Customer Reviews

True Detectives (Alex Delaware)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

The Jonathan Kellerman writing style has changed so much, I suspect someone else ghost wrote this book. I can barely wade through the metaphors and slang to figure out what he's saying. It's really awful. Can't imagine whoever wrote this stuff thinks it's clever, but I bet they do. J Kellerman just dropped off my favorite authors list and probably off my future purchases list. And, by the way, the story just goes nowhere.

This tale is complicated by lots of characters with the two main ones brothers who don't trust each other: one a private detective, the other a police officer, both working on the same case. I had a good bit of trouble keeping track of which brother knew what, had done what, told the other one what. I found it very confusing. Far too many descriptions of "fashion" clothes worn by the private detective...who cares? And there just seemed to be too many characters for the plot, some not at all well developed. Kellerman has written a lot of good, enjoyable novels; I don't find this to be one of them.

I am a huge fan of Jonathan Kellerman, and I really, really wanted to like this book. I just could not get into it. I actually stopped reading after about 1/3 of the book because I found myself feeling that reading it was a chore rather than a pleasure. I found I just could not make myself care about the characters. They do not appeal to me at all. The plot just did not capture my interest and I agree that it seemed overly complicated. I imagine authors sometimes get tired of writing about their usual characters but please don't use your faithful readers as guinea pigs for poorly thought experiments.

This is not the author's best book; in fact, it may be his worst. It's overly convoluted and there are so many characters orbiting around that I have not come to care what happens to any of them. If you have already purchased it, sell this one back and try to recoup your investment.

Early Kellerman books were intelligent, well developed and fast paced ~ very different than his more recent offerings. In "True Detectives" he devotes more print and effort to describe food, clothing and sibling sparring than substantive content. It is rare that I set a book aside after reading only half of it, but this was one that merited the decision. Thin plot, shallow characters and too much pseudo-clever bantering to be taken seriously. Note for the editor: if you are going to advertise Purell, do not have your characters using it in 1979 ~ years before it was even invented.

I am a longtime fan of J. Kellerman. This book lacks the taut plotting, deep character development, or the real-life tensions across class and education (e.g. as between Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware). I almost didn't finish it. The name-dropping re fashion and cars was cheap and distracting. The plot is a mish-mash with no central organizing theme. A real disappointment to a decades-long fan of this terrific writer. A heavy edit; a strong hand in making the plot work; exision of name dropping would make it much stronger. Still a fan, but now a bit wary.

Leigh Star
Santa Cruz, CA

This was really upsetting. I waited so long for this book...pre-ordered and everything...it was all I could think about. I adore J.K., I've devoured every book, but I have to guess that this was not written by J.K. (or written when he was on something maybe?) It was such a tough read...I stuck with it thinking it had to get better, it never did. Just too complicated, too many characters (who didn't matter), I did not care about the brothers or their relationship (what was the point)... it was just stupid.

Thirty-something private detective Aaron Fox, son of Darius Fox a black LAPD policeman gunned down years ago, and the younger Moe Reed, son of Darius' white patrol partner, and, strangely enough, Aaron's mother, also white, making Aaron and Moe half-brothers, have never been able to overcome their rivalries towards each other. But it is precisely these highly unusual, if not confusing, family dynamics that are brought to the fore when Moe, a LAPD homicide detective, and Aaron, hired by a well-to-do Russian employer who is curious about the distress of one of his employees, are coincidentally both tasked to find a young college student Caitlin Frostig, now missing for 15 months.

The case at first seems to involve little more than rechecking facts and again shelving it. There were no apparent complications in Caitlin's life: she was a homebody and good student with an equally mild-mannered boyfriend. But the two brothers, operating mostly independently, start finding cracks in this wholesome scenario. From the boyfriend's drug-dealing the case expands with ties to fading and flailing Hollywood types, prostitution, street lowlifes, Christian fundamentalism, abusive relationships, and even the staged and brutal death of a good looking hooker.

The contrast between the brothers is a constant backdrop. Some may disagree, but Aaron with his GQ mentality and ambition is the more appealing character; gauged by success, there is no debate. However, there is little attempt to understand the interplay among the brothers; little more than convenient tolerance is evidenced when required. Likewise for the remaining characters: all are minimally sketched with no particular appeal. The plot has more busyness than complexity. Perhaps the rule that one has to follow all the leads as they unfold is legitimate, but the brothers got seriously sidetracked from their original mission, which was one interview away from being solved quickly.

The cameo appearances of the author's stalwarts don't rescue this book. The story line, the characters, and the intangibles never rise beyond the mediocre. In addition, the fairly evident effort to be politically correct along racial lines seems forced and clumsy.

where to start on this one? I absolutely love the Alex Delaware novel series. sure I get tired of the whole Robin thing, but if you're willing to push through those parts you're normally not disappointed. This book made no sense...who killed the first police officer..what's the significance of his partner getting together with the wife and fathering a child, alcoholism? And if I heard one more description of Aaron's clothes, taste in food or whatever, I'd puke. Cannot believe I stayed in till the end. I suppose you get this with popular authors sometimes, they start to smell themselves. Total waste of time.

This was the WORST book I've read in a LONG time. The only reason I finished it was because I didn't have my next book yet.