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MURDER BOOK, THE
by Jonathan Kellerman
Ballantine, October 2002
368 pages
$26.95
ISBN: 0345452534


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

As most people who have read the work of Jonathan Kellerman would know he

is, like his protagonist Dr. Alex Delaware, a child psychologist. Flesh and Blood, Dr. Death, Monster, Over the Edge, When the Bough Breaks, Blood Test, Time Bomb,

Silent Partner, Private Eyes, The Web, The Clinic, Self Defence, The Butcher's

Theatre, Survival of the Fittest, Devil's Waltz, Billy Straight, Bad Love, Savage

Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children are amongst his works, fictional and

non-fictional. He has also written books for children. Unlike his novelist wife Faye

Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman does not include religion as part of the themes of the Alex Delaware plots.

Kellerman's readers will be familiar with Delaware's friend and partner in

detection, gay Detective Milo Sturgis. The pair are constantly in physical danger and at the beginning of this novel, Delaware finds himself parted from his lover, Robin. She has had enough of the anxiety occasioned by Delaware's apparent addiction to thrill-seeking behaviour and has embarked on an extended music tour of at least three months duration.

To add to Delaware's discomfort - or, given his strange partiality for danger,

perhaps to reduce it - Alex receives in the mail a binder on which are the letters 'The Murder Book'. Inside is an array of photographs of crime scenes, including some of an horrifically tortured corpse. The book, in fact, resembles books assembled by police when solving crimes. Alex consults Milo Sturgis and is made privy to secrets of Milo's youth.

Milo tells Delaware of the first policeman with whom he had been partnered

when a rookie twenty years before. Pierce Schwinn had been a drug addict who picked up prostitutes for sexual purposes while on duty in a police car driven by Milo. At the time he despised Milo who was then attempting to come to terms with the knowledge that he was gay. The two investigate the very brutal murder of a young girl, Janie Ingalls, but before they progress far with the case, Schwinn is compelled to leave the police force and Milo is transferred to another division. The murder investigation never makes the newspapers and life proceeds for almost all concerned as though the slaying never occurred - until The Murder Book comes into Delaware's possession and the photograph of Janie's mutilated body reminds Milo of his first unsolved case.

The two are plunged anew into an investigation that threatens them physically

and emotionally. Delaware is constantly troubled about Robin and his relationship with her and where it stands as he once more indulges in the conduct which has alienated her. Milo finds his own personal life is at risk and his lover, Rick, endangered. Sturgis and Delaware follow a trail that uncovers secrets of the rich and powerful of Los Angeles that the movers and shakers would rather were left hidden.

Kellerman has manufactured an interesting and plausible past for Milo, one

sure to engage the attention of his readers who find the man extremely likeable. This novel explores tentatively the physical attraction which must exist between Milo and Rick, although it does not venture too deeply into the bodily aspect of the relationship. I found myself wondering if, perhaps in future novels, Kellerman might shift the balance of his detail from blood spatter and body parts to more appealing detail of affection. Delaware himself is, as usual, shown to be all too frail in his own personality as his relationship with his love threatens to founder completely. The first person tale is told, as is customary, from the viewpoint of Delaware, interspersed with third person descriptions following the career of Milo Sturgis. As usual, Kellerman does not spare his readers the too-gory details of the abuse of his victims and heroes alike.

This author produces an excellent and engrossing story. The reader can be quite sure of another exciting instalment to follow, given the number of unresolved 'hooks' in this work.

Note: This is a review of the Australian edition

from Headline $Au29.95, published November 7, 2002

Reviewed by Denise Wels, December 2002

This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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