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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 74 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
not up to par,
By
This review is from: Gone (Alex Delaware Novels) (Hardcover)
I looked forward to this book, bought it the day of release, but was disappointed. On a relative scale, a below-par Jonathan Kellerman book it still better than most mystery/thrillers -- nevertheless, given the high standard that Kellerman has created for himself, it is a "3" compared to the "5"s of his other books. Why? (1) I identified the villain early, and Alex and Milo seemed oddly blinkered; (2)I'm not sure why, but the book seemed emotionless (more than usual) - I just didn't care about the vics, or for that matter, Milo and Alex; (3) a subplot that felt like padding; (4) I'm tired of the Robin/Allison thing and reading this book made me realize that neither one has much character beyond the purely physical descriptions (5)most of all, I see no character development over of the many books, and I think that an Alex Delaware with no inner life in book 20 is a lot less interesting than an Alex Delaware several books ago, before this was apparent. He is very passive, and his back-and-forth between Robin and Allison almost seems to be a matter of indifference to him, not to mention all of the victims.
52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By
This review is from: Gone (Alex Delaware Novels) (Hardcover)
Time for a reality check. Jonathan Kellerman's 20th "Alex Delaware" murder mystery, Gone, is a disappointing yarn. It falls short of satisfaction on several counts.
The last 35 pages of the book are anticlimactic. After the killers are captured, it takes Mr. Kellerman an inordinately long time to write "Finis" to this work. Kellerman is obsessed with describing, in boring detail, the clothes people wear, the houses they live in, the furniture in these houses, and other repetitious minutiae. Another weakness is the glacial pace taken by clinical psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware and his longtime pal, L.A. homicide detective Lieut. Milo Sturgis, to locate the serial killer on their radar screen. Meanwhile, we, the readers, are yelling at them, "Look there! Look there!" but they are frustratingly oblivious to the obvious. When Milo and Alex finally take a suspicious look at the sociopath--"poison palming itself off as perfume," we mutter, "It's about time!" The plot of Gone revolves around wannabe thespians who are drawn, like moths to a flame, to Hollywood's fantasy world and become victims of a psychopathic predator. The victims of choice are beautiful young blondes such as Michaela Brand and Tori Giacomo. At the novel's climax, Delaware and Sturgis discover the predator's lair and gruesome evidence of brutal scenes of horror. But what were the killer's motives? Gone is both a whodunit and a "whydunit." A strong point of Gone is Kellerman's engaging descriptions of the camaraderie between Delaware and Sturgis. We chuckle often at their playful banter. And we are impressed by their dogged pursuit of seemingly tangential clues. The bad news, again, is that this police procedural is fristratingly repetitive. Typically, after Delaware and Sturgis interview suspects, relatives, acquaintances, and other persons of interest, they meet, usually at a restaurant to assuage Sturgis's gargantuan appetite, and construct hypothetical scenarios of the crime. This process occurs so often that we feel trapped in the twilight zone of an eternal recurrence. Gone is not really a bad novel. It's just not all that great. Wait for the paperback edition. Jonathan Kellerman's first Alex Delaware novel, When the Bough Breaks, was published in 1985. Other novels in this series are Monster, Dr. Death, Over the Edge, and Therapy. Mr. Kellerman lives in California and New Mexico. Roy E. Perry of Nolensville (rperry1778@aol.com) is an advertising copywriter at a Nashville publishing house.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Are we tired of Alex, or is the author tired of Alex?,
By
This review is from: Gone (Alex Delaware Novels) (Hardcover)
The appeal for me of the Alex Delaware series is the addition of psychological complexity brought by the psychologist main character to a fairly standard mystery thriller. In addition, having been a former Los Angeles resident, I enjoy reading about LA locations, restaurants. I have read all of the series from the beginning and read each one as they come out.
Kellerman continues to deliver a fine quality of writing and an unusual psychologically disturbing plot. I think that the character is experiencing some mid-life crisis which causes some staleness to the character. Either Kellerman is losing some interest, or it is time for the character to go thru some major changes--which could cause loss of readership. It must be difficult to write a series of books about the same character year after year. Do you stick to your formula and write the same novel with different details? Or do you allow the character to change like a human person. Overall I was not as interested in this book--but again, I am not sure if I am tired of Alex or if the author is tired of Alex. An adequate plane read or second book.
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