Stone Kiss

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner from Faye
Review: All of the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novels by Faye Kellerman are fast reads, and "Stone Kiss" is no exception.

Peter and Rina find themselves in the ultra-orthodox Jewish enclave of Brooklyn, NY, where Peter has been summoned by his half brother, Jonathan, to investigate the murder of Jonathan's brother-in-law, Ephraim Lieber. Peter is reluctant to get involved. He has no police jurisdiction in New York, he is without his usual sources and backup, and the entire Lieber family, grieving for their lost relative--and, coincidentally, Ephraim's teenaged niece, Shayndie, is treating Peter like dirt.

Peter is all for turning right around and going home, but like always, becomes deeply entwined in the mystery, which involves more twists and turns, more mysteries, than anyone shoud have to face. In addition to the missing girl and the murdered uncle, something is very strange about the surviving brother, Chaim, father of the girl--who all but kicks Decker out with his boot while nevertheless garbed in the pious garb of the ultra-orthodox.

It's strange alright--and gets even stranger when the mystery drops Decker right in the lap of mobster Chris Donatti, with whom Decker has a long and complicated history.

The mystery continues almost right up to the last page, and as always, there is no ends-tightly-sewn-together, pat ending. This is a good read, another Faye Kellerman winner, and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Tightly Plotted Mystery with Familiar Characters
Review: Authors have to perform a unique balancing act when writing a series of novels. On the one side, they need to create new stories that keep previous readers coming back for more. On the other side, they need to write the stories in such a way that new readers will not be lost not knowing what has gone before.

Old readers need fresh tales and will not have the patience to sit through a rehashing of background material covered in previous books. Faye Kellerman, after writing more than a dozen books in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series still manages to keep that delicate balance in her latest, Stone Kiss.

Peter Decker is asked to return to New York to investigate the murder of Ephraim Lieber, his half-brother's brother-in-law and the disappearance of Ephraim's niece. Even before he goes, Peter questions the wisdom of getting involved in a case in now unfamiliar territory for relatives that have only recently learned of his existence.

Despite strong reservations, Peter and his family trek to New York to offer their condolences and assist in both finding the missing girl and the murderer. As soon as they arrive in New York, the people who asked Peter to help do everything possible to thwart his efforts.

If there is any flaw in this novel, it is the lack of motivation for Peter Decker. Much of the opening is spent trying to rationalize Peter's decision to take on this case. He finally flies out to New York simply because he does not want to risk damaging his fragile relationship with his biological family. However, once these same relatives become antagonistic toward Peter because of his investigation, Peter for some inexplicable reason perseveres, continuing to work the case despite the hostility he is fostering. This lack of clear, comprehensible motivation is a source of confusion.

Another source of confusion came with the inexplicable use of the first person when writing from one particular character's point of view. This shift in perspective brought the story to a halt until it could be determined just whose point of view was being related during the course of the narrative. Perhaps it was an attempt at artistic flair. In any event, this shift in point of view and person did not serve the story.

However, once past these obstacles, Stone Kiss is a tightly plotted mystery. Every peculiar detail is explained, and all the loose ends are neatly tied. It is, in fact, in the denouement that it becomes apparent just how neatly everything is resolved. It's as if the events of this story have had no lasting effect on the characters. Despite the traumatic nature of these experiences, everything goes back to normal for Peter Decker and his family. They all live happily ever after.

In the end, Stone Kiss is an enjoyable mystery. What it lacks in terms of complex characters, it makes up for with a complex plot.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Plotted, Fast-Moving Thriller
Review: L.A. Police Lieutenant Pete Decker gets a call from his half-brother, Rabbi Jonathan Levine. The Levines live in New York and Jonathan is seeking Decker's help. His brother-in-law has been found murdered in a seedy hotel room and his fifteen year-old niece, who he had supposedly been watching that day, had disappeared. Jonathan wants Decker to fly to New York to help the family.

Decker's investigations in New York and Quinton, the town where the victim lived as part of an Orthodox Jewish enclave, are unwelcome to just about everybody, from the police in both cities to the missing girl's parents. And when a hitman from Decker's past enters the picture, things quickly get worse. Brutal but thoughtful, Stone Kiss is well-plotted, fast-moving, well-told and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Peter Decker Meets His Match
Review: Peter Decker, detective supremo,from LA meets his match in the big city, New York. Lt. Decker is asked by his brother come lately,Jonathan, an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, to come to New York to help find the murderer of his brother-in-law. Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus had planned a vacation, but they take this side trip to help family. The plot becomes quite complicated, but easily understood by Faye Kellerman's exquisite writing. She has found a true fan in me with this book. She explains the Orthodox Jewish faith through Rabbi Jonathan and stories of his family. The New York crime family comes to life with the re-introduction of Chris Donatti. Decker saved Donatti's girlfriend in a previvous story and helped her back on her feet. Donatti does not forget this, and even though Decker helps to make his shoddy life much more difficult, he sees Decker through some dangerous times. Lots of gore, mystery and surprises- so well written that I started to think of Rina as a friend that I wanted to warn of the dangers ahead. Decker and Rina extricate themselves and their family from this situation as Decker solves the murder and is looked at as the hero of the day. Off they go to Florida for a fun vacation with family where a letter arrives for Rina and the next mystery is born.

Rating:
Summary: Started out good, but went down, down.....
Review: The story had a good start with Peter being called to New York to help his relatives with a murder and disappearance. It was interesting to see him away from his normal LA surroundings and be a "fish out of water" in New York.

But, the actual mystery part of the story was buried under a lot of confusing circumstances and way too many characters. Since, the story takes place somewhere other than Peter's normal beat, the majority of the characters were new to us. Too many new people were included. There were lots and lots of relatives - half brothers and sisters, Peter's biological mother, parents of Rina's dead husband, Peter's adopted brother, Peter's adoptive parents plus a lot of in-laws of some branch of the family. There were new characters of police officers of various New York towns and several characters from previous Faye Kellerman novels. I want a story to be deep and interesting, but these new people were too much trouble to try to keep straight.

I enjoy the Jewish aspect and perspective of these books. It really is an education for me. But, in this book, the Jewish names, nicknames, customs, language and rituals really overwhelmed the mystery part of the story. A lot of the characters were called by their given name in one sentence and then were called by a nickname in the next sentence. As many of these characters were new, it took me a while to figure out that a lot of them had 2 names - a regular one and a nickname. Faye Kellerman could have helped us as readers if she would have some how explained or indicated that many of her characters had nicknames. For quite a while, I thought there were even more new people than there actually were. I finally figured out that more than one name was being used to denote the same person.

Then there was the problem with the point of view from which the story was written changing in the middle of the book with no warning or reason. All of a sudden, the story is written in the first person, but I had no idea who this person was who was saying these things. It took a while to figure out that the "speaker" was the girlfriend of a character that appeared in an earlier Faye Kellerman novel. The change to her "first person" point of view made no sense and was extremely confusing to the reader.

When I first started this novel, I had high hopes and felt it would be a really good read. But, it could not keep and maintain my interest for very long. By the end of the book, (I think) the mystery was solved. But, from what I could gather, the bad guys won quite a bit and most of what actually happened was covered up. I think in the final chapter, a bad guy (who got away with many crimes) killed someone else. The last several chapters were way too confusing to really make a lot of sense. It was a disappointing book that started out looking a lot better than it ended.