Customer Reviews

Jesse Kellerman 4

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

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.

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.

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

When I looked at the ratings for 62 previous reviews, it is clear that The Executor appeals to some, not to all. To me it was brilliant, except for one issue that I will soon describe. For those who treasure writing so profound and descriptive in creative ways (ways I had not read before), this book is for you. I know it may not sound very exciting when I say that the best part of the book is "Joseph's" nonsexual relationship to an older woman who takes him in. But have patience. Soak up the descriptions and thoughts like fine wine.

Some didn't like the ending. On the contrary, the ending was perfect to any reader who has been unpeeling the layers of determinism vs. free will that pervades every chapter in one form or another. (I won't say more about how it all goes down as that would be a spoiler.)

So, why do I think that many didn't like this book? Because they were expecting a thriller, not a reading experience to be savored page after page. Maybe Kellerman had to include grissly stuff so that it would sell to a publisher or to a reader. That's a shame, but I do understand how that goes. To me, that was all stuck in for "necessary effect" and downgraded the product in the process, but not enough to detract from my 5 star rating.

Mr. Kellerman is a splendid author, and one would never imagine the protagonist of "The Executor" to end up where he does by the novel's end. Joseph Geist is, at the outset of this story, a meek, mild-mannered philosophy major at Harvard whose life has come apart. His academic career is stalled at the threshold of his attaining his doctorate; his romance with the ethereal Yasmina has ruptured beyond repair; and, as a direct consequence of the latter, he is also homeless.

Desparate for a new beginning, he responds to an intriguing ad in the student newspaper. "Wanted: Conversationalist". He replies and meets the reclusive Alma Spielmann. Ther result of their involvement makes for the bulk of the plot; Joseph is transmogrified in ways both unpleasant and profound. An excellent read.

If the intent of Jesse Kellerman was to create a character so lazy, whiney, entitled and self-serving that he may very well be one of the most unlikable, unredeemable characters to spring from the page of a novel then he certainly accomplished his goal when he came up with the Harvard undergrad student named Joseph Geist, chief protagonist in THE EXECUTOR. Drawing on the fact that Geist is a philosophy major, Kellerman has devoted the initial chapters of his book to what amounts to A Novices Introduction to Philosophical Theory. His style is reminiscent of sitting in a college lecture hall listening to some pompous professor drone on and on about his subject matter. The next few chapters address the subject of Joseph's relationship with Alma Spielmann, a lonely foreign born woman of letters who longs for meaningful conversation and fulfills her need by hiring our protagonist and moving him into her home. Things between Alma and Joseph are moving along swimmingly, and Joseph is enjoying the spoils of his responsibility free life until things are unceremoniously interrupted by the appearance of a "fly in the ointment". Enter Eric, Alma's nasty nephew. This character is an even more greedy and manipulative free-loader than Joseph, which is not an easy achievement. The two rivals engage in a jealous and potentially deadly battle to be King of the Hill.

The remainder of the book delves into Joseph's decline as he attempts to hold on to the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed. This man, who perceives himself as a struggling intellectual, proceeds to make some of the most illogical and downright stupid decisions imaginable and his interminable musings and rampant inner conversations ultimately manifest in a galloping case of paranoia.

A long admirer of Friedrick Nietzsche and the concept of free will, Joseph's thought processes become more and more muddled until they resemble that of his hero who spent his final days plagued by acute mental illness. Mental illness aside, however, both Joseph and his creator Jesse Kellerman should have followed Nietzsche's lead when he commented "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book".

This particular story would have lost nothing, and may have even been made considerably better, had Kellerman exercised his free will and excised about a third of his words. 2 1/2 stars

Jesse Kellerman is so much greater than the sum of his parents, as he proves brilliantly in this book. True, the protagonist is annoying -- deliberately so (Speaking of annoying -- I've just about had it with the narcissistic Alex Delaware). Yes, there are implausible moments -- show me the psychological thriller that doesn't force you to suspend disbelief at some point. But "The Executor" has something I've never found in any other book of this genre -- a sense of humor. I actually laughed out loud at some of the thoughts going through Joseph's head. I've now read all of Jesse's books, and with the exception of the first, I found them to be edgy, unexpected and beautifully written. I eagerly await his next.

I don't know what to make of this novel. It's a bad take-off on Crime and Punishment, but without the tension of the original. It's obvious right from the start that Geist is going to kill someone and pay for it...or not. At the end Kellerman mixes in a sorry reference to Oedipus. It's all so trite, and the story is not compelling or interesting at all. Either write the sort of gripping thriller that your parents write, or don't, but trying to make this genre sophisticated seems like a waste of time.

The Executor by Jesse Kellerman is just poorly written. The main character is tedious, unsympathetic, and uninteresting. The characters aren't believable, and the plot goes nowhere. The alleged plot twist at the end isn't really a twist at all, but rather a cop-out by a lazy author who couldn't figure out how to bring the story to a conclusion. There are so many better thrillers out there by writers like Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, or Denise Mina.

Jesse Kellerman's latest is a considerable improvement over his last effort "Trouble" which I found extremely disapointing, but ultimately, unfortunately, this book dissolves into an implausable mess, with the protaganist's actions becoming more unlikely and idiotic with each chapter.

I first became aware of Jesse Kellerman with "The Genius" and that book absolutely STUNNED me. It was SO brilliantly conceived, and so magnificently drawn, and the prose as snappy and smart as it could be. The inner thoughts of that book's main character, an over-privileged, over-educated, arch, and unapologetically narcisstic art dealer were like candy to me as a reader. What writing!

And Jesse can still pull out the big rhetorical guns at will, there's no doubt about it. The guy is a major intellect and a phenomenally gifted rhetorician, but in this book it seems more like showing off than the masterful storytelling of "The Genius."

I would recommend that readers check out his first book, "Sunstroke," for a great read, his second book, "The Genius," for the read of their life, and maybe then if there's nothing else on their biblio plate, check out "The Executor." And don't waste your time on "Trouble," unless you enjoy wonderful pearly prose piled onto a swine of a story.