Customer Reviews

Double Homicide: Boston / Sante Fe

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Jonathan and Faye Kellerman are two of my favorite authors ... have been for many years. I was looking forward to this collaboration. I received an advanced copy and could barely get through it. The characters were cardboard cut-outs, the plots plodded along, the endings were let-downs. Hope the Kellermans stick to what they do best in the future - - collaborate at home and work separately.

We were so excited to learn that two of our favorite authors -- Faye and Jonathan Kellerman (husband and wife as well) -- had teamed up to write "a novel" entitled Double Homicide. We were all set for a sparkling Alex Delaware (on one murder) meeting Peter Decker (on the other), and the twain happily and merrily collaborating to nail the bad guys. Alas, we and the publishers and authors were not seeing eye to eye; instead, we got two rather short novellas, one set in Boston, the other in Santa Fe, in which respective murders we generally could have cared less about are more or less solved by two new detective pairs in each location. Santa Fe is about an obnoxious art dealer who gets bumped off; the ending is so placid that it defies belief. Boston is about a college basketball player that dies in a shooting at a nightclub after a vicious game. The actual cause of death creates what little mystery is on hand.

Admittedly, the physical packaging was clever, with the two stories upside down so that both book faces look like front covers. Some reviewers mistook the alternating author bylines to presume Faye wrote one story and Jon the other; rather, we suspect they drafted both and took turns writing chapters as the spirit moved. Unfortunately, neither of the stories do justice to the fine writing skills each displays in their longer novels. "Double" looks suspiciously like something due on contract for holiday sales fodder -- but if you must read it, wait for the paperback; and even that you might want to wait for a hand me down. We doubt we'll see any more of these joint efforts or these characters, and frankly, it's just as well if this is the best they can do. Now, what about Decker meets Delaware ?!?!

The Kellerman's should be ashamed to have their names on this non-book. What a waste of their considerable talents and your time and money. The Arizona double homicide was probably written while the author (Jonathan I'm guessing) was yukking his way through all the three stooges movies, or possibly the Bullwinkle episodes we all did our homework to in the 60's. And I'm being kind. There seems to be no beginning to the story, and no resolving circumstances at the end, and a lot of What!? What!? and ho-hum in between. We then, if we're still awake, flip over to the Boston double murder which was probably written by the distaff side, Faye. After the first few pages of this uber lightweight tome, I fell asleep.

It strikes me that this is one (or two) of those books written to pay for a.) a complete rehab of house and yards, b.) an extended vacation in the Bahamas, or c.) the family's dental work for the next millennium. Whatever the reason for its creation, it's all but turned me off the real, well written books by Jonathan. I am, hoping, tho, that with his next book, Twisted, he manages to redeem himself. Meanwhile, I'd like to hear a whole bunch of mea culpas from each of them.

I enjoy the works of both writers and had high expectations for their joint effort. After reading the result of their collaboration, I am convinced that they do their best work as independent writers.

The book is actually two short stories packaged as a single text. One would expect that the two stories would be interconnected or have some sort of overlap but this is not the case. There are no shared characters, no connections between the story lines...

The plot lines are tired and the characters are one-dimensional. The writing is consistent, which was a pleasant surprise but this seems to have come at a price: there is no real voice or style.

Wait and buy the book used.

This was another Christmas present and as such, I enjoyed reading the two novellas done by the Kellermans. The book is easily read in a day. I started with the homicide set in Santa Fe and was finding it interesting until the end arrived. And that is about the way it happened. Not much explanation - some questions left hanging. I liked the relationship of the two police officers and their characters were well drawn. It was almost as though this was intended to be a full blown novel, but the author(s) ran out of steam and decided to pull the plug in the way that they did.

The Boston homicide story was clearly the better of the two, yet I thought that it also could have been drawn into a larger story if the authors had chosen to do so.

So, if you are looking for a couple of plesant little stories about homicide and have a plane ride to take or some time to curl up by the fire, I would suggest you wait for the paperback. It should be right along.

Before thinking about buying or reading this book, please realize three things:

1. This book contains none of the Kellermans' usual characters.

2. There are two novellas involved rather than a novel.

3. The stories emphasize incident-revealing aspects of the characters of the police, the victims and the perpetrators rather than the "mystery," the "procedures," or the "backdrop."

So if you want more of what you've loved before from the Kellermans, look elsewhere.

However, if you love reading about interesting new characters and thought-provoking themes expressed in novellas, you will have a hard time finding better work.

I thought that Santa Fe was the better of the two stories. The characters were more original and written with more love. The Boston characters were too hard-edged and cold to be fully appealing. For those who insist on having a mystery to their police procedurals, Boston will be the more appealing story.

Although I clearly saw a blending of the two styles in the stories, Boston felt more like Ms. Kellerman and Santa Fe felt more like Dr. Kellerman.

I'm glad that the Kellermans fought off what was probably a panicky reaction from their publisher when they proposed this work. Although many of their fans will hate it, I had fun.

For me, the best part of the two stories came in the obvious morales about how we lead our lives. The victims contributed to their own deaths.

Santa Fe's victim is a wealthy art dealer who treats others like objects to be manipulated. Boston's victim is a young college basketball star in the full flush of the glory following his greatest game. Pride was the sin for each. Like Icarus, each flew too close to the sun . . . and crashed to the earth in a fatal fall.

Enjoy!

I am a fan of Faye Hellerman's mysteries. She and her husband, Jonathan, another author, have collaborated on a double-sided novel. Two murder mysteries on separate sides of the country. The cites happen to be my two favorite cities, Boston and Santa Fe.

It is difficult to tell if Faye Kellerman wrote the Boston novel. But, it sounds like her. Dorothy Breton is a Boston detective and has two son's one of which is a ballplayer on the Boston Ferris College basketball team. This team is something special, and the specialness is a player named Julius. Dorothy invites her partner, Michael McCain to the big game. Boston Ferris wins, and the team goes out to celebrate. Dorothy is called a few hours later by her son to let her know something horrible has happened- Julius has been murdered at a night club. Dorothy and Michael begin the job of learning the who, what and why. They get involved in the family business of the Boston Ferris team, and the opposing team and being the good detectives they are they find the murderer in a surprise ending-that is more of a shock than surprise.

Darrell Two Moons and Steve Katz, two Santa Fe policemen are eating at their favorite restaurant when the call comes in that a very famous art dealer man has been murdered. This starts the story of a man no one liked; least of all his two sons and ex-wife. As the policemen dig deeper they find that almost no one liked this man, and that some of his friends were more disliked than he was. But who would hate him so much as to kill him? The two policeman in the midst of the investigation, discover almsot more about themselves than they do of this man Lawrence Olafson. They find the murderer, of course, and it is not much a surprise- but then again maybe it is.

This double-sided novel is a good PR ploy. The Boston story was better written and more interesting. The Santa Fe story had some interesting character studies. Neither story involved much of the city beyond some basic information. I like to be able to relate to the city in a novel and walk along the same streets as the characters. All in all a pretty good novel, very short and sweet. Neither novel is one of the best, nor one I hope this couple repeats. I like Faye Kellerman's characters and storylines- let's keep this family's murder mysteries separate, prisrob

Since writing is a solitary activity, collaborations are a risky venture. What too often happens is a reverse synergy: the result is less than the sum of the parts. In Double Homicide, this rule holds up, as successful writers (and husband and wife) Jonathan and Faye Kellerman combine to write a pair of tepidly written novellas.

The first novella - In the Land of Giants - follows a pair of detectives in Boston who investigate the murder of a college basketball player. The second story - Still Life - has a pair of Santa Fe detectives looking into the murder of a art gallery owner. Neither story is anything beyond just routine: the characters are dull and there are no real plot twists and some story elements never really go anywhere.

If I had to guess, I'd say the first story was written more by Faye Kellerman and the second by Jonathan, and even if In the Land of Giants is slightly better than what follows, it is not good. Neither story is truly awful, but they only merit two stars, either individually or as a set. If this is an indication of what the Kellerman's can do when working together, it's just as well that they seem to be going back to solo writing. For fans of either writer, this is bound to be a disappointment and should be skipped.

This is actually a pair of novellas. Neither is particularly well done, but they are adequate if one doesn't have anything else to read at the moment.

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed most of Jonathan Kellerman's novels. He is a first rate author who normally does a superb job with character development and writing a good story. I haven't had the occasion to read any of Faye Kellerman's books previously.

Although they both may be very good authors on their own, this collaboration left something to be desired. The characters are not well developed and the plots are thin and anticlimactic.

The Santa Fe story has somewhat better developed characters than the Boston story, but neither is too great.

I would recommend skipping this one or at least picking it up at a library or used book store.

Let me start by saying that I am a very big fan of both Faye and Jonathan Kellerman's previous work. I was very excited to read a novel that was written by both authors, however after the end of the first novella, I struggled through the second. At the end of the entire book I felt as though each story was writen for the sake of a deadline and not with a reader in mind. I was hoping that the two novellas were somehow releated, but I never felt that they were - and perhaps this is the issue with the book in total.