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Summary: Religious Cult Again
Review: If I am not mistaken,this is Jonathan Kellerman's third book involving a suspect religious cult. It gets a little tiresome. The plot was not as suspenseful as his books usually are. But it is easy reading, and the writing is entertaining enough to read if you are a Jonathan Kellerman fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as satisfying as one would hope, but still an ok read.
Review: In this second novel by Jonathan Kellerman featuring Dr. Alex Delaware, the good doctor finds himself drawn into the midst of a mystery involving a horribly sick child, a strangely shut-off family, a reclusive religious cult, and a whole town that seems to have a pall cast over it. When five-year- old Woody Swope disappears from the hospital where he is being treated for life-threatening cancer, Dr. Alex Delaware does everything in his power to find the missing child. Can he dig up the truth behind the mysteries surrounding Woody before it's too late for the boy?While Dr. Delaware and his LAPD Homicide detective friend Milo Sturgis continue to be interesting and compelling characters, I found that I didn't enjoy Blood Test as much as I did the first of Kellerman's Delaware novels, When the Bough Breaks. I didn't feel that the supporting characters were as well fleshed out as they could have been, and that many of them were in the story simply to fit an archetype or to neatly be a necessary foil for some aspect of the plot. This isn't to say that the book wasn't enjoy, but it simply didn't feel as natural as When the Bough Breaks. I will certainly continue reading the Kellerman series, and hope that this book's lack of polish is the exception to the rule.
Rating:
Summary: Not as satisfying as one would hope, but still an ok read.
Review: In this second novel by Jonathan Kellerman featuring Dr. Alex Delaware, the good doctor finds himself drawn into the midst of a mystery involving a horribly sick child, a strangely shut-off family, a reclusive religious cult, and a whole town that seems to have a pall cast over it. When five-year- old Woody Swope disappears from the hospital where he is being treated for life-threatening cancer, Dr. Alex Delaware does everything in his power to find the missing child. Can he dig up the truth behind the mysteries surrounding Woody before it's too late for the boy? While Dr. Delaware and his LAPD Homicide detective friend Milo Sturgis continue to be interesting and compelling characters, I found that I didn't enjoy Blood Test as much as I did the first of Kellerman's Delaware novels, When the Bough Breaks. I didn't feel that the supporting characters were as well fleshed out as they could have been, and that many of them were in the story simply to fit an archetype or to neatly be a necessary foil for some aspect of the plot. This isn't to say that the book wasn't enjoy, but it simply didn't feel as natural as When the Bough Breaks. I will certainly continue reading the Kellerman series, and hope that this book's lack of polish is the exception to the rule.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting. Captures the reader and doesn't let go.
Review: Jonathan Kellerman's Blood Test held me until the very end. Through the plot he told me enough to keep me holding on without spoiling the ending. The plot twisted and turned until I wasn't sure which way he was going next. He used the character Alex Delaware to the fullest in this book. Unlike some suspense novels that feed you the ending throughout the book, Kellerman eases the reader into the ending and unravels it all at once at the end. This is an aspect that makes Kellerman and Blood Test a different kind of reading experience all together. GREAT BOOK!
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Summary: Reasonably good mystery
Review: Jonathan Kellerman, Blood Test (Signet, 1986) I spent most of this book waiting for that proverbial other shoe. Kellerman, in my mind, has always been one of those Andrew Vachss-style one-trick ponies who blames all of the world's problems on one narrow, and possibly specious, band of the psychotherapeutic spectrum. I hasten to add that I based that opinion on reviews and a cursory reading of Kellerman's first Alex Delaware novel, When the Bough Breaks, a few years back (I read it in tandem with one of Vachss' books, which may have further colored my thinking). Removed from both Vachss and the rather amateurish effort of Kellerman's first novel, I picked up Blood Test more as a way to pad the numbers for 2001-- skim fifty pages, dump it, chalk up another book in the it's-been-read pile. Blood Test, however, surprised me. Alex Delaware returns, this time to try and hunt down a kidnapped cancer patient. The list of suspects isn't too long, but it's certainly juicy-- the kid's parents (who have also gone missing), an alternative-medicine-loving pot-smoking ex-hippie doctor, and an organically-minded SoCal cult founded by an ex-Beverly Hills lawyer who got shot in the head. Oh, yeah, and the everpresent "random crime" theory. Add to this Delaware's being stalked by the extremely angry husband in a recently-finished child custody case who lost and lost big (and blames Delaware, of course), and you get 400 pages of pretty-durn-good mystery. The shoe does drop, of course. What makes Kellerman predictable isn't whodunit, but whytheydunit. In relation to many mystery writers, this is quite the handicap, because knowing the why before you open the cover will certainly narrow the playing field (and anyone with a passing acquaintance with Alex Delaware will know the why of it at that point). On the up side, though, Kellerman's one-man crusade isn't nearly the week-old scrod that Andrew Vachss' one-man crusade is, and that makes Kellerman a whole lot more readable. Standard mystery fare, but easy reading and compelling enough to keep the pages turning. ** 1/2
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Summary: Vintage Kellerman!!!!!
Review: Kellerman is a master of mystery and suspense; he just cannot write a bad book!!! In this edition of the series, it is a case psychologist Dr Alex Delaware has never encountered before. Five year old Woody Swope is sick, but that is not the REAL problem. It is his parents. They refuse to any treatment that could save their child. Alex embarks on a mission to convince the Swope's-only to discover they have boplted from the hospital-and taken their ill son. Worse, the motel room where they were staying is empty , except for a shocking bloodstain. The Swopes and their ill son have disappeared into the corrupt shadows of the city. Now Alex and his homicide investigator friend Milo have no choice but to pursue them. They have entered a realm where drugs, fantasies, and sex are for sale. Kellerman has scored another touchdown with this book and those that enjoy suspense with a twist, enter Kellerman's world if u dare.
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Summary: Second novel test
Review: Kellerman takes it, and passes it with ease. The book is original and ingenious. The solution is very clever and very shocking. He builds a story with characters you care about and events you just can't fathom. He unfolds it gradually, at great pace. Writing is nothing special as to quiality, but its enjoyable prose and Delaware is a likeable and well drawn characters. Shame not to see Robin again this time round. Great mystery novel, great solution. Unexpected and shocking, very effective.
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Summary: 'Next time, let's kill all the lawyers'
Review: Shakespeare's suggestion regarding the legal profession doesn't fare much better under the early scrutiny of Jonathan Kellerman. He paints the 'good' lawyers as shallow, amoral, money chasing, well dressed bottom dwellers and the bad lawyers . . . . well, far worse.
Here a younger Alex Delaware is asked to address the parents of a 5 year old cancer sufferer whom they are trying to remove from medical care stating that they can treat the child better on their own. Of course the idiocy of the parents lets us know within a chapter that there is a horrid evil lurking close to the surface and indeed there is. Dr. delaware must address murder, sex, evil lawyers and misleading police professionals. But his love for Robyn, who gratefully does not make an appearance here (sorry folks; tired of the super hero having the normal relationship in the face of unspeakable evil) remains unabated, and his closest friend Detective Milo Sturgis, remain anchors for what he must face.
A few sketchy scenes but enough to know that Kellerman and Delaware were going to be moving forces for the next two decades. There is a scene in the last third where Dr. D sneaks into an abandoned house that will leave you on the edge of your seat. And there are a number of twists I never saw coming. Worth the read. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury
Rating:
Summary: After a slow start, a good read
Review: There are many good things about this novel, the second book in the Alex Delaware series. For starters, the reader really gets to know Alex better in this book and he's beginning to grow on me. The core plot is dandy and the resolution is a page turner. And, while Alex is based in Los Angeles, much of the action takes place near the Mexican border in an interestingly twisted imaginary town called La Vista. The weakest point of the book is an virtually unrelated divorce plot which absorbs way too much of the first half of the book. Likewise, the horticulture sections needed some serious editing. Bottom-line: A solid entry in the Delaware series, which in turn is a solid but not spectacular series. After two books, Alex has yet to break new frontiers or do anything that hasn't been done before. Maybe in the next book....
Rating:
Summary: After a slow start, a good read
Review: There are many good things about this novel, the second book in the Alex Delaware series. For starters, the reader really gets to know Alex better in this book and he's beginning to grow on me. The core plot is dandy and the resolution is a page turner. And, while Alex is based in Los Angeles, much of the action takes place near the Mexican border in an interestingly twisted imaginary town called La Vista. The weakest point of the book is an virtually unrelated divorce plot which absorbs way too much of the first half of the book. Likewise, the horticulture sections needed some serious editing. Bottom-line: A solid entry in the Delaware series, which in turn is a solid but not spectacular series. After two books, Alex has yet to break new frontiers or do anything that hasn't been done before. Maybe in the next book....
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