Obsession (Alex Delaware Novels) (Hardcover)

by Jonathan Kellerman (Author)
Key Phrases: Robert Fisk, Blaise De Paine, Mary Whitbread (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The 21st Alex Delaware novel (after 2006's Gone) from bestseller Kellerman contains fewer twists than usual for this contemporary thriller series. Once again, Delaware, an accomplished psychologist, teams with his friend Milo Sturgis, an LAPD detective, to probe a mystery, though this time there's considerable doubt as to the nature of the puzzle. Teenager Tanya Bigelow, whom Delaware treated as a child for obsessive-compulsive disorder, consults him because her aunt Patty, who raised her, conveyed a cryptic message just before she died, apparently confessing to a crime. Shortly after Delaware and Sturgis start investigating, one of Patty's former neighbors turns up dead, the first in a series of corpses that appear, possibly as a result of the duo's turning over old rocks. Since the identity of the killer is revealed relatively early on, the final sections are short on suspense. (Mar. 27)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Mega-best-selling Kellerman delivers another psychological suspense tale starring shrink hero Alex Delaware. While the Delaware novels are wildly popular, this one, at least, gets by only on plot. The characters are sketchily drawn, except for Delaware's new dog, who receives far more intensive (and ridiculous) development than any human in the book. Kellerman also takes the shortcut of having his characters deliver plot details and provide background motivations in artificial dialogue that should have been left to an omniscient narrator. But Kellerman does have a strong plot going for him (once we've waded through excessive descriptions of meals and interiors). The story centers on a young woman, whom Delaware treated as a child and who returns to tell the psychologist of the deathbed confession of her aunt and adopted mother--a woman whom Alex remembers as a heroically capable mother and nurse. The recently deceased woman allegedly told her niece that she had killed someone. The crux of the mystery is whether there was a murder at all, or whether it was the medication talking, or guilt over a patient's death. Delaware and his sidekick, detective pal Milo Sturgis, follow the tangled trail to a surprising conclusion. Good story unfairly weighed down by bad dialogue and stick characterizations. Kellerman's enormous fan base, however, will overlook the novel's flaws the way we excuse our loved ones' weaknesses. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (March 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345452631
• ISBN-13: 978-0345452634
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #279,078 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 21 in The Jonathan Kellerman: Alex Delaware Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading for fans of Alex, Milo and Company , April 10, 2007

By	Susan Y. Schoonover (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've read every Alex Delaware novel Jonathan Kellerman has published and enjoy them for his great Southern California characters as well as the well realized LA settings. Lately I've noticed the books kind of start to fall apart and strain plausibility toward the conclusion. OBSESSION starts to fall apart quite early in the book and as others have said it is hard to suspend disbelief that the LA Police Department would take such an interest in what a respectable dying woman "confesses" with so little detail. And again like another reviewer I find Robin totally annoying and if I was writing the series would have never let Alex take her back.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'm disappointed in this one, June 21, 2007

By	Ann M. Macpherson "passionate reader" (Newcastle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been an avid reader of Kellerman and have always loved the stories with Alex and Milo. I couldn't wait to read this one. But I was bored, couldn't follow all the story lines, confused some of the characters, and to me the most telling thing------I was able to put it down at night and not stay up all night reading.Ha. I finished it but skimmed the last pages to get to the end.
As I think someone else mentioned before me, I can't see any police department taking a young woman seriously when she reports that on her death bed, the mother admitted to a possible crime. And it was a very sketchy crime at best. What criminal investigation teams would have the time to try to research something that "might have happened" in the past? Just doesn't make sense. So that part made me pretty suspicious of the plot. Guess I'm just too logical of a person.
I still like Kellerman's style of writing-usually. And I'll continue to read these books. But I do hope they get better and don't start going down hill from now on. I want to still look forward to the next book, the next story about Alex and Milo, the next "great page turner" that he's famous for writing. Please, Jonathan, take our critiques to heart and be careful so you don't lose your best fans.

36 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fear Not, April 9, 2007

By	Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Despite some of the misgivings in the editorial reviews you should not hesitate to buy and read this book. One of Kellerman's hallmarks is his consistency. The only weak character here is Robin and she is ongoing in her weakness. Why would Alex tolerate her betrayals? This is implausible. Plus, she is smarmy, like Spenser's Dr. Silverman. In each case, their dogs are always more interesting characters. Milo is dependably Milo; Petra is a welcome addition to the group in the recent novels, and Alex really gets a chance to play Alex, making concrete psychological judgments and handling a disorder that is of broad human interest.

The plot is complex but intelligible and the ultimate conclusion is satisfying. Handling the exposition and investigation through dialogue is perfectly OK, so long as you like the participants in the dialogue and what's not to like here?

Alex's patient and her physicist boyfriend are both interesting characters and the dysfunctional adults are sufficiently interesting to hold your attention. Jonathan Kellerman's writing seldom tends toward the extremes; his watchword is steadiness and evenness. OBSESSION is fine; go for it.