Delaware's involvement was novel, there's virtually nothing left to excite or entertain us. It seems to us we're at that deadly state of an author not knowing what to do or where to go except to the bank, as he churns out contract-fulfilling installments of mediocrity. Sorry `bout that!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Compulsion, March 28, 2008
By 
Stephen Morange (California, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I have enjoyed all of Jonathan Kellerman's novel, particularly the ones featuring his Alex Delaware character. Unfortunately, this latest effort stretches the reader's imagination with some particularly convoluted plot logic. We are expected to accept the fact that an internet search for crimes committed with the perpetrator using a large black luxury car should readily yield a common denominator who is then found and brought to justice. No matter that years and continents have separated the victims and the circumstances. I've had many comfortable hours with Jonathan Kellerman's characters and I've been able to excuse most of the plot excesses in the past, but I'm afraid this one is just too much of a stretch.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Ojo Negro, New York, Roland Korvutz, Tony Mancusi, Gordon Beverly, Beth Holloway, Monica Hedges, San Francisco, Ella Mancusi, Shantee Moloney, Sonia Glusevitch, Susan Appel, Santa Barbara, Dale Bright, Sharna Beverly, Barb Bruno, Soraya Hamidpour, West Thirty, Rianna Ijanovic, Bradley Maisonette, Mavis Wembley, Kat Shonsky, Detective Binchy, Light My Fire, Beverly Hills
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Kellerman's Compulsion on audio 4 May 22, 2008
See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
   
Related forums





Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject