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It doesn't seem possible, but we were first introduced to Rina Lazarus, young orthodox Jewish widow, and Peter Decker, LA detective, in The Ritual Bath 15 years ago. Now, Rina and Peter are an old married couple. Cindy, Peter's daughter is a cop like her father, Rina's sons, Samuel and Jacob are in their late teens, and getting ready for college, and Rina and Peter are the parents of a 7 year old girl. This, the 13th entry in the series, opens with a call from the police. Rina is home. Peter is at work. The phone call is not to tell her that her husband has been killed or injured, but that her place of worship, a storefront shul, has been desecrated. Nazi slogans and symbols have been painted on the walls, sacred books have been shredded, and a silver plated ritual cup has been stolen. Rina, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, is devastated. The congregation starts to repair the damage, with help from some of the women from the Baptist church one of the police detectives attends. It appears that the horror was perpetrated by teenagers, so Peter starts his investigation of private school students by going to Jacob's school and looking in the boys' lockers. He finds nothing but his stepson reacts strangely. At the next school, Peter finds the kiddush cup in the backpack of Ernesto Golding, a very strange and disturbed young man, the son of wealthy ex-hippies who named their son after Che Guevara. The story gets progressively more complicated. Ernesto confesses to Peter that he is afraid his grandfather, who supposedly escaped to Argentina in 1937, really left Germany after the war and was a Nazi, or a Jew. He doesn't know. Peter agrees to community service and counseling for Ernesto, while pondering his own relationship with his teenage stepsons. Ernesto is found dead under mysterious circumstances. The married psychologists to whom the Goldings sent Ernesto were also famed for getting rich kids into the college of their choice. They have been working with wealthy troubled teens and there is apparently a connection to white supremacist neo-nazi hate groups. The body count rises. Jacob knew Ernesto from raves they had both attended, and Jacob confesses to Peter that he had tried drugs and (gasp) sex, which makes Peter wonder if he has been a good father to the boys. I wonder what's in the water in Los Angles. This is one of several books on the poor-little-rich-kid-whose-parents-don't-understand-them by either ignoring them or pushing them too hard theme to come out of that city in the last short period of time. This is a good addition to the series but it doesn't have the punch that the first few books had. Perhaps it's time for Peter Decker to retire. Note: This review is based on the hardcover edition published by William Morrow in August 2001.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2001
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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