Private Eyes

Rating:
Summary: Silly Premise
Review: After eight different tries with Kellerman, I removed him from my "authors to read" list. Then a friend gave me Private Eyes and I thought I'd give him another shot. 525 pages later, I haven't changed my mind. Private Eyes is extremely slow going, and if not for my need to finish every book I start, I would have gladly given the book back without reaching the very disappointing ending.

Alex Delaware is called by a former child patient after nine years. He is drawn into a severly dysfunctional family with secrets galore, a missing person, her former attacker now free from prison, greedy bankers and lawyers, odd-ball psychiatrists - all of whom could be guilty of the possible kidnapping/murder...if there was actually a kidnapping/murder. With his loyal minion Milo Sturgis, Delaware tries to untangle the intricate web Kellerman weaves for the reader. Great premise.

Unfortunately, what I found was more of Kellerman's verbose writing style in which he goes to great length to describe the highways and byways that Delaware takes to go to wherever he's going. I realize in reading other reviews, many readers enjoy Kellerman. Beyond Billy Straight and Survival of the Fittest, I can't say I'm in that same group of fans.

Rating:
Summary: These eyes need Visine...
Review: After eight different tries with Kellerman, I removed him from my "authors to read" list. Then a friend gave me Private Eyes and I thought I'd give him another shot. 525 pages later, I haven't changed my mind. Private Eyes is extremely slow going, and if not for my need to finish every book I start, I would have gladly given the book back without reaching the very disappointing ending.

Alex Delaware is called by a former child patient after nine years. He is drawn into a severly dysfunctional family with secrets galore, a missing person, her former attacker now free from prison, greedy bankers and lawyers, odd-ball psychiatrists - all of whom could be guilty of the possible kidnapping/murder...if there was actually a kidnapping/murder. With his loyal minion Milo Sturgis, Delaware tries to untangle the intricate web Kellerman weaves for the reader. Great premise.

Unfortunately, what I found was more of Kellerman's verbose writing style in which he goes to great length to describe the highways and byways that Delaware takes to go to wherever he's going. I realize in reading other reviews, many readers enjoy Kellerman. Beyond Billy Straight and Survival of the Fittest, I can't say I'm in that same group of fans.

Rating:
Summary: Good character development
Review: I liked this book a lot. It had a good amount of relationship issues in here and I enjoy that. I found it interesting to see the relationship between the mother and daughter change and to see the daughter make sense of her mother. Alex Deleware is a great character. Jonathan Kellerman has kicked out another good book! You easily get caught up in the characters lives. Kellerman draws you in. I could barely wait to find out what happens in the next chapter!

Rating:
Summary: Admittedly slow for a while, but builds
Review: I think you have to be a fan of Kellerman to really enjoy this one. I have read several other Alex Delaware novels and know that the stories are generally pretty solid. This book does start off slow, and I even admit to putting it down and reading another couple of books, before I picked it back up again. What made me pick it back up, you may ask. As I said I had read other Delaware books, and knew that there was more than likely an interesting story behind the slow startup. I feel it was worth it to pick the book up again and the story slowly but surely developed into an interesting tale and felt rewarded for continuing on. What makes the book slow is the fact that it does not start with a bang as many mysteries do that keep you captivated for a while. You can read an overall description above, so there is no need for me to repeat it here, but I can say that the beginning of the book spends time on developing the characters and the background of the story. Maybe not so riveting at first but it does begin to draw you in, and it makes the story more believable.

In brief, I would say that if you are a Jonathan Kellerman fan then get this book and don't be disheartened by a slow start. You'll get what you like out of his books in the end. If you have not read Kellerman before then you might want to try another one of the Alex Delaware's books that moves at a faster pace, and gets you from the start. I recommend "Time Bomb" and "Bad Love" if you haven't read Kellerman before. They get you from the start and if you like those then you should give "Private Eyes" a try.

Rating:
Summary: fresh life into the series
Review: Nine years ago, Alex Delaware successfully treated Melissa Dickinson, a tormented and phobic young girl, irrationally scared of almost everything. After two years of treatment, Melissa seems almost totally recovered, so her need for Dr Delaware ceases, and she becomes one of his most spectacular triumphs. Now, Melissa contacts Alex again, this time seeking advice concerning her mother. Gina Dickinson is a recluse, an ex-actress hiding away from the world ever since a vicious acid attack that left her scarred for life, even after extensive and traumatic plastic surgery. Even though Gina is now seeing, with some effect, a psychiatrist of her own, Melissa wants to know if Alex feels her mother could cope if she went away, accepting her place Harvard. Then, one day, Gina inexplicably climbs into her car, and drives off into thin air, leaving a tangled mystery to be unravelled in her wake.

I had started to think that this series was in danger of going stale. The prose is adequate and easy to read, but hardly full of spirit and at times seems a little perfunctory, and Alex Delaware has also remained a rather static - if very likeable - character. But now, after reading Kellerman's excellent standalone "The Butcher's Theatre", I returned to the series with "Private Eyes", and found it a wonderfully invigorating experience. This may be his lone of his longest Delaware books to date, but every word is fascinating, and there seems to me to be fresh fire in the writing. The characters are all very well developed, and although Kellerman never really takes any risks with his well-structured plot, it's a complex and clever book that really kicks the brain into gear, and presents one or two nice surprises along the way.

The psychology is dead-on, the relationships are all fascinating, the characterisation is acute, and the resolution is exciting, well-done, and satisfying. This may well turn out to be the rock of the Delaware series. To find out, i shall have to read on...

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: This books is a great read, it is a wonderful mistery novel that keeps you reading. I have not yet read any Kellerman book that I did not feel this way about.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: This books is a great read, it is a wonderful mistery novel that keeps you reading. I have not yet read any Kellerman book that I did not feel this way about.

Rating:
Summary: Silly Premise
Review: This is one of Kellerman's poorest books. When you FINALLY get to what is going on, it is ridiculous. Don't waste your time on this.

Rating:
Summary: FACE TO FACE
Review: This story is set in 1989, eleven years after Dr. Delaware treats 7-year-old Melissa Dickinson, a child living a nightmare. Bright and highly resourceful, Melissa calls Dr. Delaware describing her seemingly irrational fears. Her biggest fear is that of her mother's safety. In 1969, Melissa's mother, then a young model was attacked by a man who threw acid in her face, thus disfiguring her.

Dr. Delaware once again comes into contact with Melissa, by now grown and entering college. He works with her in uncovering the identity and motives of not only her mother's attacker, but those involved with the man.

This is truly a taut, gripping story. The characters are richly drawn so that one gets a pyschological as well as a physical impression of them. The mysteries neatly overlap; there is no extraneous material here. To make a good thing even better, Robin is more or less ushered out the door. I hoped that she would be because I never really cared for her in the first place. Her main role in this book was to leave readers with the question of whether or not she and Dr. Delaware reconnect.

Rating:
Summary: Bizarre
Review: Very different. It was not one of the most memorable thiller's I read. The characters, however, were well written. I would have never thought the ending would have ended the way it did. Some chapters were very slow, then picked up. Twisted plot, but kept me going.