A Cold Heart

Rating:
Summary: What have you done with Alex Delaware?
Review: I recently read The Murder Book and am now over half way through A Cold Heart. My question is, what the heck has happened to Alex Delaware? He's absolutely middle school in his relationship with Robin. The man's a shrink--can he not see what he is and is not doing? The Alex Delaware that has made me read every book in the series was an intelligent, intuitive, sensitive and good man. This Alex Delaware cannot seem to have a straight thought when it comes to what's going on with his personal life. I'm disgusted that every time he's alone with Robin, within minutes he's innapropriately reaching for her breast, another time, allowing her to deeply kiss him while the reader is made very aware of his manly arousal. That wouldn't be so distateful except hours later, he is hopping in bed with another woman, who seems to be cast as a dinner and sex chracter. This is a new style of writing that we are not used to from Kellerman. Kellerman never used to make sex a dirty word and in my opinion, he is suddenly just throwing sex in, seemingly just to add sex. Why not add a new character if he wanted to spice the book up with sex? I've come to strongly dislike Robin and am about twenty pages short of losing all respect for Alex Delaware. Alex Delaware is the man of most women's dreams and now he's made stupid and stereotypical. Even the last two book covers have taken on this same nuance.
Kellerman, no one will deny sex sells, but please, lay off our beloved Alex Delaware as a man who can't control himself.

Rating:
Summary: Not his best work
Review: I think he made such an issue of Dr. Delaware's personal life (switching from Robin to Allison) that he lost track of what could have been an interesting mystery plot.

He seems to do his best work when his character is firmly ensconced with his long time girlfriend (Robin) and his mind is free to concentrate on the mystery at hand.

It doesn't take a "psychiatrist" to realize that upheavals in one's personal life distracts them from the work at hand.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but...
Review: I'll be honest - I read this almost non-stop. Kellerman writes really well. And I love the idea (almost plot) in this story. But it could have been better. The characters are well developed, but it was too easy to know where the story was going before it got there. And its great that the Dr. found a new love but I wish it was just more interesting. Maybe bland is a good word. I really didn't care about his relationship nor did I care about what his girlfriend was doing. Granted, she was necessary for the end of the book, but we knew that before Kellerman did. The characters around Delaware are now more interesting than he is; maybe we will see books about them soon?

A great read for the beach - fast, easy, and it will hold your interest. As far as the Delaware series goes, not one of the better ones.

Rating:
Summary: Alex is going downhill....
Review: I'm a pretty big Alex Delaware fan -- the first one I read was Monster, then Dr. Death, then I started from the beginning and read them all in order. Here's what I think about this book: okay, but not one of Kellerman's better ones. In fact, his last three have not been great. It took me a while to get into it, and I kept reading only because I am a fan of the series. The plot was just not interesting to me. What I disliked most about it, though, is how the older Alex gets, the more he acts like he is in junior high. Being a psychologist, you would think that he would be able to figure out and fix his relationship with Robin. But he rejects her, then kisses her, then rejects her, then has sex wtih her, then rejects her. His new girlfriend Allison is nice, but she is definitely no Robin. I think he has damaged the relationship too much to go back, though. Hopefully we will still hear from Robin in the future. Another way he acts like he is in junior high is how horny he is -- all the time!!! I read Kellerman's books for mystery, intrigue, and surprise, but it seems like in this book every other chapter talks about Alex's erection. Yuck!!! The main positive point of the book is the return of Petra Connor and her new partner Eric Stahl -- reading about them was refreshing after having to wade through Alex's inability to deal with his issues. There is definitely more to find out about Eric, and it would be interesting to have Petra's character more developed also. Hopefully we will read more about them in future books. To sum up, I give this book 3 stars -- read it if you are a fan, but if you have never read one of Jonathan Kellerman's books then start with a different one.

Rating:
Summary: A Cold Read -- Zero Stars!!
Review: I've been a long time fan of Kellerman although his last few books have been lagging; this one is clearly the worst. There were great opportunities to spice things up with the addition of Petra and the mix of first-person and third-person narrative, but it fell flat. The addition of Eric Stahl too is troublesome -- he's clearly a poor man's Joe Pike from the Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais.

The plot is preposterous and the connections made by Delaware are ridiculous...we're supposed to believe that RC written in some guy's calendar refers to Robin, the ex? Quite a leap. I've always been a little stupefied that Milo has to rely on Delaware to solve all his cases for him and this book is no exception. When Milo asks Delaware which flights he should check out and how to go about it, I threw in the towel on the series. Milo must be the most inept cop in all of California, which is probably supposed to be a nice balance with the most sexy, most attractive, most libidinous psychologist pal of his -- Dr. Delaware. After awhile, I started skimming over the mentions of Delaware's good looks, money, and instant erections.

Kellerman mailed this one in and it shows, complete with typos throughout. Petra states in one of the chapters, "This is getting seriously weird..." Well this book is seriously awful. It was terrible. Don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: It's an okay read for the series.
Review: I've been following the Delaware series for a while now, and while I don't think A Cold Heart measures up to The Murder Book, I think it was an okay read. Kellerman incorporates other characters into the series, such as Petra Connor. This has been a long time coming. As much as I enjoy reading about Milo, as he is a favorite of mine, I liked switching it up a little. I also liked how he kept Rick Silverman around with some dialogue too. After The Murder Book, I'd hate to see him fade into the background as he has for so many novels previous.
I also like the fact that Robin's out. Hopefully for good. Allison just seems like a better fit, somehow.
One thing I have noticed, as it seems the rest of you have as well, that Kellerman is repetative in his character descriptions. But I think he's trying to stop. Notice that Milo didn't "Run his hand over his face as though washing without water"? He did rub his face once in A Cold Heart, but the 'washing without water' bit wasn't there. The fact I even noticed tells me Kellerman's used the sentence much too often, but I've noticed it's been gone in the later novels.
I still remain a fan, and A Cold Heart isn't a horrible book. In fact, I found my attention easily kept throughout the whole novel. If you're a fan of the series, read it. My favorite still remains the Murder Book, but A Cold Heart is pretty enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Breathing some new life into an old series.
Review: I've been increasingly disenchanted with the Alex Delaware novels. The plots felt like they were really reaching to keep up the interest of the writer and reader and mostly they felt as though we were walking over the same old tired ground.

_A Cold Heart_ won't take any prizes for being the best Delaware novel, or even one of the best, but I was heartened to see Delaware try another direction for the character and a new emotional thread with which to tie everything together. I found myself genuinely interested in his struggle to let go of Robin, and I liked the way Kellerman portrays people trying to discover new love while burdened with so much baggage.

Unfortunately, the plot is not up to the new direction. The killings are far-fetched and the villain was very easy to guess. Also, the way Delaware's love life is written into the plot is very hard to believe and ultimately unnecessary.

Kellerman should choose an absolutely pedestrian murder for the next novel-- go back to basics and not try to connect it to anything spectacular. Then perhaps he can really refind his groove and do what he used to do so well.

Book in and of itself is really three stars or less, but I gave it four since it shows the first signs of life in a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I've bought and read Kellerman's whole Alex Delaware series, but this is one I truly regret spending the money on. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I totally resent the first-person/third-person switch--especially to this extent. It gives off the odor of a trashy, lazy effort.

This story came to a screeching halt every time it switched into third. I liked Petra Connor in Billy Straight, but her partner was disgusting. I realize that was the point, but I nearly didn't care enough to finish the book. The plot moved very slowly, very standard stuff.

Much as I like the series, I think I'll borrow the next one from the library before buying outright. I'd like to see Kellerman recapture the depth and emotion of Silent Partner.

Rating:
Summary: Robin's hair looks like grapes
Review: In every Alex Delaware novel I go in waiting for the observation, usually made by Alex, that Robin's long curly auburn hair looks like grapes. Grapes tumbling down her white teensy shoulders, grapes falling across her pillow, grapes poofing out from beneath the elastic of her safety glasses, etc. This time, however, it was Petra who noted to herself that Robin's hair looked like grapes cascading over the straps of her darling little overalls. So yeah, I guess Kellerman is really expanding his characters. har.

Rating:
Summary: It All Comes Together In the End!
Review: In this latest Alex Delaware novel, Alex breaks up with his longtime girlfriend, Robin, and takes up with a sexy woman psychologist named Allison. He assists pal Milo Sturgis and Detective Petra Connor (the heroine from 'Billy Straight') on two seemingly unrelated murders - which become more related when he discovers similar unresolved crimes elsewhere in the nation using the internet.

For some reason, Petra is given a zombie-like partner; a former Army investigator, Eric Stahl, who arrives with unseen skeletons tucked in his closet. He has the uncanny ability to spot stolen cars on the street just by looking at them. He has a disdain for women and conversation; yet he's the one to get the girl - and to become a hero at the story's end.

A suspect emerges; an underachieving music groupie with homosexual tendencies. But, as in every Alex Delaware novel, the obvious isn't always what it seems. The murders, which accelerate, envelop artists just as their stalled careers are about to blossom, as if the killer is jealous of their anticipated success.

The modus operendi for each crime appears to vary. Alex unlocks the murderer's thoughts. We get to see LA's glitzier and sleazier sides. And the team eats Indian food numerous times as they espouse and expand upon ever more gruesome theories.

Robin falls into Alex's arms, crying at the conclusion. And, no, they don't get back together. (But there's always the next novel, right?)

The paucity of early clues only serves to make the crime's solution seem more sagacious. 'A Cold Heart' is a work as satisfying as any in the series. I highly recommend it.