Customer Reviews

Hangman: A Decker/Lazarus Novel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

**************SPOILER ALERT*********************
I have basically read all of Faye Kellerman's books and she is traditionally "hit or miss" with me, although I quite enjoyed her last book.

Hangman,however, is rating a 3 stars because it is so painfully slow. While I am aware that Kellerman's books are better known for being "procedurial" as opposed to "action packed" - Hangman isn't even as much about procedure as it is about going on and on about - basically nothing.

While the first few pages were interesting, the middle of the book is basically a search that never seems to end - especially since they don't seem to discover any clue and I mean absolutely nothing to advance the story or the plot.

Although I like that they incorporated Hannah a lot more in this one, I was at page 200 - and realized that absolutely nothing of interest had yet to happen - and it would be a while until any kind of activity would "stir" this book at all.

I also keep wondering why, everytime, the Madge character is introduced, the author feels the need to describe what she is wearing. While she tends to do this a little bit with Rinna, she never does it with the male leads - its just a little weird.

Kellerman's writing is engaging - I like the way she writes in that it is always down to earth and clearly understandable - but boy this one is slow.

I have read most of the novels in this series. I think I've missed a couple of the more recent installments, but all in all I've been a pretty loyal follower of Ms. Kellerman's work. Pete Decker and Rina Lazarus have always been two of the most unique characters in crime fiction, and the way Ms. Kellerman mixed together religion with crime and also managed to include an overriding commitment to family has always resulted in novels that were well written page turners that I really enjoyed. I am very puzzled over what happened with this one!

I think this book was in sore need of a good editor. There were many instances where words were left out or repeated twice. I am a fast reader, and these were like stop signs on the road, or scratches on a DVD. Very distracting. The pacing of this book seemed off, and I have never read a Kellerman book that was so lacking in suspense throughout the entire story. I know that her novels are heavier on the procedural aspects than some, but jeesh this was ridiculous. Give me something to keep those pages turning other than curiosity about a 13 year old piano genius. Facts were often repeated, and different characters seemed to say the same things over and over again.

I wanted more Rina in this one. She's a great character and I wish we would have seen more of her along with other members of Pete's family. They had almost no role to play except for limited involvement with the Gabe/Chris sub-plot. Speaking of which, I really wish we could have had more of that story! It was way more interesting than the main crime plot involving Garth/Adrienne/Crystal. I didn't care a whit about any of those characters, while Gabe, Chris and Terry were all very interesting and I felt vested in finding out their fates.

The writing was a big disappointment. Dialogue was stilted in spots, and I became extremely frustrated when every chapter or section ended with a cliched tag line that was usually very corny and melodramatic. Marge's dialogue here was the worst offender. Marge used to be an actual person, but in this book she seemed reduced to a caricature, and all we learned about her was what she was wearing. I was really tired of hearing about her clothes and hearing her utter cliches that seemed to be straight off Law and Order.

The ending resolved all outstanding issues, but did so in a way that was not dramatic and very unsatisfying. I am sad to say that I will be very cautious about picking up another Decker/Lazarus mystery. This series seems to have lost its heart. Not a recommend.

Faye Kellerman is back with a vengence. One of my favorite authors, Faye Kellerman has disappointed me of late. I was close to being bored with "The Mercedes Coffin", but "Hangman is a gem.

There are enough twists and turns here to keep the most dedicated mystery fan on his or her toes. For those of us who care about Kellerman's characters, they are all here. From Decker and Lazarus' family too my favorite bad Guy Chris Donatti this book has them all.

Welcome back Dr. Kellerman

I loved this series when it began--the combination of religion and crime was tantalizing and unique. But Ms. Kellerman has succumbed to the curse of the majority of mystery writers--the more the series continues the less interesting it becomes. This book brought back characters from an earlier novel as a sub-plot but the redolution was weak and unsatisfaying. And the main mystery being worked by Lt. Decker was unsuspensful, weak, unresolved and frankly a bit boring. Very disappointed Ms. Kellerman. You can do so much better.

I won't go over the description of the book since many other reviews have already done that. I read all of Fay Kellerman's books, and I especially like her Decker/Lazarus series. This was a well written addition to the series. Her writing is warm and detailed. I didn't find the book to be slow at all. There were several murders and disappearances, so there was a lot of police procedures involved in solving the cases. The characters were well developed, and the book kept me interested from start to finish. My only disappointment is that Faye Kellerman takes a while to release new books, and I wish she was a little more prolific!

I have to say that this just wasn't my favorite Faye Kellerman book. I usually enjoy the Decker/Lazarus characters that she writes about. The editing of the book was pretty poor, just to be a bit picky. For an author that has this many books out I would think that the editing of one of her books would be a bit more carefully done.

I think there were about 3 different stories going on throughout the book. Decker first goes to be a liaison between Terry and her hit-man/husband Chris. A few days after the meeting between husband and wife Terry disappears. Chris claims he has no idea where she is. Whether dead or alive she has left behind their 14-year-old son Gabriel. Rina and Decker take him in.

Next a woman is found hanging from the rafters of a construction site. In the course of the investigation it is revealed that there could possibly be 2 serial killers on the loose. In the midst of all of his investigating Decker also turns 60 years old. Birthday and Shabbos celebration of course is hectic and interrupted by work but his sons and daughters and Rina manage to make it a special day for him.

I don't know, I guess I'm just a bit disappointed. I probably will pass on the next book.

I'm a big fan of Decker and his crime solving crew, even though Kellerman isn't the greatest writer in the world, from a literary standpoint. I really like her stories. I liked this one, too, liked the mystery, but the book is in dire need of a good copyeditor. Mostly it had missing or duplicate words, very distracting, and surprising for a major company to let those through.

That said, it won't stop me from picking up the next one.

I have really enjoyed reading Faye Kellerman's books, but I fear she has fallen into the same trap that many prolific authors do, by cutting substance and depth of characters and just cranking out a mystery plot. In the beginning, Peter, Rina, Cindy, Marge and the boys were all real people with real feelings, and now they all have been reduced to "paper doll" like characters, with little to do or say. Rina cooks. Peter eats. Marge wears sensible clothes. Cindy is pregnant.

I thought when I began the book that the mystery part was going to be a little better also but it got so boring, and went on and on with nothing happening. I didn't enjoy any interaction with Chris as he was just so menacing, especially with his repeated comments about what he would do when he found Terry. I don't know how Peter was able to figure out what happened with her, it was a pretty big leap.

I really liked that they took Gabe in, though I wish they had addressed that more in depth as well, how Gabe felt. All he seemed to ever say was that he loved/hated his parents and the Deckers were nice. Really nice. Really really nice. This is lazy writing. I agree with the one who questioned the constant mentioning of what Marge and Rina wore. I want to know what everyone thinks and feels in the slice of their lives that is the book, not what they wear and eat.

We've read every one of the Rina Lazarus / Peter Decker stories to date; and hate to say this was probably our least favorite. The 420 page book sees the first 50 pages set the scene, then the clues ever so painfully and slowly appear for 350 pages, followed by an intense 20-page ending that reveals all with little or no further work on the part of the detectives. Our high school English teacher would never have approved that outline !!

As usual, "Hangman", mostly about a young female nurse hung from the rafters of a house under construction, is predominantly a police procedural with Decker and his two favorite "D's" Marge and Scott doing all the grunt work. A missing friend is a sub-plot that is barely more than an excuse to have Gabe, the 14-year old son of Chris Donatti, a long-time Decker nemesis from earlier books, come to stay at the Decker's, with daughter Hannah (gads - we remember when she was just born!) playing big sister as she finishes high school and heads to Israel to go to college. Presuming more books in this set, we suspect we'll see more of Gabe, temporarily cancelling out the empty nest.

Three male suspects and a female colleague of the dead girl play a big role in the mystery, if you can get by all of the bedtime arrangements between these five and (uncharacteristically) the over-the-top amount of raw language throughout. The builder who discovers the body is yet another suspect, and his role remains unclear till very late in the going.

We suppose the Kellerman fan club will turn out in droves to add this to their reading list, but we were left wondering whether it's getting to be time to call this series done. Decker himself celebrates his 60th birthday in the story, which makes taking in a stray non-relative teenager pretty far-fetched. Perhaps his several noises about a pending retirement will be a good thing?

****************Spoiler Alert********************
Faye Kellerman is an excellent writer in the sense that her characters are well-drawn and interesting, and her ear for dialogue is good. Over the years I've enjoyed watching the Decker family grow and change. I love to read this sort of police procedural. But this is the last time I will ever read one of her books, and more than likely the last time I will trust other Amazon reviewers judgment before I buy a book.

I discounted the handful of negative reviews for Hangman because they focused on things I knew wouldn't bother me too much - a little slow, a little boring (because it was a little slow), badly edited, too many typos.

None of them mentioned the real problem, which is that the plot was preposterous. Am I seriously supposed to believe (*****here's the spoiler*****) that the accidental murderers just happened to try to frame an actual serial killer by accident? And not just any serial killer, but one whose MO was strangulation? Puleeze. I'm usually not one to nitpick about plot holes, but this one was too much. I lived in L.A. for a while years back and I don't remember there being a serial killer on every corner.

If you loved this book, try reading Stephen King's "The Dome" next. You'll love the ending.