Serpent's Tooth

Rating:
Summary: Positive about book and writer's art, esp. in characters.
Review: This is one of Faye Kellerman's best books. In "Serpent's Tooth," she continues the ongoing process of creating her main characters. In each book, we learn more anout the past of both central and minor regular characters. The mystery is a good one, although that is not the best part of the book. Cindy, Peter Decker's first daughter from a previous marriage, is drawn in closer to Peter and Rina's family, including Rina's son from a previous marriage. I do not want to give the plot away, but even when you know who the killer was, you do not know the motivation and the exact way in which it was accomplished. Faye Kellerman is a deft writer. Her touch is delicate but sure. So, nu, when is the next one out?

Rating:
Summary: Positive about book and writer's art, esp. in characters.
Review: This is one of Faye Kellerman's best books. In "Serpent's Tooth," she continues the ongoing process of creating her main characters. In each book, we learn more anout the past of both central and minor regular characters. The mystery is a good one, although that is not the best part of the book. Cindy, Peter Decker's first daughter from a previous marriage, is drawn in closer to Peter and Rina's family, including Rina's son from a previous marriage. I do not want to give the plot away, but even when you know who the killer was, you do not know the motivation and the exact way in which it was accomplished. Faye Kellerman is a deft writer. Her touch is delicate but sure. So, nu, when is the next one out?

Rating:
Summary: More Kellerman ?
Review: This was my first "read" of a F. Kellerman book.

I did enjoy the book, but really do not have very much to compare it with. It appears to be one of an on going set of books, and I did not know where to start with this series.

I enjoyed the book, but other reviewers thought less of it.

Where is the starting point, and which is the best?

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This was my first Faye Kellerman book, and certainly not my last. I'd now like to go back and read her entire Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, mainly because I could not put this book down, and secondly because I'm curious about their relationship--which has to be the mark of a good storyteller!

The plot is one of those that grabs you by the throat on the very first page, and never lets go. It begins in a tony upscale Los Angeles restaurant where suddenly, and without warning, a gunman sprays the diners with bullets, killing 13 and wounding 33 others. It's a horrible scene of mindless carnage, and LAPD homicide detective Peter Decker is beside himself with rage--and flashbacks to his own experiences in Vietnam years before.

As the police begin their routine investigation, they turn up some clues that are far from routine. Was this horrible atrocity part of a murder for hire scheme? Who of the many patrons that night was the intended target? Decker, obsessed with the situation, begins to doggedly investigate--and finds himself accused of sexual harassment in a situation that might cost him his badge and his marriage.

Great story, great characters---I want more!

Rating:
Summary: Blah.
Review: This was my first Kellerman book and most definitely my last. (Unless I'm on a trans-Atlantic flight and her mystery novels are the ONLY reading materials available.) The characters were boring, the dialogue wasn't funny or interesting, the main character was a sexist pig, and I figured out who did it before I was halfway through. I almost skipped to the last chapter to see if I was right but I rarely put down a book or "cheat" on a mystery novel. Fortunately, the quick pace (due to a lack of literary description about anything or anyone) kept me going until the lame ending.