Conspiracy Club

Rating:
Summary: A nice break from the Alex Delaware series
Review: In this novel, author Kellerman has taken a break from his series of books about psychologist Alex Delaware to offer us a new main character, Jeremy Carrier. Although Jeremy is also a psychologist, he is younger than Delaware and practices in a hospital (as opposed to Delaware's private practice). Yes, he does become involved in a series of mysterious murders--including the murder of his own girlfriend--but unlike Delaware, Jeremy is working on his own rather than with the police.

Although this book definitely contains some similarities to the Delaware series, Kellerman has done a nice job of creating an interesting new cast of characters. Furthermore, the use of a new protagonist has allowed him to break away from the staleness of the recent Delaware books and to return to some of the energy and intensity of his earlier works. While not as good as Kellerman's best non-Delaware novel, The Butcher's Theater, The Conspiracy Club reminds the reader of Kellerman's continued potential for writing great works of suspense.

Rating:
Summary: What happened here?
Review: Kellerman is best known for his Alex Delaware novels, and rightfully so. When an author wants to break from a popular character, there's always the possibility of scepticism from the readers. Some authors are able to make this work (Jeffrey Deaver, for example). Others fall flat, as Mr. Kellerman has on this one. I honestly don't know what happened here. This is perhaps the slowest paced novel I've ever read from a veteran author. How this ever got past his agent or editor I'll never know. You are well over halfway through the book before anything happens, and I'm not exaggerating here in the least. It's almost like following someone's boring life with morbid curiousity for a while, waiting for something to go wrong. The ending, when it mercifully comes, isn't worth the build up. The Conspiracy Club from the book's title really doesn't do anything that a single character couldn't have done. It's like this is a novel he'd written years ago but put away and suddenly he had a deadline and had to grab it. The potential for a great story was here, but it would have meant losing the first half of the book and starting from there. I look forward to his next novel, but I hope it'll be back to his old standard of great storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: Page Turner
Review: This is the best novel Kellerman has written in a long time. It has less gore and more mystery. I love having to follow the trail of nuggets left by the older physician for the protagonist. The protagonist goes from clue to clue, doubting at first, but believing and solving in the end. A very satisfying story.