Customer Reviews

Stone Kiss

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I read one or two books a week. I've never felt compelled to write a review before, but even prior to finishing this book I knew I'd write this one. To my mind, this book was *the* best in the series! Imagine my surprise to come online and discover the negative reviews.

I have to disagree with several of the previous reviewers. I thought this book was fabulous. Yes, it was dark. Yes, it was complex. Yes, it was filled with subtext about the Hassidic community. Yes, there were many intertwining subplots. These are the things I loved about it. I can't remember the last time I finished a book feeling so totally sated.

I tend to choose authors who write series with specific protagonists. Too often, I feel that the first book or two, the author feels they have said all they can say about the character(s) and their enviroment, and the books are reduced to simply action plots. "Stone Kiss" not only gives us plot, but a richer understanding of the main characters. The story isn't simply placed in an unusual community; it is exciting to watch the characters interact with the community, to assimilate this information into our understanding of who Decker and Lazurus are. The writing was tight, and perfect. I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long, long time.

on Faye Kellerman's 14th book in the Decker/Lazarus series, "Stone Kiss". "Justice", an earlier novel, featured a colorful character named Chris Donatti. While I applaud Kellerman for bringing him back -- a complex character, with a love/hate relationship with Peter Decker; I wish she hadn't chosen New York as the setting.

Kellerman has moved Decker to the Big Apple to help family before; but this one's a stretch. He's there to help his half-brother Jonathan's family find Jon's neice -- a girl by the name of Shayndie Lieber (whose brief appearance does nothing to make her character believable!) Decker's dealing with ultra-Orthodox Jews, and, unfortunately, there is little positive about the sect he tries to help, and far too much detail in this plot. Although it is the primary plot, it grows boring, and the reader turns to the evolving clash between Decker and Donatti, who is surprisingly involved on the fringes of Shayndie's disappearance.

Over the top, as well, are the tales of Rina and her endless quest for shopping in the Big Apple - and the contrived plot of his staying in New York, well past the time he should have gone south with her. Weaving in a relationship between Rina and Donatti didn't help the novel, it hurt.

I still love this series, and love to explore what I can learn about the Jewish faith from Kellerman's characters. But Peter's a homicide Lieutenant in southern California....and there should be many, many untold stories to be resolved there, surrounded by the interesting people in his squad.

Things that saved 3 stars, other than Donatti were the amount of time Kellerman spent fleshing out the character of Randy, Decker's real brother...and I couldn't help but enjoy the twist at the end of the novel on another former Kellerman villain...Steven Gilbert. Enough said!

Wait for the paperback, or go to the library for this one!

With more than a dozen entries in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, certainly each new book by Faye Kellerman is anxiously awaited by her fans. We have learned to tolerate a good deal of "discussion" (promotion?) of the Jewish faith as part of her stories because we love her characters, especially the lead couple, and the suspenseful mysteries which normally surround them. However, "Stone Kiss" left us a little cold on two fronts.

First, the illumination of Orthodox Judaism, this time especially the very strict Chasidic practices, is so dominant in this story it gets tiresome and annoying. The mystery involves a number of relatives and half-brothers and so on, but at times we began wondering if Kellerman was taking up for, or trying to demean, the lives and mores of this group. Before it's all over, various of the Chasidic men turn out to be smugglers, dopers, customers of prostitution, etc. If this was meant to suggest "we're all human", it was lost on us.

Secondly, the story is dark and confusing. Rina has such a small part she might as well have just been on vacation -- we could have saved several pages of her shopping and mixing with the family and so forth while she visits the old homesteads in NYC. The co-star (with Decker) is really a porno-king criminal named Chis Donatti, whose role and relationships with Decker are reprised from Kellerman's earlier book "Justice" (and we suggest you read that story first if you missed it). While Decker is trying to help the family find a missing teenager and niece of the murdered brother, Donatti keeps showing up at one location after another throughout every section of the book. Eventually one thinks he must be superman to get around as fast as he does, and to just conveniently know where everybody's going to be about five minutes after they themselves decide. The tension between Decker and Donatti is probably about the only thing that saves an otherwise plodding and confusing plot, with which we found ourselves caring little about the outcome.

Kellerman is a good writer and seems to publish at a pace adequate to maintain quality. But to us, she needs to temper her proselytizing a little and draw a clearer and more compelling mystery line to preserve or improve her reputation.

I adore Faye Kellerman's books, and my favorite in this series has always been Justice, so I was delighted to see Chris and Terry back.
That said, the parts of the book without either Chris or Terry, were not as well plotted or as exciting as usual.
I found the book a bit plodding as the whole drug angle unfolded, and I thought the final showdown left something to be desired. By the end of the book, I didn't care about who had actually committed the murder. I was much more interested in the second-tier storyline.
I do not feel that each book must stand on its own and I think returning to characters from another book is like a reward for her loyal readers.

The story had a good start with Peter being called to New York to help his relatives with a murder and disappearance. It was interesting to see him away from his normal LA surroundings and be a "fish out of water" in New York.

But, the actual mystery part of the story was buried under a lot of confusing circumstances and way too many characters. Since, the story takes place somewhere other than Peter's normal beat, the majority of the characters were new to us. Too many new people were included. There were lots and lots of relatives - half brothers and sisters, Peter's biological mother, parents of Rina's dead husband, Peter's adopted brother, Peter's adoptive parents plus a lot of in-laws of some branch of the family. There were new characters of police officers of various New York towns and several characters from previous Faye Kellerman novels. I want a story to be deep and interesting, but these new people were too much trouble to try to keep straight.

I enjoy the Jewish aspect and perspective of these books. It really is an education for me. But, in this book, the Jewish names, nicknames, customs, language and rituals really overwhelmed the mystery part of the story. A lot of the characters were called by their given name in one sentence and then were called by a nickname in the next sentence. As many of these characters were new, it took me a while to figure out that a lot of them had 2 names - a regular one and a nickname. Faye Kellerman could have helped us as readers if she would have some how explained or indicated that many of her characters had nicknames. For quite a while, I thought there were even more new people than there actually were. I finally figured out that more than one name was being used to denote the same person.

Then there was the problem with the point of view from which the story was written changing in the middle of the book with no warning or reason. All of a sudden, the story is written in the first person, but I had no idea who this person was who was saying these things. It took a while to figure out that the "speaker" was the girlfriend of a character that appeared in an earlier Faye Kellerman novel. The change to her "first person" point of view made no sense and was extremely confusing to the reader.

When I first started this novel, I had high hopes and felt it would be a really good read. But, it could not keep and maintain my interest for very long. By the end of the book, (I think) the mystery was solved. But, from what I could gather, the bad guys won quite a bit and most of what actually happened was covered up. I think in the final chapter, a bad guy (who got away with many crimes) killed someone else. The last several chapters were way too confusing to really make a lot of sense. It was a disappointing book that started out looking a lot better than it ended.

Peter Decker, detective supremo,from LA meets his match in the big city, New York. Lt. Decker is asked by his brother come lately,Jonathan, an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, to come to New York to help find the murderer of his brother-in-law. Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus had planned a vacation, but they take this side trip to help family. The plot becomes quite complicated, but easily understood by Faye Kellerman's exquisite writing. She has found a true fan in me with this book. She explains the Orthodox Jewish faith through Rabbi Jonathan and stories of his family. The New York crime family comes to life with the re-introduction of Chris Donatti. Decker saved Donatti's girlfriend in a previvous story and helped her back on her feet. Donatti does not forget this, and even though Decker helps to make his shoddy life much more difficult, he sees Decker through some dangerous times. Lots of gore, mystery and surprises- so well written that I started to think of Rina as a friend that I wanted to warn of the dangers ahead. Decker and Rina extricate themselves and their family from this situation as Decker solves the murder and is looked at as the hero of the day. Off they go to Florida for a fun vacation with family where a letter arrives for Rina and the next mystery is born.

Yes, this is another Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus story. But, its Christopher Sean Whitman Donatti (encountered first in Kellerman's "Justice" that takes control of this book. Once again, Kellerman gives a clinic on conflicted and complicated, yet fascinating, characters. The story is good, the mystery is good, but Kellerman really shines in her characterizations. The relationships take on a life of their own, outside of the story, until the story becomes back burner. I highly suggest you read "Justice" before encountering this book. It isn't necessary, but the back story is part of what makes this so compelling. I hope we don't have to wait another seven years to see C.D. again. He's like an addiction.

L.A. Police Lieutenant Pete Decker gets a call from his half-brother, Rabbi Jonathan Levine. The Levines live in New York and Jonathan is seeking Decker's help. His brother-in-law has been found murdered in a seedy hotel room and his fifteen year-old niece, who he had supposedly been watching that day, had disappeared. Jonathan wants Decker to fly to New York to help the family.

Decker's investigations in New York and Quinton, the town where the victim lived as part of an Orthodox Jewish enclave, are unwelcome to just about everybody, from the police in both cities to the missing girl's parents. And when a hitman from Decker's past enters the picture, things quickly get worse. Brutal but thoughtful, Stone Kiss is well-plotted, fast-moving, well-told and I highly recommend it.

I have been a Faye Kellerman fan for years...but this book was a big disappointment. Incoherent at times, inaccurate at times, I only give it two stars because I am still a fan of Peter and Rina, which was all that kept me with the story...yes, I made it to the end. I found the story to be bizarre, the Donatti character ridiculous, and it is quite annoying to be asked to remember plotlines from a book you may (or may not) have read years ago...overall, way too many holes in the story. Even the title makes no sense. Ms. Kellerman can and has done much better than this!! Read Milk and Honey. Leave this one on the discount shelf.

Uh-oh, looks like I'm in the minority, but the return of Christopher Donatti, to me, is the real spark in this well-written, dark, brodding novel. Oh, yes Chris is definitely sadistic, egocentric, psychopathic, childish, brutal and conscienceless. However, Kellerman has been smart enough to show his "good" side. Maybe he obssesses and uses Terry and others to achieve his own goals, but somewhere in all the brooding good lucks, his buff body, there is a soul of a man abused as a child, reaching out to find someone to love. His cruelty to Decker only masks his intense hate/love relationship. The ending is quite unexpected, and obviously leaves room for Donatti's return.
Elsewhere, Kellerman has fleshed out Jonathan Levine more, and his relationship with Decker grows in admiration and respect. The mystery actually gets overshadowed by the complexity of the relationships and the fiery Donatti. Suffice to say, it's easy to see who the real culprits are...it's just a lot of fun getting there.
ONE OF THE BEST IN THE SERIES.