Praise for Jonathan Kellerman

Obsession
Kellerman, Jonathan.
New York: Ballantine Books, c2007.

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The novel centres on Tanya Bigelow an old patient, Dr. Alex Delaware treated for OCD. She's come back to see him because her mother has just died, leaving her alone at 19. Her mother has made a vague deathbed confession. The mother Patty was an ER nurse for Dr. Rick Silverman, who we normally hear of but rarely see. Unconvinced of the possiblility of Patty doing some "terrible thing" but for Tanya's peace of mind, Alex says he'll talk to Milo and they'll look into things. As they probe the history of the family looking for unexplained corpses, a new one shows up. Days after they talk to a former acquaintance, he's murdered. This brings Det. Petra Connor on scene. They figure out the who fairly quickly but then it's a question of tracking the suspect down. As they search, more dirt is unearthed from the past.

I have to admit that I listened to the unabridged edition on tape. I love John Rubinstein's voice. I liked this book but wasn't over the moon about it. It debuted at #2 on the New York Times best seller list and is the 21st Alex Delaware novel since 1985. This does mean I should be used to this by now but in the last few Kellerman books, I've been finding that the story seems to wrap up too quickly. This time I was listening on the drive home and they finally figure it out and 5 short chapters later, it's all over. I wasn't even home yet. I felt so let down. It was building and building and then 10 minutes of hashing motive and evidence, they catch the guy and then his associate and The End -- except for the last chapter which could have safely been abridged. I did enjoy the introduction of Alex and Robin's new dog, Blanche. She sounded so cute, I could picture her perfectly. I'll keep putting myself on hold for new novels but more for the chance to listen to Rubinstein than storywriting skills.

For commuters, we have the unabridged book on cd and book on tape.