Rating: Summary: New packaging combines with new energy Review: A nifty new-style book cover and a focus on Milo are some of the rewards of this reinvigorated series. Stay with Milo and this could bode well for the future episodes. Bad guys with good action. But please, do something about the author's photo makeup. Keep 'em coming.
Rating: Summary: The Murder Book Review: Convoluted story. Hard to follow. Boring. Implausible. Ponderous.No more Kellerman for me.
Rating: Summary: The Murder Book Review: This one really kept me guessing. Great stuff and a really nice job of pacing. I didn't get a glimmer of how this was going to turn out until the last third of the book. Even then I had a hard time putting this one down
Rating: Summary: Milo's Story Review: A book of old crime scene photos is delivered to Dr. Alex Delaware. He shows it to his good friend Milo Sturgis who freaks when he sees page 43, photos from an unsolved homicide he worked as a rookie. Flashbacks to Milo's early life: grew up in Gary, masters from Indiana U., stint as a medic in Nam, discovers his homosewuality and struggles as an LAPD rookie. He becomes a savvy, tenacious cop who knows when something is out of whack and digs to find out why, but he'll always live outside of the in crowd enduring their subtle slurs. Kellerman is at his best when he finds the words that reflect Milo's perceptive eye and hardened attitude as he describes the array of characters he's up against. As a rookie cop Milo was partnered with Pierce Schwinn, a hard-core reprobate but solid detective. When the mutilated body of Janie Ingalls was discovered twenty years before, Milo started probing into a kids party at a mansion in Bel Air and got hauled in by two arrogant IAD guys, one of whom was John G. Broussard now the despised Chief of Police. Pierce abruptly retired, Milo was transferred to West LA and the Ingalls case was never pursued. Alex and Milo pursue the cold case, and the plot gets more than a little convoluted. It's a real stretch to find so many people who have perfect recall of twenty-year-old events when confronted by Milo and/or Alex. At one point Milo tails a guy who hassled him earlier and discovers its Craig Bosc, a fast track LAPD detective who now works for Chief Broussard. Their confrontation literally made me think I was listening to a Harry Bosch story for a while. While you know the two different paths Milo and Alex are following will ultimately converge, the way they connect is beyond plausibility. Ironically, their efforts to solve the Ingalls case uncovers or precipitates a dozen or more deaths, none of which are investigated as homicides. Despite a few "turn off your brain" plot twists, "The Murder Book" was fast paced, well written and superbly delivered by audiobook reader John Rubenstein.
Rating: Summary: A Fun Yet Uneven Thriller Review: Reading The Murder Book felt like reading two seperate novels dealing with the same case. First we have the first person narrative of Dr. Alex Delaware at his worst. Most of this book is full of self pity and whining. The relationship between him and his long time girlfriend has moved from complex and unique to annoying and predictable. Most of his sluething centered around his internet searches and run-in's with former associates. Where the book really excels is in its third person telling of Detective Milo Stugis's role in this novel. Kellerman has become an excellent third person storyteller and should eliminate the word "I" from his vocabulary. Milo contributes to the story both in dead on investigative work and complex development of his lifestyle and relationship. I found the interaction between Milo and Rick to be the interesting especially when compared to the Alex and Robin relationship. Kellerman finally unleashed the full force of his strong yet emotionally paranoid semi-main character in dealing with his percieved and the real prejiduce he had to deal with as a gay cop. The ending left me dissappionted but served well to illistrate the uneveness of the book. While Alex accidentally is saving the day in a ridiculous gun battle, Milo is digging away at the psychological layers of the story leading him to unwillingly strike a deal with the devil. All in all its a good story, saved in the end by Milo.
Rating: Summary: Big Disappointment Review: Kellerman's latest mystery is flawed by a plot line that involves way too many characters, none of whom seem worth caring about. Even Alex seems unidimensional and uninteresting. The only character that is complex and compelling is Milo, Alex's detective sidekick. Compared to recent releases in this genre (The Big Dig by Linda Barnes, Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton, Shrinkwrap by Robert Parker, Reversible Errors by Scott Turow...all great! ) this mystery does not grab attention. I stopped reading two-thirds of the way in, and flipped through the rest quickly just to see who-done-it.
Rating: Summary: Boooooring Review: 350 pages of absolutely nothing and then 50 pages of action. This book was a total bore.
Rating: Summary: Milo saves the day Review: If you're coming to this book for a psychological thriller featuring Alex Delaware's expertise, you won't find it here. Alex frankly seems somewhat of a goofball amateur detective. Aside from the major coincidence of being friends with or having connections to crucial characters, Alex's main skill seems to be searching the internet with google. On the other hand, Milo shines. We learn more about his history, and experience things from his perspective. Milo is the one who reads characters like Alex should be doing, and shows why he's a great detective. Milo is a breath of fresh air in the Delaware series, and keeps the book from being just another generic mystery by any author.
Rating: Summary: GREAT Review: A must have for the fan of Kellerman. Twisting plot keeps you guessing to the end. Mr. Rubinstein (yes he is the grandson of the piano prodogy) is articulate and interesting in his voice timbres of the characters in the book. I now remember that he is also a fine actor; what's he up to these days?
Rating: Summary: Delaware in good form -- much about Milo makes great story! Review: Most of the long-time Kellerman / Alex Delaware fan club readers were as disappointed as we were with his just prior book, "Flesh and Blood." To us, Delaware's character was mostly "out of character", replacing cerebral detecting with inane and inappropriate action that alienated both his domestic partner Robin and his forever police pal Milo. A reasonably interesting plot was about all that held it together. We worried as we started this one that perhaps more of the same was in the offing. Hardly a fictional day passed between the end of the last story and the start of "Murder Book", with Alex trying desperately to repair things with Robin with a surprise trip to Paris. The bigger surprise came when she told him she was leaving for a new gig with a rock band to be their touring equipment manager for several months. Once before Robin went away and bad things happened. Then Alex receives a strange package - a "murder book" comprising several dozen photos of homicide scenes ostensibly from police files of troubling slayings spanning many years. Alex quickly turned it over to Milo, who recognized the final photos as those involving one of his first murder cases as a cop, one which was not only unsolved, but quite possibly the subject of a cover-up. From there the plot is off and running, with our heroes working long and hard to restore justice to several members of this 20-year old crime, victims and perpetrators both. The top notch story builds great suspense and delivers to both the fan and casual reader the pleaser Kellerman might just have needed to rekindle this series. Of particular appeal is that Milo is a really dominant figure in this story. Nearly a hundred pages are devoted to a soliloquy detailing his early days on the force and a rather lousy experience he had with his first partner. By the end, we know a great deal more about Milo than before; and like many readers have discovered, enjoyed hearing much of this tale from his perspective not just Delaware's. We're left hanging on Alex and Robin, so maybe the next book will resolve that. Just in case, one new female character has piqued Alex's "interest" some, so who knows. In short, we thought this may well be one of the very best to date out of Kellerman, and surely has helped restore our positive feelings about his writing. Highly recommend!
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