Monster

Rating:
Summary: Is a monster born or made?
Review: Alex Delaware returns .... again. In this novel, Alex's best friend, LA cop Milo Sturgis, requests his company on a visit to the facility housing some of the state's criminally insane while investigating the macabre death of a resident psychologist. Before long, they get caught up in a bizarre web of family secrets, revenge and deeply psychotic behaviour, culminating in the "life or death" scene we expect from Jonathan Kellerman.

Unlike a lot of reviewers, I was grateful for the small amount of character development achieved in this novel. Maybe that's because Kellerman is now writing for a particular audience of Delaware fans, and can assume familiarity with his characters. For the first time I can remember, Milo's sexual preferences were implied rather than proselytised and Alex and Robin's relationship seems to have settled into a comfort zone, thank goodness. Her work as a luthier was interesting at first, but I don't need in-depth descriptions in every novel - there was just enough in this one to show she's an independent gal. After all, these novels are supposed to be thrillers, not guitar making manuals, whatever the author's personal interest. And, thankfully, the house is finished, so we are done with endless building details.

Some reviewers say "Monster" forms a departure from the child psychology more usual in Kellerman's Delaware novels, but just consider when most of the victims/suspects suffered the trauma that lead to their adult behaviour.

I don't know how many police forces would grant a civilian, albeit an occasional consultant, as much investigational liberty as Delaware enjoys with the LAPD - they seem to be better served by a psychologist than trained officers. Happily for them, Delaware set off on the right trail almost immediately, while Milo first pursued the obligatory red herrings and chased the wild geese. I'm no rocket scientist, but I had the "monster" pegged pretty early on.

I once collected Kellerman novels (both J & F), but after the awful "The Web", happily donated them to my local library some years ago. I bought this one as part of a selection (give Delaware one more try, I thought) to gain bonus shopping points at a city department store and read it in one day just over a week ago - I've almost forgotten it already. Either I'm losing my taste for this kind of thriller (I hope not), or Kellerman is losing his edge.

Still, even a journeyman Kellerman novel is usually better than the average thriller, though I'm probably biased since I'm a bit of a fan of Milo and Alex, and enjoyed seeing what these familiar characters were up to. And it was great to see Kellerman return to this milieu after the extremely ordinary "Billy Straight".

If you need something that will keep you turning the pages on a long flight or for holiday or vacation reading, you could do a lot worse.

Rating:
Summary: Is There a New Monster In Town?
Review: One day, in the small town of Treadway, Ardis Peake ambled into the kitchen and calmly cut off his mother's head, then he went upstairs where the couple of the household lay asleep and brutally dispatched them as well. Not finished with his killing spree, he went down the hall to visit the children's room. The five-year-old girl was found without her eyes and, as for the baby boy, the police followed Ardis' bloody footprints out of the house to the shack where Ardis lay peacefully asleep. A pot was boiling away on the stove. The baby was in it.

They locked Ardis "Monster" Peake up in the Starkweather State Hospital for the Criminally Insane where he remained for fifteen years non-verbal, non-responsive, non-violent, probably because of his Thorazine diet. However on two different occasions he spoke, but only long enough to predict two violent deaths.

The doctors at the asylum swear there is no way Ardis could have gotten out. But Dr. Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis are certain there's a deadly link between Peake and the deaths, the murders are too similar. Is there a new monster? And if so is he somehow communicating with the old one?

The clues lead them back to Treadway where the Peake had gone on his rampage, but the trail is old and cold as the town is gone, in its place now, a retirement community. However, maybe that trail isn't quiet so cold as first thought, maybe there is a clue or two around, but can Alex and Milo figure them out before someone else is brutally murdered?

In "Monster" Alex and Milo are into one of their most gruesome cases yet, a case full of surprises, red herrings and lots of twists and turns. The book is fast-paced, tense, powerful and an excellent read.

Rating:
Summary: Give me a break
Review: As one implausible scene after another played out (OK they had their moments) I got the nasty feeling that the payoff would be weak and sure enough the ending fizzled like a wet firecracker.

A moronic serial killer/movie maker who isn't even detected--let alone pursued or caught--for 15 years? A dabbling psychologist who leads a star LA detective by the nose? A gorgeous girl friend who lets the hero run off at all hours to insane asylums? Two hot, achieving, apparently normal chicks who are attracted to a greasy Ichabod serial killer--one of whom is persuaded to participate in killings?

I don't think so.

Add to that Kellerman has an an annoying Balzacian habit of obsessing on furniture and clothes. C'mon man it's page 46 and the guy has a moustache, is wearing jeans, and there's a calendar on the wall...let's get on with it!

Kellerman is superb when he sticks to Planet Earth scenarios, the gritty LA milieu, and hard-nosed conflict. But sometimes his plotting is just weird. His characters are real enough, but like talented actors caught in a very bad play. You almost expect one to cry out, "where's my motivation?"

OK I admit I've read and liked a half dozen of his books and did finish this one, but afterward I felt tricked. I skimmed many scenes and just tossed the book at the end. What a cheat. It reminds me a lot of that "Island of Dr. Moreau" book he wrote, can't remember its name.

Gotta give the guy credit for his work ethic though. If it's so boring to read some of these scenes, how much more boring must it be to write them?

Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced, first-rate suspense
Review: I'm a long-time Kellerman fan, and "Monster" is one of his best. This is a fast-paced novel of contemporary suspense. Albeit there are some loose ends and unlikely plot mechanisms, the suspense is of the old-fashioned nail-biting variety. The cast of characters -- a motley crew of twisted doctors, calculating nurses, amoral rich people, the has-been actress, etc. -- is well crafted and believable. We don't see much of Robin or Spike in this story, while Milo the cop plays second fiddle to Alex without having to fight the rest of the Police Dept. every step of the way. This is Dr. Delaware's mystery to solve, more so than in some of the previous Alex Delaware novels in which he does little more than consult. The alert reader will find himself rooting for the nominal "Monster" as the action picks up. The series of murders is particularly gruesome but, hey, that's the nature of this genre. The ultimate unveiling of the "Monster" is almost anticlimatic if you've been paying attention and catching the clues, but what a hellava good read getting there!

Rating:
Summary: This book is poorly judged.
Review: This novel, I admit is a little disturbing, but it is very well thought out, and is poorly judged because of some of the gruling descriptions of some events, but I think it is neat how he really doesn't hold back on anything. The book Monster, by Jonathan Kellerman is a really twisted book. I'm not saying I don't like it, because I do, and I think it is a truly unique book. It is about a cop and a detective who are in search of a killer, who committed two murders, but for all they know, it could be two separate killers, and everyone is a suspect. They investigate the victims backgrounds to come out with several different outcomes of suspected killers. This book is recommended to anyone who really enjoys a good thriller. I like the way all the plot lines tie together in the end, and somehow all relate to each other. It is very well written, and the ending, in my opinion, is unexpectedly the best part. This is one of my favorite books, and I very strongly reccommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Let's be honest: not a very good book...
Review: Per other reviewers, "Monster" just lacks that overall drive. It's really slow, the surprises really aren't all that surprising (I just knew one key character was clearly in on it) and to be honest, I want to tell you right now whodunit! Honestly, don't waste your time on this especially when there are so many other better reads (particularly anything by Ellroy).

Rating:
Summary: Painfully laborious!
Review: Picked up the audio version and struggled through it. Apart from the unimaginative redition, I found the content itself to be less than riveting - considerably so. Give me Sanford any day. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that Alex Comort is more interesting than Delaware. And that's saying something.

Rating:
Summary: Fast paced psychological thriller
Review: In this murder mystery Dr. Alex Deleware is helping his friend Detective Milo determine who has killed a psychologist. What makes it interesting is that this psychologist is one who has worked for only a short time at the states hospital for the criminally insane. She has worked with one of the most "notorious" patients that is in the hospital, known as the "Monster". She seems to have been even making some progress with him until her death. Then there is the mystery as to the similarity of her death to another one that Milo has worked on recently.

This thriller will take you on a roller coaster ride through the minds of those who are insane as well as those who treat them. As other deaths that seem to not connect at all start to form a pattern will Milo and Alex figure it all out before it is to late. There are a few surprises in story in this one!

Rating:
Summary: The real Monster is revealed ...
Review: I found it a little hard to stick with this one until about 3/4 of the way through and then it took off and I realised how well put together the story was.

Several different murders with not much linking them but the mumbling of a near vegetable ex-spree killer. So many pieces just won't fit together no matter how hard Alex and Milo try and you really do feel their frustration at the case and the red tape they have to wade through to find out any information about people working\residing in a High Security mental institution. Eventually they go their seperate ways and as usual Alex picks the correct way and then finally odd things start to make sense and the roller coaster ride begins.

This story is fiction although the murders (in particular the killing spree) seem to ring so true and I am sure it is based loosely on real events, which gives the book another deeper insight.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT novel by Kellerman....
Review: This is one of Kellerman's best novels!!! His character, Ardis Peake, makes Hannibal Lecter look like a big baby! Kellerman fleshes out one of the most brutal monsters in fiction history, but at the end makes him look sympathetic!!!

Kellerman is a master at plotting a story; he gives u twists and turns just when u think u have it all figured out. He is also excellent at characterization and this is one of his best. He makes u care about these people and hate Peake.

Milo has to be one of the best gum-shoe's in mystery fiction; he is interesting and not contemporary. Alex and Milo's banter back and forth is like a stand-up act or something. They are like Laurel and Hardy, you can't have one without the other.

I don't give away much in my reviews, so read the back cover and BUY it! This is great stuff and two thumbs way up to Jon!!!