Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: When I saw Kellerman had a new book coming out, I signed up for it at the library without knowing what it was about, just assuming it was another Alex Deleware book. When I picked it up, I was disappointed that it wasn't, but still optimistic, since I love Kellerman's books. This book is a disappointment. I was well over 100 pages in, and still was not "into" the story. The main character, Jeremy, did not draw me in like Alex did in the other books. I didn't feel a connection with Jeremy, and didn't find myself rooting for him, like I do for Alex and Milo. The story is very slow moving, no driving suspense like the Deleware books. I finished the book because I was "curious" about how it would end, not because I had a driving need like I do with really good mysteries. I hope Kellerman sticks with the Deleware series, it's a much better read in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: Not His Best
Review: I'm a long-time Kellerman fan, but I didn't care as much for this novel. It is extremely slow-paced, which is not necessarily a bad thing if there is some feeling of direction or plot movement, but it seemed missing here to me. The story seemed meandering and obscure, and I didn't find the characters to be compelling.
Rating: 
Summary: A crooked trail of clues
Review: In "The Conspiracy Club, Jonathan Kellerman departs from his Alex Delaware series with a new protagonist who is moodier and has more of an edge. Jeremy Carrier, a staff psychologist at City Central hospital, is a loner who becomes emotionally distant when his lover is brutally slain. He is unsure of his worth as a psychologist and mistrustful of the motives of others. When he is approached by an elderly eccentric pathologist named Arthur Chess, Jeremy tries to avoid him. However, through persistence and an invitation to a sumptuous but odd dinner meeting with a group of retired intellectuals, Dr. Chess draws Jeremy into pondering violence and virtue and leads him to question his role in this strange circle of friends. Jeremy begins to receive cryptic journal articles and postcards that draw his attention to a series of violent murders. He suddenly finds himself the prime suspect of these gruesome deeds and harassed by a homicide detective. As the clock ticks down, Jeremy must track down a psychopath to protect the new love of his life and to prove his own innocence.This is typical Kellerman fare, reminiscent of his previous novel "The Murder Book." In both stories, the protagonists are given a series of enigmatic clues by persons unknown and then left to follow their crooked trail wherever it might lead. Although the story starts off slowly while developing Jeremy's tortured soul, it picks up speed and ends with a twist. The book contains thought-provoking ideas on the nature and origin of violent behavior and is an entertaining story.
Rating: 
Summary: Really good!
Review: I'm a big Alex Delaware fan, so I was unsure what to expect from this new Kellerman. But it turned out to be a great read. Really enjoyed it!
Rating:
Summary: May I please give more stars!!!
Review: I'm not even finished with this book, but feel compelled to write a 9 star review!!! While I love Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis, this one has gripped me, kind of like Billy Straight.
I still have about 80 pages to read and am still not sure where this one is going. However, since I started it this morning, I know that this is going to be one of my FAVORITE Kellerman books.
Jeremy Carrier is a psychologist whose love, Jocelyn, has been murdered. The police suspect him. Dr. Chess, who works at his hospital, takes an interest in him. An unusual invitation by Chess to a gastronimic feast with some very important people leaves Jeremy confused, especially since Chess has left suddenly for Europe, sending him postcards that read "traveling and learning."
Jeremy is also getting inter-office mail not addressed to him specifically, and is very confused by the content. He tries to piece together the information. Possibly his new love, Angela, holds the key. Honestly, I don't know...but since I have work to do tonight, I will not be able to find out until tomorrow!
I can't wait....honestly, I can't wait.
Kellerman, this is one of your best!!! I have never read so far into a book without knowing what the premise is and what the outcome will be. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Rating:
Summary: A good read.
Review: Dr. Jeremy Carrier is a psychologist at City Central Hospital. Jeremy spends all his time at the hospital, mostly to forget the painful memories of his relationship to nurse Jocelyn Banks. Jocelyn and Jeremy didn't break up, Jocelyn was murdered and her killer still roams free. As Jeremy is struggling to get on with his life a new string of murders rocks the hospital...murders committed in the same fashion as that of Jocelyn, and Jeremy is the prime suspect. Trying to clear his name and catch a killer, Jeremy begins his own investigation which leads him to a dark secret being kept within the hospital's walls, and as more information is found out he is drawn into a game of cat and mouse with a diabolical killer. 'The Conspiracy Club' starts off slow and picks up speed about half way through. The first half of the novel is a character development study with some medical drama thrown in for good measure. The second half kicks in with the murders and the action that leads up to a satisfactory climax. This novel is well written and easy to read, as you would expect from Jonathan Kellerman, but the thriller aspects come into play a little too late into the novel to compare it to some of his best work. Jonathan Kellerman has introduced a new character (Jeremy Carrier) in a novel that could have been explosive...the plot is very interesting, the characters are all likable and the plot twists do surprise, but...Kellerman takes too long to get things cookin and when they do the novel ends. Fans of Jonathan Kellerman and his Alex Delaware series will welcome the introduction of the new character but will only be mildly satisfied with this new novel. Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: A First-Rate Read with a Great New Protagonist
Review: The first Jonathan Kellerman book I ever read did not feature Alex Delaware. It was a novel titled THE BUTCHER'S THEATER, and though I read it almost 15 years ago, I can still remember passages of that book as if I had read them yesterday. I've read almost all of Kellerman's fiction since that time, including every Delaware novel, so I approached THE CONSPIRACY CLUB with some mixed feelings. I was slightly disappointed that this was not going to be another Delaware novel. But Kellerman's work, whether it involves Delaware or not, is so uniformly excellent that a deviation from his normal characterization would almost certainly be interesting. Now, having spent a day or so reading THE CONSPIRACY CLUB, I can tell those of you who are diehard Delaware fans that, if you skip this excellent novel because Alex Delaware is not in it, you are cheating yourself. And if you're not already a fan of Kellerman, THE CONSPIRACY CLUB is the key to becoming one. Notwithstanding my familiarity with Kellerman's work, I felt as if I was discovering a debut novel by a new author who had studied at the feet of the masters and was channeling them. The book is excellent in every way. The characters are unforgettable, the dialogue is witty when it should be and dark when appropriate. The plotting is so intelligent yet straightforward that you'll walk away from this great novel feeling smarter than you did when you first picked it up. THE CONSPIRACY CLUB introduces Dr. Jeremy Carrier, a young staff psychologist at City Central Hospital in an unnamed Midwest city. Carrier is carrying around a boatload of grief since his passionate but all-too brief affair with a nurse named Jocelyn Banks was abruptly ended by her kidnapping and brutal murder. Carrier was initially a suspect in Banks's unsolved slaying, and Detective Bob Doresh has a disconcerting habit of popping into the hospital at odd times to ask Carrier off-kilter questions, just to let Carrier know that he's still under the magnifying glass. When another woman is murdered in an eerily and similarly grisly fashion, Doresh seems to be taking more than a polite interest in Carrier, a circumstance that creates even more sorrow and confusion for him. This is counterbalanced --- barely --- by Carrier's slowly developing relationship with Angela Rios, a hospital resident whose slow but sure emotional succor seems to put him on the road to recovery. At the same time, an elderly, somewhat eccentric physician named Dr. Arthur Chess begins to take a gently incessant interest in Carrier. This interest culminates with Chess inviting Carrier to a mysterious late night formal supper. Chess and the other four guests, all individuals of wildly disparate backgrounds, treat Carrier well. He cannot help but feel, however, that he is there more to be observed and evaluated than anything else. Almost simultaneously Carrier begins to receive a mysterious series of seemingly unconnected articles and messages through the hospital mailing system, correspondences that seem to be aiming him toward the identity of the true murderer of Banks and the other women. Kellerman, already a master of the suspense novel, takes the genre to new places here. Carrier is an empathetic psychologist, a master at sharing emotion with his patients, but he is not a detective. He lurches, in fits and starts, toward the true identity of the murderer, who is set to strike someone close to Carrier once again. Carrier is a highly believable character. He is capable of giving comfort to his patients, even to those who seem unreachable, but is slow to accept and receive such comfort himself. Kellerman's account of Carrier's initial encounters with Rios is absolutely first-rate. What is even more remarkable, however, is Kellerman's ability to infuse his novels, and particularly this one, with realistic minor characters, who sometimes enter and exit within the space of a single page. One such character is a woman whom Carrier encounters while she is sweeping out a vacated bookstore in a building that is scheduled for demolition. The dialogue between the two characters goes on but for a few sentences, yet the woman's portrayal, primarily conveyed through her comments regarding her own behavior, is perfect. A character like this is not the stuff of literature so much as she is the essence of life. Even if her actions make no logical sense to her, the reader understands them immediately. Carrier certainly has the potential to be an ongoing, sustaining character. He is too good a character to limit to one novel, even one as fine as THE CONSPIRACY CLUB. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating:
Summary: fine conspiracy amateur sleuth
Review: Six months may have passed since Jocelyn Banks was brutally murdered, but her lover Dr. Jeremy Carrier remains despondent as he knows first hand that time does not heal all wounds. Though the police remain convinced he is the prime suspect, a depressed Jeremy buries himself in his work as a psychiatrist at City Central Hospital because being alone is more difficult to cope with than working with emotionally crippled patients. However his antisocial misanthropic behavior is interrupted when colleague Dr. Arthur Chase hooks Jeremy to attend some social functions of a secret society. As Jeremy begins to come out of his emotional fog, he notices that other women have recently died in the same gruesome manner as his beloved. Clues begin appearing for no apparent reason. Realizing he must act alone as the police seem to be closing in on him as the serial killer, Jeremy begins investigating a cat and mouse terror game with someone guiding him, but is that someone the killer? More a combination conspiracy amateur sleuth tale than a medical thriller, Jonathan Kellerman's latest tale is an exciting story that hooks the audience the moment Dr. Chase breaks down the first of Jeremy's survival barriers. From that moment the story line is fast-paced filled with red herrings as everyone seems garbed in a masquerade (though not the same type of plot, this reviewer kept thinking of the List of Adrian Messenger). The "conspiracy" seems a bit odd and off kilter, but fans will value this exhilarating look at vengeance. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: It's different!!
Review: Many reviews here stated that this novel by Jonathan Kellerman not as good as his other novels with Alex Delaware as a main character. I disagree. It's just different. Despite similar medical background, which could be expected, a lot in this novel, including a pace, is different. Maybe many readers started this novel having certain expectations based on previous Alex Delaware works and got disappointed but this difference doesn't make it worse. Granted, there are a few weaknesses (for example, antics of members of 'conspiracy club' sometimes seems silly or the ending may feel not very convincing) but I totally disagree with reviews that say that this book doesn't have a suspense. Although maybe the book has less action we used to find in the author' other books this one kept me very intrigued. Overall, recommended to all Jonathan Kellerman' fans.
Rating:
Summary: Page Turner
Review: This is the best novel Kellerman has written in a long time. It has less gore and more mystery. I love having to follow the trail of nuggets left by the older physician for the protagonist. The protagonist goes from clue to clue, doubting at first, but believing and solving in the end. A very satisfying story.
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