Rating: 
Summary: TOPNOTCH THRILLER WITH A HEART
Review:
Even as the daughter of concentration camp victims Rina Decker was ill prepared to see the horrific desecration of her beloved storefront shul. All the walls had been painted with diabolic epithets, countless ways of killing Jews, eggs and ketchup clouded the plaster. Perhaps most unnerving of all were the ripped holy books peppered with ghastly photos of the dead and dying incarcerated by the Nazis.
The police called Rina because she was the "synagogue's unofficial caretaker - the buck-stops-here person who called the contractors when a pipe burst...." So abhorrent was the sight that Rina felt herself becoming dizzy, and leaned against a wall for support.
Thus begins Faye Kellerman's 13th thriller featuring LA police Lieutenant Peter Decker and his orthodox Jewish wife, Rina. It is, as are its predecessors, an exciting read serving to cement Ms. Kellerman's status as one of today's top crime writers.
This act of vandalism hits close to home and heart for Peter, and a suspect is soon found. It is Ernesto Golding, a 17-year-old son of privilege in gold-plated LA. He's haunted by suspicions about his Polish grandfather who fled to Argentina after Hitler's regime fell.
A deal is cut - Ernesto is sent to counseling with two psychologists who are known for their care of wayward rich teens. The boy will spend the summer at their nature camp in the mountains.
This is too pat an answer for the intuitive police sleuth whose hunch is proved on target some months later when Ernesto and his therapist are found murdered. Before long Rina and Peter find themselves probing for answer's among overly protective, vainglorious parents and I-can-do-anything-I-want youth. But, the road to the truth could also lead to Jacob, their handsome, intelligent son.
Faye Kellerman has once again fashioned an intelligent, fast-moving drama. "The Forgotten" is electrifying, a topnotch thriller with heart.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many plot lines, not enough substance..
Review: Faye Kellerman is a marvelous writer, and I haven't given up on the Lazarus series. This, the 13th book, showed a lot more promise than the 12th book, "Stalker". It was interesting to see where time has taken the relationship between Peter and Rina, but even better to watch Kellerman weave the complex relationship between son Jacob and his parents into the novel. The premise, senseless vandalism and violence at the Deckers' temple, is a strong one. One of the perpetrators, Ernesto Golding, an affluent young man with strong signs of adolescent OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is caught, but does not give up his partners. This is where Kellerman departs from the firm foundation of the novel and stretches needlessly into several murders, sexual obsession and fraudulent SAT preparation. Had she stayed with the story of Ernesto and explored his relationship with his ancestors, parents and brother; perhaps had him struggle with other crimes based on his obsessions, we might have had a fine book. Instead, she introduces the character of Ruby, and the story and plotline go downhill from there. The assignation of Ruby and Jake is truly a ridiculous plot contrivance. Unlike other readers, the unraveling of the Judaic customs and beliefs that accompanies every Lazarus story, for me, is a welcome counterpoint to the police line. The learnings and fabric this setting gives to the series helps it stand apart from all the others. Three stars based on an interesting plot setting and Kellerman's writing style...but no more. I've recently given up reading Jonathan Kellerman, because recent entries in his Alex Delaware psychologist series have been pale shadows of his former work. Hopefully, that will not be the case with Faye's Lazarus series; it appears the author simply has to put in as much effort and creativity in the conclusions of her books as she does in the premise.
Rating: 
Summary: Up with the best of them
Review: Faye Kellerman is definitely the No 1-crime fiction writer of today, and ranks up there with the best novelists of police and crime thrillers.
She has not in any way lost any of her talent for keeping the reader glued to the book, and opening up a world of intrigue and mystery. This book proves Kellerman's skill at moving skillfully from the homely to the horrific, from warmth to horror, from heroic to diabolical. In an age where the hideous anti-Semitism is on the rise again, in measure never seen since the fall of Nazi Germany, the story begins with the hideous desecration of Peter and Rina's local synagogue, through the world of shady White Supremacist type groups, teenagers corrupted into insanity by their parents, whose own 60's radicalism, in my opinion, was the root of all the evil, drugs, bizarre sex rituals and murder. Of course Peter and his teams determination and Rina's sanity and compassion helps restore truth and balance. Rina's rebellious son Jacob plays a big role in bringing this one to being solved. On the downside I would have liked to see some of Cindy , and Marge's stepdaughter Vega.
Rating:
Summary: Middling adventure for a favorite orthodox duo
Review: Faye Kellerman poaches a bit from her hubby in this Rina/Pete outing, dabbling a bit in adolescent psychology and the nasty hijinks of mental health providers. It mostly works and kept me turning pages until the characters' motivations unraveled and the sanctimony around Rina's cleanup of a descrated synagogue got too excessive. A nastily misogynistic portrait of a young femme fatale also had me wondering about Faye's own mental health. Must women be either trollops or sainted orthodox housewives in her world? Entertaining but still far short of her best.
Rating: 
Summary: A better offering than the previous book. Some major flaws.
Review: First, let me get a pet peeve off of my chest regarding this author. It seems that in almost every book she has some personal bias against others yet at the same time she wants the reader to believe that she has all the answers to to the eternal questions of every countries standing against the Holocaust.In this book there comes a point where she has the main character (Rina) speaking about Poland's part during the Holocaust. I should say the Polish peoples part in the Holocaust. Not the Germans who invaded Poland. Ms. Kellerman states that the Polish people basically rolled over and joined the Germans terror of the Jews. This is not true. I am a descendant of a family that lost a four people in my immediate to the Nazis. My grandmother and her mother escaped to Switzerland during the Holocaust. My grandmother lost her father and three brothers in the Holocaust. They were Polish Catholics. Her brothers died fighting the Germans. Her father died in a concentration camp in Germany. Let's not forget that many other non-Jews gave thier lives to fight Hitler also. O.K. this book was much better than the last one. It did run on a bit with the differing plots and such. I thought having the killers involved in racism and the SAT scandal was a bit over the top. All in all, aside from my personal pet peeve which brought the story down alot for me personally, I would give it a C. I would also like to add that I really enjoy learning about the Jewish religion. It is fascinating to me. I also wished there was more of a story with Peter and Rina's home life. I love to read about that.
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: Remember the Forgotten
Review: It's hard to think of Faye Kellerman without thinking of her husband, Jonathan, who also writes mysteries. While his Alex Delaware series is getting weaker and weaker, her series featuring Peter and Rina Decker is actually getting better. On the quality scale, the two have reversed positions over the years and she is now the Kellerman to read. This story starts relatively slowly with an act of anti-Semitic vandalism. The culprit is caught reasonably quickly, but it also triggers a series of events that leaves several people dead. While the mystery is okay enough, the subplot involving Peter and his stepson is actually better; in fact, the family is more interesting overall than Peter's coworker cops. This is not a series where the characters remain static; instead, they definitely evolve over time. Even Peter and Rina have their tense moments, but the solidness of their marriage is also evident. It is not a perfect novel. While Faye Kellerman is a good author, she can improve still. My biggest gripe, however, actually has to do with the marketing of these books. Rina and Peter have been married for over seven years in book time and at least half a dozen novels; I think she should be referred to as Rina Decker, not Rina Lazarus; she hasn't used that name for a long time and I don't think it is essential to use it on the book covers.
Rating:
Summary: Deliciously complex plot
Review: Lt. Peter Decker is called to the scene of a vandalized synagogue which he attends along with his wife Rina. They are both sickened by the racial slurs which are written on the walls and by the photos of Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. The perpetrator is apprehended, but the case does not end there. What follows is a complex unwinding of past and present deep-seated prejudices, greed, and selfish ambition which various characters display. Wound throughout the case is the homelife of Peter and Rina and their struggles with young son Jacob who is trying to find his identity in a confusing world. This is a wonderfully crafted book, full of suspense and interesting characters.
Rating:
Summary: FORGIVEN NOT FORGOTTEN
Review: Ms. Kellerman returns with another "ethnic" mystery. The plot in this one starts out intriguing but gets bogged down by too much repetitive dialogue; an incoherent ending in which who did what to whom is never answered; and even though many reviewers found Jacob's plight involving or sensitive, I found his teen age rebellion a little too pat. Rina also steps in to solve a mystery regarding one of the victim's background, researching and proletyzing on the Holocaust.
Kellerman again demonstrates her narrative skills, and if she would only maintain more suspense and mystery, I think her novels would be more entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Hatred and Redemption
Review: Rina Decker, wife of LAPD Seargent Peter Decker, is the caretaker of her small orthodox synogogue. She is shocked when it is vandalized, and appalled at the nature of the vandalism - glossy photographs of Holocaust victims from the Treblinka camp are left atop of shredded holy books. Her husband, determined to solve the crime, quickly locates Ernesto Golding. The troubled teen insists that he acted alone. Decker suspects otherwise, and his fears soon prove to be founded when Golding is murdered along with the therapist hired to help him after the vandalism. This murder throws Decker into two separate worlds. Was the murder related to Golding's belief that his grandfather wasn't the Jewish survivor he claimed he was - instead he was a Nazi? Or was the murder related to the therapist's high-priced college counseling service? Kellerman has crafted another excellent novel which intertwines religion and police work. Highly recommended!
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