Rating: 
Summary: Delaware Discovers his Dark Side.....
Review: After a few years of Jonathan Kellerman experimenting with form, trying to expand the Delaware horizons, and exploring specific themes with some mixed results, he seemed to be getting back to basics in his last outing, Flesh & Blood, and has really regained his stride with this offering, The Murder Book.The 16th in the Alex Delaware series, and Kellerman has caught his second wind and this story is a real page-turner and barn- burner! Kellerman is still playing with form, this time alternating between Alex Delaware's 1st person narrative, and a major portion of the book a 3rd person telling from his pal, Det. Milo Sturgis', point-of-view. He thereby gives us a deeper look at both Milo and Alex as we see Delaware from his friend's perspective. Nice to see an author's interest and invigoration in a book so far down the line in a series. AND, the mystery and plot is a corker with Alex and Milo working a 20 year old case and uncovering really rotten people in the Hills of Beverly and Belair. Plenty of evil and fireworks. Alex Delaware finally realizes what we have known all along. He isn't a police "consultant" because he likes to exercise his apptitude and training in psychology. He does it because he is an adrenaline junky and gets off on the danger! His beloved Robin has realized this and she has split. Permanently? More will be revealed. Having hooked in to Kellerman many years ago, I had found several of the later books interesting, but lacking the bite and visceral grab of the earlier works. Well, Jonathan is back, full stroke, and I can't wait for the next Delaware novel. Five stars for this one, for Kellerman fans, of course.
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Story
Review: What an awesome book! It was also nice to get a little history on Detective Milo Sturgis. Keep up the good work! Can't wait for the next book! Maybe that one will resolve the issues between Alex and Robin.......
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!! Kellerman returns to form!!!!
Review: After the last few books Kellerman wrote, Dr. Death was so awful that I didn't bother to read Flesh and Blood. I pick up Murder Book in the bookstore, read a few pages and I was hooked! I could not put the book down. Alex Delaware recieves a book filled with crime scene photos in the mail. He shows it to his friend, homicide detective, Milo Sturgis. It turns out one of the photos is of a girl murdered 20 years ago. It was one of Milo's first cases and the two friends set out to solve the very cold case.
I think the beauty of this book is that a lot of it is from Milo's point of view. That's something Kellerman has not done before. It is great to learn more about Milo. Until now we've only had Alex's view of the offf beat detective. Know we get to learn a little about Milo's history and a lot about his feeling about Alex.
This is one great read. Now I have to go out and buy a copy of Flesh and Blood...
Rating: 
Summary: A key entry in the Delaware series
Review: I am committed to reading all of Kellerman's novels, but honestly, the thrill has not been the same for the last few years - I felt like it was being phoned in. In this new book, we get some much-needed backstory on Milo and Alex - the characters popped back into life for me. Milo's early days in the department made for interesting reading. I did feel like there were too many characters involved in the ending, and I didn't totally get how the ending played out with who-did-what. There was no big "Aha!" at the end for me, but it was a satisfying story. Alex and Robin's relationship played a key role in this book, which was refreshing, as Robin seemed less like someone who drifted in from her workshop from time to time to have dinner and a few words with Alex. I do hope that we see more of Alison in the future as I feel like she would be a Significant Other character that would be more involved in the actual plot.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the best in the series.
Review: Alex Delaware has seen his share of violent crimes but none like the collection he receives in the mail. Alex receives an anonymous book in the mail. The book is called "The Murder Book", and in it are graphic pictures of various murders. The murders are all random, not connected, and stretch back many years. Alex has no idea why he has received this, or who sent it to him so it does the only logical thing he can...he turns it over to his lifelong friend, homicide detective Milo Sturgis. Milo begins looking through the horrifying book only to be shocked by photos of a young woman tortured, strangled, and dumped by a freeway. Milo immediately recognizes the crime photos, it was the first case he ever worked on. Milo has tried to forget the case he could not solve, but now many years later someone has opened a Pandora's Box bringing the past to the present, forcing Milo on an endless journey for answers. A journey that will take him to the darkest corners of L.A. exposing secrets kept for many years. Can Milo and Alex solve the crime, and bring closure to a young woman nobody cared about? 'The Murder Book' is classic Kellerman storytelling; fast-paced, exciting, well written, and very suspenseful. The Alex Delaware series continues full steam ahead with, probably, the best entry in several years. Readers will be drawn in from the first chapter, and kept in a spell of shocks, and twists with every turn of the page. Jonathan Kellerman writes the kind yarns that grab you by the throat, and keep you captive until the last page has been turned. Although this is a typical good versus evil story Mr. Kellerman makes it anything but typical by adding his masterful plot twists, healthy doses of action, and almost un-bearable suspense. Longtime fans of the Delaware series will love this, and new readers will run out and by the earlier novels. A MUST read for series fans, and thriller fans alike. Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing Installment to the Delaware series
Review: J.K. has again written an excellent addition to his Delaware series. He actually freshened it up by letting us in on some of Milo's past and running with it.Also a cliffhanger with Alex
Robin? Alison?.This has me already yearning for the next installment. Make it soon Jonathan
Rating:
Summary: Best thing he's done in years!
Review: I think Mr. Kellerman finally decided to break out of his rut, a little bit! There are still the usual elements there: Milo and Alex get involved in a case, Alex goes alone and gets in trouble, Milo clashes with LAPD authority. The good news is that some of the novel (probably 30%) is written from Milo's perspective, and not in the first person. We get to learn a little more about Milo's past, which is a good thing. I've always thought his character is more interesting than Alex Delaware, and it is a nice change to follow him around for a while.
Sensing the boredom of Alex and Robin's relationship, Kellerman gives it a shake-up. This has happened before, but it is good to see some downs in their life, just like normal life. This is a solid effort, the best he has done in quite a while. If you are a fan, get it! If not, then I think it will still be a decent read.
Rating:
Summary: powerful police procedural
Review: Los Angeles psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware is stunned to receive the binder containing grisly police photographs of crime scenes with an outside logo, "THE MURDER BOOK". He shows his "gift" to his friend, long term police veteran Detective Milo Sturgis, who is equally shocked by the book, but one particular picture haunts him. The book includes the picture of one of his first cases, the mutilated body of Hollywood High student Janie Ingalls, killed two decades ago. Milo remembers that as a rookie he was teamed with veteran Pierce Schwinn, but as they began to put the case together, they were removed. Milo believs his first detective partner sent the book in order to tease the duo into investigating the cold case. Milo and Alex follow a trail that takes back to high society, a place where Schwinn reached twenty years ago before they were yanked off the investigation, but the trail remains frozen though the duo methodically progress one slow clue at a time. THE MURDER BOOK is a powerful police procedural that is the best Delaware tale in several years. The story line absorbs the audience with the systematic scrutiny of the evidence one ugly step at a time. The support cast is abundant and overwhelming at times, but the lead sleuthing couple keeps things in perspective and provides the bonus of seeing Milo as a tyro. Jonathan Kellerman, who has a mantelpiece filled with deserving awards, may have his SHAMUS this time. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: One of Jonathan's best!
Review: It begins when Alex recieves something odd in the mail. When he opens it, he finds a elaborate album filled with qrotesque pictures taken at various crime scence's, a terrible scrapbook neatly entitled THE MURDER BOOK.
Alex immediately calls Milo, who is puzzled at first until he notices one of the pictures are familar. A young woman who was brutally tortured and dumped in muddy ditch by a freeway.
It was the eighth case Milo had worked on as a rookie detective, with his first partner, Pierce Schwinn. It had been a difficult case, but just as they had began to work it out, he and Pierce were taken off, because Pierce had upset some very important people in the precinct.
Now years later, someone wants to bring up the past. As Alex and Milo try to figure out who killed the girl years ago, they find that there might be more to it than one single murder. THE MURDER BOOK was a great read. In this novel, Kellerman took a diffrent twist, and gave some of the book from Milo's point-of-view. It was interesting to see what really went on inside Milo's head. And how he really feels about Alex sometimes. Anyway, you really need to pick this book up. It's a great treat.
Rating:
Summary: Kellerman got BACK!
Review: Kellerman has been in a bit of a rut lately-- rich, good-looking doctor with attractive and accomplished girlfriend gets into the down-and-dirty blah blah blah. In The Murder Book, Kellerman not only shakes up Alex's life (with Robin's new gig [new life?] chief among the changes), but we finally get, in essence, a real Milo story-- much of the book is from Milo's point of view. By doing this, Kellerman drops not only the first-person but subtly alters his writing style to evoke a more Milo-ish tone. The story is made more involving by having a greater emphasis on fallibility than evil, thus making it more accessible and-- dare I say it?-- realistic. So by combining an involving story with new character twists, more grey areas between good and evil, and the fresh perspective of Milo Sturgis, we get one of Kellerman's best books in years. Enjoy!
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