Silent Partner (Alex Delaware) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jonathan Kellerman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2003

The bestselling author of When The  Bough Breaks, Blood Test,  and Over The Edge delivers the  most stunning novel yet and featuring  psychologist-detective Dr. Alex Delaware. At a party for a  controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex  encounters a face from his own past--Sharon Ransom, an  exquisite, alluring lover who left him abruptly more  than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints that he  desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The  next day she is dead, an apparent suicide. Driven by  guilt and sadness, Alex plunges into the maze of  Sharon's life--a journey that will take him through  the pleasure palaces of California's ultra-rich,  into the dark closets of a family's disturbing  past, and finally into the alleyways of the mind,  where childhood terrors still hold sway.

Also available on BDD Audio Cassette.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stricken with guilt over the suicide of a former lover, child psychologist Alex Delaware is driven to understand the circumstances that led to her death. "Kellerman bares a dark, brooding side of his appealing series' detective in this complex tale of guilt, greed and expiation," commented PW.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A  complex and haunting story of tangled personalities,  deeply buried family secrets, and of violence lying  thinly under the surface ... Hits the reader  right between the eyes." -- Los Angeles  Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345460685
• ISBN-13: 978-0345460684
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Kellerman is one of the world's most popular authors. He has brought his expertise as a clinical psychologist to more than thirty bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher's Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted,and True Detectives. With his wife, the novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored the bestsellers Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. He is the author of numerous essays, short stories, scientific articles, two children's books, and three volumes of psychology, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children, as well as the lavishly illustrated With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award.

Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California and New Mexico. Their four children include the novelist Jesse Kellerman.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complex Psychological Thriller, January 20, 2004

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silent Partner (Alex Delaware) (Mass Market Paperback)

When Psychologist / Detective, Alex Delaware, is invited to a party for a Los Angeles sex therapist, thrown at an elaborate mansion. He ignores the invitation. But soon his curiosity gets the better of him. After all, it'll be nice to see how the other half lives. But soon, Alex runs into someone from his past, Sharon Ransom. Someone whom he was deeply in love with, but who left him without a moment's notice more than a decade earlier. Sharon now seems jumpy and nervous about something. What, Alex doesn't know. But he plans to find out, as he makes a lunch date with her. One that never happens, as she is found dead the next day. The cause, an apparent suicide. Alex knows better. Driven by his own guilt over Sharon's death, he decides to find out what really happened to her. His detective work takes him on a journey through some of California's richest areas, and most powerful people, and into the minds of many people, where childhood terror is still lurking.

This was my first Jonathan Kellerman book, and I am very pleased with the results of it. Kellerman is a strong writer, who builds up an enticing plot, and interesting characters from the get-go, and makes you want to find out who the culprit of the novel is. Alex Delaware is an enjoyable character, if not a bit gloomy sometimes, who takes you into the minds of many people, both young and old. Fans of Stephen White will enjoy Kellerman's way of weaving a story together, that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. A must-have.

Erika Sorocco

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The very Best of the Alex Delaware Series!, September 22, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Acworth, Georgia U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silent Partner (Paperback)

I have read all of the Alex Delaware books by J. Kellerman to date, and am eagerly awaiting his next, but "Silent Partner" is the first one I read, and it was such good reading, it made me want more of this interesting character! I have since read all his fiction novels, and love them all, but still think "Silent Partner" the best. So many odd twists and turns, not even the best arm chair detective can anticipate the plot. It held my attention from first word to the last, and I hated to see it end. It was the book that hooked me on Jonathan Kellerman novels. You find yourself wishing that you knew Alex Delaware as a real person. But it is the mystery that captivates and keeps us interested.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, quick read that fell apart at the end, July 29, 1998

By 

emelton (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silent Partner (Paperback)

While this book kept me fully captivated, waiting to see what happened next, Mr. Kellerman's work seemed a bit shaky when it came to the conclusion and wrap up section. It was too easy a fix, and became rather unbelievable at the end.