Flesh and Blood [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Jonathan Kellerman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2001

Perennial bestseller and acknowledged master of the psychological thriller, Jonathan Kellerman has created his most riveting and memorable work to date in the Alex Delaware novel about a troubled and elusive young woman whose brutal murder forces the brilliant psychologist-detective to confront his own fallibility.

Lauren Teague is a beautiful, defiant, borderline-delinquent teenager when her parents bring her to Alex Delaware's office. But for all Alex's skill and effort, Lauren resists—angrily, provocatively. Reluctantly, the psychologist chalks Lauren up as one of the inevitable failures of a challenging profession. But years later, when Alex encounters Lauren as a stag party's featured entertainment, both doctor and patient are sticken with shame. And the ultimate horror takes place when, soon after, Lauren's brutalized corpse is found dumped in an alley. Alex disregards the advice of his trusted friend, LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, and jeopardizes his relationship with longtime lover, Robin Castagna, in order to pursue Lauren's murderer. As he investigates his young patient's troubled past, Alex enters the shadowy worlds of fringe psychological experimentation and the sex industry, and then into mortal danger when lust and big money collide in Southern California.

Jonathan Kellerman's L.A. is evil, seductive, erotic, and unforgiving, and Flesh and Blood is mind-opening in its drama of a driven man's personal quest, breathtaking in its ingenious plot, filled with unforgettable characters, and topped off by a terrifying climax. This is suspense fiction at its finest.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Psychologist Alex Delaware hasn't been in private practice for a long time, but when the mother of a former patient calls and asks for his help, he can't turn her down. He couldn't help Lauren Teague when she was alive, but something about his failure with the beautiful, sullen teenager who grew up to be a high-priced call girl won't let him walk away after her bullet-ridden body turns up in an L.A. dumpster. When she wasn't turning tricks, she was a straight-A student; despite his detective pal Milo's demurral, Alex is convinced there's a connection between Lauren's death and another beautiful UCLA psych major who disappeared a year earlier. With his customary skill and compassion, Jonathan Kellerman draws us deep into Lauren's complicated life, from a university campus to a Malibu estate owned by a wealthy publisher of soft-core porn (who bears a distinct resemblance to the pajama-clad mogul who made a small white bunny famous).

Kellerman's last couple of books have been a bit disappointing, but here the bestselling author is writing up to the high standard he set in his earlier ones. With solid plotting, well-realized characterizations, and a strong narrative drive, Flesh and Blood delivers the real goods on every page. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Alex Delaware investigates when a teenaged patient he couldn't help winds up dead. Publication was bumped from December to maximize Christmas sales.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• ISBN-10: 0679459626
• ASIN: B00009EF81
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,978,535 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

57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars KELLERMAN AT HIS FINEST - YOU WON'T FORGET THIS ONE!, November 20, 2001

By 

Sandra D. Peters "Seagull Books" (Prince Edward Island, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flesh and Blood (Hardcover)

Alex Delaware chalked up his attempt at helping a young, defiant, angry teenager by the name of Lauren Teague, as a failure when she walked out of his office and out of his professional life. Years later, Teague and Delaware meet at a stag party where Teague appears as the night's entertainment. However, the reunion is brief and short lived when her body turns up in a dumpster. Delaware, the avenging angel in pusuit of justice, is determined to find the person who committed the crime. He becomes so intensely involved in his mission that he risks losing Robin, the love of his life, and Miles, his best friend and co-worker.

Kellerman takes a walk through the wild, seedy side of life where pornography is king and call-girls are nothing more than a replaceable commodity. Kellerman's latest book is jam-packed with suspense from cover to cover. While his previous novel "Dr. Death" may be seen as somewhat of a disappointment to many readers, Kellerman redeems himself in this one. This is, without question, the Kellerman readers have come to know and admire; here we have Kellerman at his finest.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars His Best Since "Self-Defense"...., January 12, 2002

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Flesh and Blood (Hardcover)

The Alex Delaware of old is back in Kellerman's new novel. The last four in the series have been very disappointing to many of his long time fans, and Kellerman goes back to basics with this tale of a disappearance/murder that personally affects the good doc, since it happened to a former patient that he was never able to reach.

In the novel, the old obsessive compulsive Alex Delaware surfaces again. He takes the crime personally, and continues to follow up some blind alleys, driving both Milo and Robin crazy with his inability to let it go. His instincts are basically good, however, and you second guess the multitude of possible outcomes all the way through the book's end.

It feels as though Kellerman has decided to ground the doctor in the type of cases and well-intentioned investigations he crafted for Delaware in the early books of the series. It is good to have the real Alex back, and to have Kellerman fully flesh out a story, unlike the botched and tedious plots of "Monster" and "The Web".

With this book, Kellerman wins back a fan!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars California Blue, January 24, 2002

By 

sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flesh and Blood (Hardcover)

Lauren Teague, former delinquent, ex-patient of Alex Delaware is found dead in the bottom of a dumpster. There is no shortage of suspects or motives for Lauren had led a complicated, secretive life. A party girl, straight A student, generous to children and friends down on their luck, exquisite personal taste coupled with ugly job skills; Lauren has had bad luck, and it is catching.

The strongest area in the book is the incisive portraits of the secondary characters. The uneasy, almost saint-like Ben Dugger, the highly verbal, artistic gay roommate of Lauren's, the brutish, slovenly but shrewd Lyle Teague just sparkle on the page. The description of the fictional "Playboy Mansion" is a brilliant invention. Even protagonist Alex shows an obsessive/compulsive streak that sharpens up his sometimes-bland character. The book is well plotted, though the pace uneven.

So what was wrong? First and foremost, I found Lauren unbelievable. She came across as a set of contradictory traits that never added up to a total person. As she was the crux of the novel, it was a fatal flaw. Far too much time was devoted to the wavelets in Alex and Robin's insipid relationship. A secondary plot was superfluous, distracting from the main story and contributed nothing except a few characters that were not even remotely involved with the main plot.

"Flesh and Blood" definitely has its moments, just not enough of them.