Customer Reviews

Sacred and Profane

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Sacred and Profane," the second Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novel, proves to be even a better read than "The Ritual Bath," Faye Kellerman's first book in this outstanding mystery/sleuth series. This is a stand-alone novel, and one can easily get to know the cast of characters and their history without having read prior books. Ms. Kellerman provides a terrific change of pace from my usual fiction fare. Although these mysteries have their share of violence, gruesomeness and unsavory individuals, the ethnic/cultural aspect of the stories and the sheer humanity of the characters are refreshing.

LAPD Detective Sergeant Peter Decker met Rina Lazarus, a young and very beautiful widow, while investigating a rape at a yeshiva in Deep Canyon, CA, where she lives and works. Rina is an Orthodox Jewess and the mother of two small sons, Samuel and Jacob. Attracted to each other from their first meeting, Rina and Peter, feel their relationship is "bashert," meant to be or predestined. Raised a Baptist, Peter is studying with Rabbi Aaron Schulman to become an observant Jew, both for his own spiritual needs and in order to marry Rina. At times, however, he has doubts about the course he has chosen, although he never doubts his feelings for Rina. The couple are very much in love. Besides her beauty, outside and in, Decker is drawn to her total lack of guile.

Decker has become very close to Rina's sons and takes them on a camping trip where one of the boys discovers the charred remains of two corpses. Peter, who works in juvenile crime, is temporarily assigned to homicide to investigate this case. The skeletons, two women in their teens or early twenties, are identified through complex dental work and their murders are found to be connected to a grisly pornography ring which deals in "snuff" films." The case forces Decker to deal with the dregs of humanity, and although he is a hardened combat vet who served in Vietnam, and for years with the police, he becomes increasingly agitated and depressed. The fact that he is the father of a teen-age daughter, from a prior marriage, only increases his despair and anger. Seriously questioning the existence of God and the purpose of religion in his life, he becomes ambivalent about continuing his religious studies and practices. As he delves more deeply into the complex, macabre case, Peter becomes more and more isolated from Rina. And Rina, who in no way wants to pressure him, needs to find out how committed her finance is to their relationship and to becoming an observant religious man.

The author deftly handles the workings of the intense personal relationships between Peter, Rina and their children plus crime solving with apparent ease. As with the other Kellerman books I have read, her characters are her strength. They are truly three-dimensional and their dialogue is extremely realistic. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery, the humanity of the characters, and details of the Orthodox Jewish customs and lifestyle.

I plan to read more of this excellent author's work and highly recommend it to others.
JANA

Every once in a while, for this listener, an audio comes along on which the book's lead character and the audio narrator seem as one. In other words, the voice perfectly replicates the way I imagine a character would and should sound. Such is the case with Mitch Greenberg's reading of Sacred and Profane, another in Kellerman's popular Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels.

Greenberg's voice is deep, strong, mature. And, I discovered in listening that "mature" was important to me. After all LA Police Detective Decker has seen a lot (some of it very unsavory) and done a lot. He's no longer the new kid on any block, and Greenberg captures him perfectly.

Set in Los Angeles during the holidays, we hear Decker say, "Hell, here it was the day of Christmas Eve and he was out camping in the foothills, isolated from civilization, playing big brother to two little boys with yarmulkes. Christmas had never been a big deal to him but still it felt strange. Some habits were hard to shake."

Decker may have gotten more than he bargained for when he became involved with Rina - she is an orthodox Jew and the mother of two young sons. Yet, he can't deny what he feels in his heart and has grown close to all of them. It's his vacation and he's decided to take her two boys, Sammy and Jake, on a camping trip - peaceful, relaxing, and fun.

Their adventure is none of the above as Sammy discovers a hideous sight - the charred remains of two young girls. Decker is a homicide cop through and through as well as being the father of a 16-year-old daughter, so he finds himself involved both professionally and emotionally.

He's an intrepid tracker the trail that he follows leads him into one of the worst parts of his city - the drug hangouts that line Hollywood Boulevard and the children who try to live there. Descriptions of this area and its denizens are frightening.

Again Kellerman has crafted a suspenseful story, gritty and real.

- Gail Cooke

"Sacred and Profane," the second novel in the series, opens with Decker camping in the foothills above Los Angles with Rina's sons, Sammy and Jake. Decker is thrown into a deadly case of murder when Rina's oldest son stumbles on two charred human skeletons. A forensic dentist determines that the victims were teenage girls. This rattles Decker and gets him emotionally involved in the case because he is the father of a sixteen year old daughter, living back east with his ex-wife. Detective Decker had two problems. He has to find the killers of two young women from the incredibly seamy world of L.A. porn. and crack dens of Hollywood Boulevard. Although Peter is "technically Jewish" because his birth Mother was a Jew he has to learn to follow Rina's faith or else lose her forever. He begins to take instruction with the rabbi of the Yeshiva. Projecting what will follow in future Decker/Lazarus novels one knows what he outcome will be. No unlike here first book, "The Ritual Bath," this book make very interesting reading.

Excellent! Second book in series. Peter is studying the Jewish faith with a rabi because Reni will not consider a relationship with him unless he is a practicing Jew. He takes her two sons on a camping trip and one of the boys discovers two skeletons. They find out one of the skeletons is a teenage girl who has disappeared. Peter's search for the killer takes him into the porn world and he finds it hard to balance his work with his religious studies. Very good. One day read. Since I gave Ritual Bath 5 stars, I wanted to give this one 6 because it is better.

Much grittier than the first novel in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, this novel addresses personal depravity and personal spirituality, both of which actively concern the murders at the center of the novel, and the relationship between Decker and Lazarus. Taking place months after the events in `The Ritual Bath', the opening of the novel finds Decker camping with Lazarus' two boys, one of whom stumbles upon two dead bodies. Reluctantly, Decker takes on the case, and what follows is depressing for him and for the reader: teenage prostitution, snuff films, and pyromania, just to name some of the elements. These subjects take a toll on Decker, and threaten both his relationship with Lazarus and his embrace of Judaism. As in the first novel, the characters are well-drawn and realistic; you feel for Decker and Lazarus, especially when Decker becomes self-destructive, hurting everyone around him. The multi-layered plot is much more complex and satisfying than `The Ritual Bath', although the ending will not please romance fans. You'll be left wanting more...which is presumably where the next book will take you.

Sacred and Profane is the second in the Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker Mystery Series. In this installment Peter is camping with Rina's sons when they discover human remains which have been burned. Peter begins an investigation to determine the identity of the remains and ends up in the profane world of porno film-makers. The word "sacred" in the title refers to Peter's study of Judaism which Rina requires of him if their relationship is to progress to marriage. Peter begins to chafe at the restrictions of Rina's Orthodox faith, which leads to a crisis in their relationship. Kellerman, as always, does a skillful job of weaving a murder mystery into the background of Peter and Rina's private life. This talented writer can always be depended on to provide a good read.

This second book in the Decker/Lazarus series opens with Peter attempting to bond with Rina's two sons - Yonkie and Shmueli. Peter takes the two young boys on a camping trip that soons turns into a horrible nightmare as Shmueli stumbles upon two burned corpses. Peter's investigative trail lead us into a world unknown to most of us...A world of "snuff films" depicting sexual acts culminating in onscreen death. This one keeps you on the edge of your seat. Kudos to Ms. Kellerman...a true crime writer. I love the glimpse into Orthodox Judaism!

Peters and Rina's relationship continues to evolve as Peter is transferred back to homicide after he finds the bodies of two girls while camping with Rina's children. Very dark and disturbing, the book deals with underground fantasy/fetish porn in which money can get you anything you want, including murder. The story is very well written and suspenseful until the very end, and the relationship between Peter and Rina is successfully woven into the mystery without being distracting.

This book is excellent---more gripping than Mrs. Kellerman's first book in the series, "The Ritual Bath." The novel further delves into the lives of Rina and her sons while Decker is out trying to solve a multiple murder case in the porn film industy. I was disappointed in the scene when Rina and Decker consummate their love for the first time. First, it totally doesn't fit Rina's character to show up at Peter's house saying, "I want to sleep with you." Also, I feel like if they were going to do it, then the scene and the one following it should have been more dramatic. Kellerman missed an opportunity to write a beautiful scene and comment on Decker's feelings afterward. Withstanding that, this book is really excellent! Read it!

Although this book was better than the first one in the series, it still leaves a lot to be desired. In this book, Peter is camping with Rina's two boys when one of the boys comes across two skeletons out in the woods. This leads Peter on a journey into the world of prostitution and pornography in order to find out the identity of the two bodies and the motive behind their murders. The actual mystery part of the book is good, but the developing storyline between Peter and Rina is still quite flat. Although, in the book, their relationship is progressing forward (sometimes very slowly), and Peter is working toward converting to the Jewish faith, I don't think the author does a particularly good job of conveying the feelings that these two supposedly have for each other. This series has a lot of potential, but so far these first two books have left me disappointed.