Devil's Waltz [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Headline (2003)
• ISBN-10: 034546379X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345463791
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Distinctly Fascinating, July 5, 2001

By 

V. VanCamp "lovesbookslovesmusic" (Ithaca, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Devil's Waltz (Alex Delaware Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Excellent book! In my opinion this is one of the best Kellerman books I have read. "Devil's Waltz" is disturbing in that there are actually people out there that will hurt their child for attention. This novel opened my eyes. There are some very sick people in the world. Kellerman writes "Devil's Waltz" with a few different mysteries all tied up together. Just when you think Alex might get this thing solved... something else happens and twists everything around! The ending was great and did surprise me somewhat. I enjoyed learning about munchausen syndrome by proxy -terrible, yet fascinating. I recommend this book enthusiastically. It is quite fascinating. I neither slept nor ate much while I was reading this book... I could not stop reading!!!!!! In a word: Gripping!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good suspenseful read, January 20, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chattanooga, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Devil's Waltz (Alex Delaware Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

As a tremendous fan of Kellerman and his protagonist, child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware, I found this book's premise to be promising - munchausen syndrome by proxy, the intentional injuring of a child by the parent(s) (or sometimes nurses) to gain attention. Although the book loses a little steam compared to his previous books, especially for those who have never met the main characters, the simple idea that a plot can be suspenseful without involving a medical examiner or a detective or a lawyer makes his books not only necessary, but instantly refreshing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Devil of a read, October 24, 2005

By 

Highlanderthal "LONE WOLF" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Devil's Waltz (Alex Delaware) (Paperback)

Another classic from Kellerman! Kellerman's psychologist/sleuth Alex Delaware nimbly executes tricky steps of his own when called in to consult on the mysterious ailments afflicting a baby being seen at his training hospital in Los Angeles. In his seventh appearance (after Private Eyes ), Delaware is in top form, carefully pursuing the possibility that 21-month-old Cassie Jones may be the victim of Munchausen's Disease by Proxy, a complex syndrome in which a parent, usually the mother, secretly causes the symptoms that endanger the child. That Cassie is the only grandchild of the hospital's new CEO, a corporate hotshot who has demoralized the staff with cutbacks and a new administration of "paramilitary types," adds political twists to the case's knotty psychological aspects. After a doctor involved in computer research is murdered in the hospital parking lot, Delaware calls on his friend Milo, a gay LAPD homicide cop currently serving as an input clerk. They link an earlier murder to the hospital and then key into a secret federal investigation, all the while trying to keep Cassie safe. With familiar characters, including Delaware's woodworking girlfriend Robin, and some well-developed new ones, notably the hospital's thuggish security head and an uptight pediatric nurse, Kellerman steadily turns up the suspense, reserving some surprises to spring near the end of this intricate tale, the best of recent Alex Delaware stories.