Dr. Death [Paperback]

Jonathan Kellerman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Thus edition (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345448804
• ISBN-13: 978-0345448804
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,126,683 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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EMOTIONALLY INTENSE READING, December 23, 2000

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dr. Death (Alex Delaware, No. 14) (Audio Cassette)

Tony Award-winner John Rubinstein has read the audio book versions of each of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels. "Performed" might be a more appropriate word than "read" as his deliveries are riveting. (Need we say that Kellerman, a master of the psychological thriller, writes can't-put-down tales?)

There's a diabolical twist in this story as the man some have described as a killer is killed - Dr. Eldon Mate, a proponent of euthanasia, is murdered in the back of his own vehicle, attached to the mechanism he has used to assist others in ending their lives.

Of course, the LAPD seeks assistance from Dr. Alex Delaware who has a few qualms of his own regarding the case.

Rife with menacing characters and psychological detail, "Dr. Death" is Kellerman at the peak of his authorial prowess. In the case of the audiobook Rubinstein's emotionally intense voice is frosting on this devil's food cake.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NOT HIS BEST!, December 7, 2000

By 

Nick G - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dr. Death (Hardcover)

Dr. Eldon Mate, better known as Dr. Death, helps with the aid of killing terminally ill people, but when he is found butchered in his DEATH van, Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware are called onto the case to find out who killed the killer.

As Delaware and Sturgis begin looking into the dark corners of the late Dr. Death's life they find any number of suspects...from relatives of those he killed, to his own family members.

"Dr. Death" is a disappointment from this bestselling author; the novel has too many characters, and drags on SLOWLY in too many spots. Fans of the previous novels in this series will be bored with this new book.

Jonathan Kellerman has been the leading practioner of the pyschological thriller, but with his last few novels he is losing steam...his novels are no longer the page-turners they once were, instead they are slowly paced character studies with some suspense thrown in.

Nick Gonnella

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Death takes a bow!, March 15, 2001

By 

Christian "Writer/Human" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dr. Death (Hardcover)

Dr. Eldon Mate, also known as "Dr. Death", is not a very popular guy. With his "humanitron", he assists those who wish to die achieve their goals in a "humane and dignified manner"...even if sometimes he leaves the bodies in cheap hotel rooms for someone to find. Most would consider it a very good day when Mate's body is found, brutally butchered inside his own van, hooked up to the "humanitron". It is far too obvious to Detective Milo Sturgis and his long-time confidant, Dr. Alex Delaware, that Mate didn't die in the most humane way. Nor did he "off himself" with his own machine. Their investigation leads them down many paths...chasing numerous suspects and cogitating just as many motives.

As a long-time fan of Kellerman's "Alex Delaware" series, this reader has analyzed the reasons "Dr. Death", and Kellerman's previous novel, "Monster", don't live up to Kellerman's obvious potential. When Kellerman was writing what he knows, and that is child psychology, his writing shines with knowledge and suspense. Delaware had a personal interest in not only his patients, but the victims of the tragedies that beset them. In more recent novels, Kellerman drifts away from the comfort zone and into areas that are already deluged with stories...most of them better plotted, and well-thought out. While "Dr. Death" has its moments, with some well-spoken phrases and vivid scenes, his stories lack real depth. Where once his passion was his motivation, now it's as if he's just some guy sitting behind a desk thinking up stories. "Dr. Death" is socially relevant to our times, but tends to become a bit preachy, and long-winded in spots. The child characters seem mere cardboard cutouts, gratuitous and out of place in "Dr. Death". Kellerman disappoints with this latest story. It barely held my interest long enough to find out whodunnit.