I normally eschew suspense thrillers for the more traditional mystery but
every once in a while I will pick one up. I read Patricia Cornwell’s Kay
Scarpetta series whenever I can find a new one in paperback. And I read
Faye Kellerman’s Decker/Lazarus series. But that’s about it because they
tend to have too much gore and violence for my taste. However, Faye
Kellerman is married to Jonathan Kellerman and his books are everywhere
so I thought I’d pick one up and give it a go. It was just what I
expected.

Alex Delaware, the “hero,” is a former child psychologist who is now
working as a consultant in LA on police and custody cases. He works
primarily with Milo, a gay homicide detective. His live-in love is Robin
who builds and rebuilds expensive string instruments for a living. She
has issues with his police work centering on his knack for getting
himself into tight situations involving guns. Oh, and he has a mastiff
named Spike. Alex has a visit from a former, failed therapy patient, a
young hooker named Lauren, who then turns up dead a few days later, shot
in the head and dumped in a dumpster. Alex feels all sorts of guilt and
angst over not doing more to help the child she was years ago and his
investigation goes from there.

The book kept my attention. The plot twists were unpredictable and kind
of interesting. His characters were certainly realistic. Kellerman kept
Milo, the gay detective, real and didn’t stereotype him too badly. But
beyond that, it was just ok. I remembered why I don’t much care for
suspense thrillers and got it out of my system for a few months. Too much
gore and violence. Too many graphic descriptions that I don’t need in my
head.