19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Smart and taut --, March 14, 2010
This review is from: The Executor (Hardcover)
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This was a very fast-paced suspense thriller that grabbed me from the opening pages and didn't let go until I read the final chapter a few hours later. I could not put the book down!
The characters are believable, unique, and interesting. The prose is incredibly clever and the narrative moves along quickly as the tension builds. Although the reader is not quite sure what exactly is going to happen, it's obvious that it's going to be huge, messy and dramatic! Although he has no way to know it, Joseph Geist makes a bad decision the day he answers an ad placed in the Harvard Crimson to apply for a position that asks him to be a conversationalist. He's down on his luck as he's just been terminated from the PhD program where he's been halfheartedly attempting, for about 8 years, to write his dissertation for philosophy and has been kicked out of his girlfriend's apartment. How much trouble can a guy get into just talking with this very nice, intelligent 80 year old woman who lives in this incredible house and asks nothing more than a couple of hours of good debate every day -- and is willing to pay him for it?!
As the two become close, other elements and events that occur start to ratchet up the sense of dread that something BAD is going to happen -- and the plot thickens! This author really knows how to turn a phrase and the inclusion of many different philosophical tenets and theories adds another interesting dimension to the story.
I liked this one -- recommended for a discriminating suspense lover who likes a smart and tightly drawn novel that is quite original.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This novel draws its readers., June 21, 2010
This review is from: The Executor (Hardcover)
You need to understand. I am a fan of the Kellerman mysteries, by Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, so when their son's books appeared, I ignored them, thinking that with their connections they probably arranged for his books to be published even though they were no good.
Then on Friday, I was at the public library on my way to the gym, and I saw this book. Seeing nothing I liked better, I decided to try it. After two pages, I was disappointed. This wasn't a crime novel. But I was stuck. I was on the treadmill exercising and reading. I had only spent five minutes on the treadmill and I had fifty-five minutes to go, and this was the only book that I had in hand. So I continued. And the more I got into the novel, the more Jesse Kellerman pulled me in. When I got off the treadmill and made my way to the shower, I had decided to finish the book. I had read thirty seven pages during the hour.
The book is about Joseph Geist - the German "geist" means spirit, something Joseph lacks. He is fond of one half of a book end pair that he found in a used merchandise store, a half a bust of the notorious German genius philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche - who descends into madness in the last years of his life. But Joseph, although smart is only half a Nietzsche. These are my comments, not the author's.
Joseph, who grew up with an abusive father, an overly passive mother, a brother who escaped the family by committing suicide - or did he? - is in Harvard University, unable to write a clear coherent dissertation on philosophy to get his PhD, even though he has over 800 pages of rambling nonsense. He answers an unusual newspaper ad from a near 80 year old once beautiful, certainly intelligent and rich woman, Alma, who wants to hire someone to come to her house daily for intellectual conversation. Alma, who grew up in Vienna and who came from a good family, had a thesis which she completed many years earlier on a philosophical subject. The thesis was never submitted for a PhD. I think of Alma Mahler when I read about this Alma. She was the beautiful very talented wife of the famous composer who never let her develop her own talent or publish her own musical compositions. But Kellerman may not have made this association.
The book has other interesting characters that are finely drawn. A girl he lives with who throws him out when he suffers from dissertation mental block. Will she later want to take him back? Alma's nephew, as despicable as she is gracious, who comes to visit his aunt frequently to ask for money. How far will he go to get money?
There is murder, of course, but not in the Jonathan or Faye sense, more like Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.
So, while I only read thirty-seven pages during my first hour into the book, by Friday night, I was going at the rate of fifty pages and hour, and by Saturday morning, I was speeding along to the end at sixty five pages and hour. It was so good.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
superb psychological suspense, April 6, 2010
This review is from: The Executor (Hardcover)
Harvard University kicks out thirty year old graduate student Joseph Geist for slacking; the philosophy major was doing none of his class work. Reeling from that blow though he knows he is at fault, Joseph takes a second shot to the gut when his girlfriend ends their longtime relationship.
Needing gainful employment that does not require work, he answers a personal ad in the Harvard Crimson. Elderly Austrian expatriate Alma Spielmann seeks a meaningful conversationalist to discuss and argue issues. He answers the call and is hired. They become more than just employer-employee as the pair becomes friends. She invites him to move into her Cambridge house for free room and board; he accepts her offer. However, Alma's nasty nephew Eric resents the non-family freeloader though ironically he depends on his aunt's generosity for his finance and he occasionally visits her to see if the old hag's health is failing.
This is a superb psychological suspense thriller that grips the audience once the triangle is set as fans of Jesse Kellerman anticipate something bad is going to happen but wonder to whom. The three key players come across as real with Joseph caring for his employer and Alma for her employee with angry Eric stirring the mix. Jesse Kellerman is at the author's best with this strong character driven thriller that will readers wondering throughout who if any will be left standing.
Harriet Klausner
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