Rage (Alex Delaware) (Hardcover)

by Jonathan Kellerman (Author) "On a slow, chilly Saturday in December, shortly after the Lakers overcame a sixteen-point halftime deficit and beat New Jersey, I got a call from..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sydney Weider, Cherish Daney, Barnett Malley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware stars again after playing second fiddle to Hollywood homicide detective Petra Connor in last year's Twisted. It's been eight years since Alex provided a psychiatric evaluation of two teenagers, Troy Turner and Rand Duchay, who confessed to abducting and killing a two-year-old girl. Troy is now dead, murdered in prison, and Rand has been released—and he promptly calls Alex to tell him he has some important information. Alex agrees to a meeting, but Rand's not where he said he'd be; shortly thereafter he's found dead. Kellerman always fashions fiendishly complicated cases, both literally and psychologically, for Alex to unravel, and this one is no different. During the course of the investigation, he and longtime pal L.A. police lieutenant Milo Sturgis encounter a host of wayward children, a foster family from hell, infidelities that have to be charted to be kept straight and a serial killer who's the exact opposite of the genre's usual madman slasher but just as deadly. The action occurs mostly in the calculating brains of the two detectives as they turn and sift evidence piece by piece, working every angle until they finally come up with a coherent picture. It's an impressive piece of detection, and readers who enjoy watching the delicate untangling of a Gordian knot–like plot will find this one a winner. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
It has been eight years since two-year-old Kristal Malley was brutally murdered by two young teenage boys, and Alex Delaware has pushed his role in the drama out of his mind. Then a phone call from one of the boys, Rand Duchay, now released at age 21, brings the sad, sordid circumstances back. When Rand is found murdered--with Delaware's phone number in his pocket--the cops come knocking, in the person of Delaware's friend, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis. Delaware and Sturgis take on the familiar roles of compatriots in crime solving, as they try to determine if Kristal's murder has any bearing on Rand's death. Before they can figure that out, though, they must slash their way through a morass of lies, abuse, and dirty secrets, which envelop nearly everyone involved in the original tragedy. There's less suspense here than in some of Kellerman's past Delaware novels; Alex and Milo spend a great deal of time swapping theories in the kitchen, in the car, and at restaurants, methodically piecing together gossamer-thin trails of evidence. But there's still enough surprise along the way to keep things interesting, especially at the close, when both Delaware and Sturgis face a moral quandary with which readers will sympathize. Less action, more substance for Kellerman fans. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1St Edition edition (May 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034546706X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345467065
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #390,017 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #95 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( K ) > Kellerman, Jonathan

• This is item 19 in The Jonathan Kellerman: Alex Delaware Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Kellerman Needs a Change of Pace, June 20, 2006

By	Dindy Robinson "Swimming Kangaroo Books" (Arlington, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Rage (Alex Delaware, No. 19) (Mass Market Paperback)

There is nothing really wrong with Rage, an Alex Delaware mystery by Jonathan Kellerman, but there's nothing really right with it either. If anything, the entire book gives an aura of going through the motions as Delaware and Milo Sturgis investigate the murder of a young man newly released from incarceration after participating in the murder of a toddler. The ups and downs of the book trace the history of the toddler's family after the little girl was killed, and a couple of seminary students who take in foster kids who also have a disturbing tendency to end up dead.

Alex Delaware is still in the funk that he has been in ever since Robin left him however many years ago that was. Unfortunately, that funk seems to extend over into the novels as they just don't generate the excitement that they once did. It appears, in this book, as those the bloom may be wearing off the rebound romance between Alex and Allison, but Robin may be making a comeback.

The identity of the actual killer will come as no surprise, although the motivation for the killings is very contrived and fantastical.

Since Kellerman is so clearly going through the motions on this series, I wish he would put Delaware aside for a while and focus on some of the other fine characters he has developed. Maybe, just maybe, it's time for Alex and Milo to take a very long vacation before they tackle another mystery.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dr. Delaware novels may be getting back on track, July 12, 2005

By	Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've been a fan of Kellerman's for some time now and have read all of his books; I particularly enjoy the Alex Delaware series, especially since I'm a psychologist myself. However, like many other reviewers, I've felt that Kellerman had started to lose his touch in some of the most recent Dr. Delaware books; it seemed that he was recycling similar themes or incorporating ideas that were so far-fetched as to go beyond the boundaries of poetic license. Happily, RAGE is an improvement, and it gets back to the heart of what makes these books so engaging: the suspense-ladden storyline combined with the relationship between Alex and his police detective (now lieutenant) friend, Milo Sturges.

Here, Alex and Milo are trying to solve the murder of a mentally challenged young man who himself was accused of murder eight years before, a case in which Alex acted as a consultant. As always, the process of solving this mystery leads Alex and Milo to speculate about other connections and links to the crime. Unlike in some of the previous Dr. Delaware novels, however, the conjectures seem to follow from the evidence at hand, making the plot more believable. On the other hand, I was a bit disappointed in the book's ending, as the conclusion did not provide definitive answers to many of the questions raised throughout the story. Still, I enjoyed this book and look forward to finding out where Alex's adventures might take him next, including in terms of his love life.

34 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars his best in a while, May 26, 2005

By	M. S. Butch (Katonah, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I look forward to all the alex delaware books, but some are better than others, and this one is very good. Other reviewers have described the plot; I will just say that it was pleasurably twisty. About a third of the way through the book I thought the solution was obvious, and I was disappointed, but I was wrong!
A minor flaw is that the book ended too abruptly. It needed a little more of a wind-down.
SPOILER ALERT!
There is a hint toward the end of the book that Alex and Allison may be heading for a split and Robin may reappear...Mr Kellerman, if you read these reviews, DON'T DO IT. While one criticism I would level at all of the Alex D. books is that the two female love interests do not have very well-developed characters, as far as they go, Allison is preferable. Robin is kind on whiney.