Rating: 
Summary: Very good book -- Do not read comments on jacket
Review: I found the book well-paced and intricately plotted. However, I was appalled that a key plot development that was not revealed in the book until after 100 pages was revealed. To make matters even worse, Publishers Weekly, quoted in Amazon, did exactly the same thing. When are these marketers going to stop ruining suspense?
Back to the book, the character development was very good, as usual, particularly with Jacob, Rina's son. Jacob's relationship with Decker is sensitively handled and demonstrates the difficulties in the relationship of a step-father and son during the teens.
Rating:
Summary: A big improvement over Stalker....
Review: I have enjoyed all of the previous books in this series, but Kellerman seems to be falling into a rut. The story is interesting and the characters are as well-developed as usual, and the relationship between Decker and Jacob is very well done, but the ending was WAY too pat (a mountain lion, for heaven's sake??!!) and all the loose ends were wrapped up too easily. Too many coincidences. I would have rated this book a 3, but it is so much better than Stalker I had to give it a 4.
Rating: 
Summary: Something is lacking
Review: I have read all of the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novels. Kellerman writes great novels balancing a good detective story with the warm personal relationships between Rina and Peter and their children Cindy, Sammy, Jacob and Hannah, and the team Peter works with in the LAPD. They normally dwell as well on their religious life - the Jewish customs of the devout orthodox Jew, and its affect on their involvement in the secular world - especially Peter's.This book centers around Rina's son Jacob who knew and had been involved with many of the teens in the story during his rebellion year of drug/sex parties. His brothers and sisters are hardly even mentioned, and we don't see Peter's department team coming for dinner to his home nor any of their private life. We don't see much of Peter's religious life either. I missed the personal full family and team involvement. It brought warmth to the novels in the past. I had to ask myself - Why was the LAPD homicide department handling a synagogue vandalism case? It didn't make sense, and it was months before there was any homicide. Still, Kellerman writes an exciting story. If you have read any of the past novels in the series, you knew the characters and the references to happenings in the former books. Something was lacking though, it just wasn't as good as the rest of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Watch out, Faye. You're going downhill!
Review: I have read all the books in this series, and they have been going steadily downhill. In this one, the plot is rather weak, the killer linear, Jacob's involvement rather forced, and most of all, Rina's character has become intolerable. she started being a charming widow, and now comes accross as a nagging, ill-tempered, obssesive, impossible wife. One wonders what keeps Decker married, and the author fails to show it. it was not a satisfactory read; slow, weeeak plot,unsubstantial killer,no interesting side characters (Cindy, Marge,etc) and putting up with Rina on top of all that was TOO much! Change her or eliminate her, please! Maybe the plots will improve then
Rating:
Summary: F. Kellerman wins me over again
Review: I never hesitate to spend good money on a hardback book by Faye Kellerman, and I was not disappointed with her latest. I think this is her best book since Justice, which will always be one of my favorites. The story is a combination of a great mystery, deep characters, and a fun relationship between Peter and his devout Jewish wife Rina. I am definitely glad that I did not wait for it to come out in paperback!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Faye, where have you gone?
Review: I remember there was a time where I actually said to myself, "Faye Kellerman writes better than her husband." Not that Jonathan Kellerman was ever bad, I just thought that Faye had a bit of a better style. Suffice it to say, something's happened. Mr. Kellerman's books have been absolutely incredible reads (I can't snatch his books up or finish them fast enough), while Faye's have just been not up to their usual standards. I noticed the difference after Jupiter's Bones, and it really became apparent after Stalker. Nevertheless, I still got excited with I saw The Forgotten in the store and snatched it right up. The first third of this book is pretty bad. Does Faye have some apprentice she's letting write part of these books? It sure seems like it! I don't have the book in front of me, but if I did, I would have to make note of some of the truly bad lines that were in here. I was stupefied! After the first third of the book, the writing style suddenly got better, although the plot remained pretty much stale. I was totally unimpressed with the character of Ruby Ranger who was just disgusting and vile, but had nothing else. I guess cardboard is a good word for her. A totally unconvincing character. And the villain had a somewhat interesting motivation, but was overall not developed well. The ending of this book was totally unsatisfying. I won't ruin it for anyone else, but it was pretty much dumb. And another thing. I have no connection at all to the Jewish culture, but liked reading about it courtesy of Faye Kellerman, but I have to say that the whole victim thing is now quite tiring. In a world where the conflict in the Middle East has been brought to the American doorstep, it's quite annoying to hear about Jews as victims victims victims. There are all types of people dying and all types of people suffering. Beating the same dead horse regarding the Holocaust and Jewish bias - enough! I've been reading the Decker/Lazarus series since high school (I'm in my late 20's now), and I am baffled as to why the quality of these books have gone down. I'm waiting for Faye to get back to the quality of her older novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down...
Review: I thought this one was riveting. I can't imagine why anyone found it dull... No imagination I guess. Great read, excellent story, hard to put down. When I stay up until 3 am to finish a mystery, that pretty much says it all for me.
Rating:
Summary: A tepid and muddled mystery with cardboard characters.
Review: I used to be a fan of Faye Kellerman, but I stopped reading her books a while back. I picked up her new novel, "The Forgotten," to see if she has regained her touch. She hasn't. This latest installment in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series starts with a horrible act of vandalism. A synagogue is trashed and defiled. Swastikas are painted on the walls and photos of concentration camp victims are left atop torn holy books. Peter Decker, who is a Lieutenant with the LAPD, goes into action and eventually finds the perpetrator of this vandalism. He is seventeen-year-old Ernesto Golding, a rich kid with a very sick mind. The case is closed out, but a series of brutal murders prove that there is more to this story than meets the eye. Golding may have had a grandfather who was a Nazi passing himself off as a Jew. In addition, Golding had ties to a hate group with a shadowy leader. The members of this group, called "Preservers of Ethnic Integrity," may have been involved not only in the vandalism, but in other crimes as well. The biggest problem with "The Forgotten" is that it flits from one plot line to another without any transition. Kellerman actually mixes up a plot about people who hate Jews with a plot about psychologists who help rich kids cheat on their SAT's. Also thrown into the mix is a story line about Peter Decker's stepson, Jacob, who has been mixed up with some of the baddies in the past, and who is now trying to straighten himself out. Peter struggles to come to terms with his responsibilities and his guilt, since he has neglected the boy in the past. The novel has little in the way of character development. The characters are distasteful, dysfunctional and dull. The ending is anticlimactic and very slow in coming. I do not recommend this muddled mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: By page 300 I had lost the will to live........
Review: I used to enjoy reading this series, but the last few have been so incredibly weak that I have to ask, "WHAT HAPPENED?" The ridiculous plot is only outdone by the truly AWFUL dialogue. (Granted my life is relatively sedate, but I have never met people who warranted that many exclamation points in real life.) The characters are unbelievable and the ending seemed more like a cartoon than a mystery novel. ...
Rating:
Summary: By page 300 I had lost the will to live........
Review: I used to enjoy reading this series, but the last few have been so incredibly weak that I have to ask, "WHAT HAPPENED?" The ridiculous plot is only outdone by the truly AWFUL dialogue. (Granted my life is relatively sedate, but I have never met people who warranted that many exclamation points in real life.) The characters are unbelievable and the ending seemed more like a cartoon than a mystery novel. ...
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