Customer Reviews

The Murder Book (Alex Delaware)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Kellerman has been in a bit of a rut lately-- rich, good-looking doctor with attractive and accomplished girlfriend gets into the down-and-dirty blah blah blah. In The Murder Book, Kellerman not only shakes up Alex's life (with Robin's new gig [new life?] chief among the changes), but we finally get, in essence, a real Milo story-- much of the book is from Milo's point of view. By doing this, Kellerman drops not only the first-person but subtly alters his writing style to evoke a more Milo-ish tone. The story is made more involving by having a greater emphasis on fallibility than evil, thus making it more accessible and-- dare I say it?-- realistic.

So by combining an involving story with new character twists, more grey areas between good and evil, and the fresh perspective of Milo Sturgis, we get one of Kellerman's best books in years. Enjoy!

Alex Delaware has seen his share of violent crimes but none like the collection he receives in the mail.

Alex receives an anonymous book in the mail. The book is called "The Murder Book", and in it are graphic pictures of various murders. The murders are all random, not connected, and stretch back many years. Alex has no idea why he has received this, or who sent it to him so it does the only logical thing he can...he turns it over to his lifelong friend, homicide detective Milo Sturgis.

Milo begins looking through the horrifying book only to be shocked by photos of a young woman tortured, strangled, and dumped by a freeway. Milo immediately recognizes the crime photos, it was the first case he ever worked on.

Milo has tried to forget the case he could not solve, but now many years later someone has opened a Pandora's Box bringing the past to the present, forcing Milo on an endless journey for answers. A journey that will take him to the darkest corners of L.A. exposing secrets kept for many years.

Can Milo and Alex solve the crime, and bring closure to a young woman nobody cared about?

`The Murder Book' is classic Kellerman storytelling; fast-paced, exciting, well written, and very suspenseful. The Alex Delaware series continues full steam ahead with, probably, the best entry in several years. Readers will be drawn in from the first chapter, and kept in a spell of shocks, and twists with every turn of the page.

Jonathan Kellerman writes the kind yarns that grab you by the throat, and keep you captive until the last page has been turned. Although this is a typical good versus evil story Mr. Kellerman makes it anything but typical by adding his masterful plot twists, healthy doses of action, and almost un-bearable suspense.

Longtime fans of the Delaware series will love this, and new readers will run out and by the earlier novels.

A MUST read for series fans, and thriller fans alike.

Nick Gonnella

After a few years of Jonathan Kellerman experimenting with form, trying to expand the Delaware horizons, and exploring specific themes with some mixed results, he seemed to be getting back to basics in his last outing, Flesh & Blood, and has really regained his stride with this offering, The Murder Book.

The 16th in the Alex Delaware series, and Kellerman has caught his second wind and this story is a real page-turner and barn- burner! Kellerman is still playing with form, this time alternating between Alex Delaware's 1st person narrative, and a major portion of the book a 3rd person telling from his pal, Det. Milo Sturgis', point-of-view. He thereby gives us a deeper look at both Milo and Alex as we see Delaware from his friend's perspective.

Nice to see an author's interest and invigoration in a book so far down the line in a series. AND, the mystery and plot is a corker with Alex and Milo working a 20 year old case and uncovering really rotten people in the Hills of Beverly and Belair. Plenty of evil and fireworks.

Alex Delaware finally realizes what we have known all along. He isn't a police "consultant" because he likes to exercise his apptitude and training in psychology. He does it because he is an adrenaline junky and gets off on the danger! His beloved Robin has realized this and she has split. Permanently? More will be revealed.

Having hooked in to Kellerman many years ago, I had found several of the later books interesting, but lacking the bite and visceral grab of the earlier works. Well, Jonathan is back, full stroke, and I can't wait for the next Delaware novel. Five stars for this one, for Kellerman fans, of course.

I think Mr. Kellerman finally decided to break out of his rut, a little bit! There are still the usual elements there: Milo and Alex get involved in a case, Alex goes alone and gets in trouble, Milo clashes with LAPD authority. The good news is that some of the novel (probably 30%) is written from Milo's perspective, and not in the first person. We get to learn a little more about Milo's past, which is a good thing. I've always thought his character is more interesting than Alex Delaware, and it is a nice change to follow him around for a while.
Sensing the boredom of Alex and Robin's relationship, Kellerman gives it a shake-up. This has happened before, but it is good to see some downs in their life, just like normal life. This is a solid effort, the best he has done in quite a while. If you are a fan, get it! If not, then I think it will still be a decent read.

Alex Delaware, psychologist and consultant to the LAPD, has just taken his longtime girlfriend, Robin, to Paris to try to repair past ills. Instead of falling back in love with him, she's gone off on an extended music tour. He's alone in Los Angeles when the official blue album shows up at his door, filled with hideous and seemingly unrelated crime scene shots and titled "The Murder Book." He promptly calls his friend Milo Sturgis, an LAPD detective. Turns out one of the victims in the book, a badly mutilated teenage girl, was Milo's first unsolved homicide -- a homicide he might have closed if he hadn't been mysteriously shut down from within his own department. The two men's determination to discover who sent the book quickly grows into a need to resolve once and for all an atrocity that has been closely guarded by the rich and powerful for over twenty years.

If half of THE MURDER BOOK wasn't written from Milo's third-person perspective, it would have bombed badly. As it is, this novel just barely scrapes along on four stars. Yes, THE MURDER BOOK reads like vintage Kellerman, but that's not neccessarily a good thing. How many times can Alex search for information by web or phone? How many times can he take witnesses out to lunch in places painfully well described? How many times can he uncover a vast conspiracy that involves a confusing number of characters and is never quite plausible? How many times can he nearly get killed in the process? True, supposedly now we have some tension between Robin and Alex, but Robin wasn't solid to begin with and I can't say I missed her. What I did miss was any attempt on Alex's part to truly mend the relationship. But then, he's a series detective, what did I expect?

In this, the 16th installment in the series, Alex's thought patterns put me to sleep and only Kellerman's overuse of the phrase-not-sentence technique jarred me back awake. Except in Milo's chapters. Those were great. He's mysterious, persistent, a tad grouchy, big hearted -- I was very happy in his company. I almost wished the whole book had been his.

THE MURDER BOOK in short? Alex, move over. Milo's here.

Anna Klein

In his 16th outing, Alex Delaware finally admits to himself what all his nearest and dearest have known for years: he is a danger junkie. "The Murder Book" broadens the narrative scope in that we get to hear from Detective Milo Sturgis in the first person as well as Alex. This is a welcome change and gives Milo a depth lacking in previous books. I always saw Milo as a set of traits (rubbing his face as if washing, desert boots, too much booze, acne scarred) and frankly, was bored with him. The saintly Robin is on hiatus this trip; she may be permanently fed up. We are treated to Alex really behaving like a jerk to her via long distance that amused me; they have always been far too idyllic.

Alex receives a mysterious photo album entitled "The Murder Book" with 50 pages of glossy scene-of-the-crime photos of disparate victims. They are clearly police photos, and Alex thinks they are meant for his friend Milo. Sure enough, one of the photos is a victim of a 20-year old unsolved case of Milo's when he was a rookie detective. A young girl was savagely murdered and the higher-ups shut down the investigation. Milo's edgy partner took early retirement, and Milo was transferred to another division. Alex and Milo investigate and find themselves thwarted at every turn. The highest and lowest of LA enter into the mix (making for a huge cast of characters) as the pair follows a tortuous trail. There is a whiff of Ross MacDonald here in the multi-generational corruption. The author handles all the threads neatly and carries the reader to a fine twist-and-turn conclusion.

"The Murder Book" is first-rate Kellerman. Previous to reading this book, I had read two or three other bestseller mysteries, including Sue Grafton's "Quarry." Kellerman's writing ability shines in comparison. He succeeds in making even his worst villains human (though he is a bit hard on second generation rich Beverly Hills types), and even the most saintly (including Alex) have their not too attractive quirks. Most admirable is Kellerman's ability to stay out of the rut with a long ongoing series. There is no particular need to start at the beginning of the series; "The Murder Book" stands alone nicely. Recommended.
-sweetmolly-Amazon(.com) Reviewer

Proably the best Alex Delaware mystery since..... Well, at least since before the disastorous THE WEB. Kellerman must know he needs to do something, and this one has a new idea -- it features Milo in individual third-person scenes. And truth to tell, Milo comes off a lot better than Alex, who you really see as annoying and hard-headed.

In this one, Alex is sent a book of crime scene photogrpahs. One of them is from Milo's first, still unsolved, case. Milo is still troubled by it. Alex has time on his hands, so they're off on another adventure, involving the old murder, and its massive cover-up by the rich and powerful.

Much of the plot, which goes on at least a hundred pages too long (when did they stop editing Kellerman?) revolves around the paranoia of conspiracy and cover-up. If you believe that the execution-style slaying of an LAPD Internal Affairs officer could be concealed to the extent that the LA TIMES wouldn't even mention it, and that even LA cops wouldn't know about it, than maybe this will be OK with you, but rational minds will have a problem with it.

The chronology is forced and wrong. This is supposed to be a twenty-year old murder, but if Milo was a young detective three years out of Vietnam, it would have to be closer to thirty. and the aging problem of series characters has now taken over this series. Milo and Alex have to be pushing 60. Hard to place Alex as a romantic lead anymore; Milo has got to be well past LAPD retirement age for his grade.

And is this the kind of book that will bring new readership to the series? Will new readers thrill as Alex does a Google search? Will they hold their breath while Milo searches court records and calls DMV? Will they on be edge of their seat while Alex reads microfilmed newspapers in the library? Will they be cringing as Milo pours maple syrup on chocolate chip peanut butter pancakes.

Will please fans more than most recent outings; a great beach book.

Kellerman's last few books were a disappointment to me, but he is back on track with this one. Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis have paired up to solve a 20 year old murder. Alex's girlfriend Robin is, thankfully, out of the picture for most of this one. There is just too much angst in their relationship, as far as I am concerned. This mystery is mainly twofold. Who was responsible for the murder 20 years ago and who sent Alex the murder book, which in effect reopens the case. Milo Sturgis is one of my favorite characters and I was pleased to find he played a major role in this story. The frequent and extensive Internet searches were a little tedious, but that might just be me. I detest doing searches. I like a nice, tidy ending, and this one filled the bill, although it did seem a little forced. This story was more like Kellerman's earlier work and a very enjoyable read.

Reading The Murder Book felt like reading two seperate novels dealing with the same case. First we have the first person narrative of Dr. Alex Delaware at his worst. Most of this book is full of self pity and whining. The relationship between him and his long time girlfriend has moved from complex and unique to annoying and predictable. Most of his sluething centered around his internet searches and run-in's with former associates.
Where the book really excels is in its third person telling of Detective Milo Stugis's role in this novel. Kellerman has become an excellent third person storyteller and should eliminate the word "I" from his vocabulary. Milo contributes to the story both in dead on investigative work and complex development of his lifestyle and relationship. I found the interaction between Milo and Rick to be the interesting especially when compared to the Alex and Robin relationship. Kellerman finally unleashed the full force of his strong yet emotionally paranoid semi-main character in dealing with his percieved and the real prejiduce he had to deal with as a gay cop.
The ending left me dissappionted but served well to illistrate the uneveness of the book. While Alex accidentally is saving the day in a ridiculous gun battle, Milo is digging away at the psychological layers of the story leading him to unwillingly strike a deal with the devil. All in all its a good story, saved in the end by Milo.

Man, but this one is a gut-wrencher! Total angst-fest! On the one hand, we have Alex trying to lose himself in this case in order to escape from his own misery now that Robin has left him (again) and on the other hand, we have Milo wallowing in his own fear and self-loathing when those close to him are threatened.

Dr. Alex Delaware receives a notebook labeled "The Murder Book" in the mail. No return address. It is filled with grisly crime scene photos. When he shows it to his friend LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis, the big man is stunned by one of the photos. A blast from the past. The death of Janie Ingalls had been the first really nasty murder Milo had encountered as a young rookie detective 20 years ago. She was also his first unsolved case. He'd done a good job of putting her out of his mind since then, but now, it all comes rushing back and Milo is not happy.

To add to the detective's despair, it becomes obvious someone is manipulating him and when his lover Rick is threatened, the gloves come off! It takes all his wits to keep ahead of this situation. Those capable of doing what was done to Janie are capable of anything - the danger is real and may be coming from all sides - he can't even trust his own department! He tries to get Alex to back off, but the good doctor needs the distraction to keep his mind off Robin, so he keeps right on doing his tenacious bulldog thing, almost getting himself killed in the process. (Nothing new there, though).

We learn a whole LOT about Alex's and Milo's past in this one and we get some insight as to why these men are the way they are. Great character development, great stuff. If you're interested in the characters in this series as well as the mysteries, then this one is a MUST READ!