Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23)
by Jonathan Kellerman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jonathan KellermanEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-21
ISBN: 0345495136
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23)
Book Review: The presentation is arguably worth the price of admission all by itself
Summary: 5 Stars
Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels are very much character driven, with the psychologist often playing the slightly bemused chronologist of rumbled Los Angeles Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis. The basis for the majority of the books is somewhat simple: Sturgis draws a twisted murder case and brings Delaware in as a consultative expert. So too with BONES, as the body of a young female is discovered in a marshland near Marina del Rey. No attempt is made to conceal either the corpse or the victim's identity.
Selena Bass was an attractive young music teacher tasked with tutoring a child prodigy on the piano. It is hard to conceive of a less likely victim. Yet further examination of the marshland unearths three other women, identities (and connections to Bass, if there were any) unknown. There is not a lot for Delaware to do, at least initially, other than to observe and narrate. Sturgis is assisted in the dogged police work by Moe Reed, a rookie homicide detective whose desire to do well is exceeded only by Sturgis's single-mindedness.
Reed's background is also interesting. His semi-estranged half-brother, Aaron Fox, is a former L.A. cop with a possibly sketchy past and current employment as a private investigator. Fox intersects with Sturgis and Reed when he is retained by Simone Vander to investigate Bass's murder. Bass's student, as it turns out, is Vander's half-brother. The symmetry is subtle, and Simone's interest in the case on behalf of her loved one contrasts nicely with the prickly relationship between the two half-brothers. A word or two here about that: Fox and Reed join an increasing burgeoning cast of secondary characters introduced in the Delaware series who quite easily could function as principals in their own novels. While it probably will never happen --- there are a finite number of hours in a day, even for writing, and commercial considerations that must be not only observed but also acknowledged --- theoretically it could be done.
As it happens, there is a suspect. Travis Huck has a record as both a criminal and a victim dating back to an early age, and his experience with the juvenile corrections system has left him scarred visibly and otherwise. Employed as a house manager by the Vander family, Sturgis's radar slowly but surely hones in on Huck, who had opportunity and a possible twisted motive. Huck's sudden disappearance does not help matters either. When a radical environmentalist who was the self-appointed guardian of the marsh is murdered as well, it seems as if the wetland is the focal point of the carnage. Matters, however, go much deeper than that, and, in the final third of BONES, Delaware's involvement moves to the forefront as he is able not only to bring some semblance of peace to a tortured soul but also to save an innocent one from a deadly and greedy scheme.
While the focus of a great deal of BONES is off of Delaware, one constant that it has with the rest of the series is the quiet manifestation of Kellerman's penchant for using his work as an ongoing triptych through the constantly evolving world of Los Angeles. This series is worth reading, from beginning to end, for that reason alone. One example: near the end of the book we encounter a middle-aged woman, a hanger-on, who typifies a great deal of a certain strata of the southern California lifestyle. Nonie is only present for a page or two, but Kellerman sums her up so perfectly that we don't need any more than what we are given. The presentation is arguably worth the price of admission all by itself, even if you ordinarily avoid genre fiction. It is touches like these that have kept me coming back for almost the past quarter-century --- and will keep me coming back for (hopefully) the next.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Summary of Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23)
When it comes to writing deftly layered, tightly coiled novels of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman reigns supreme as ?master of the psychological thriller? (People). Now, Kellerman has worked his magic again in this chilling new masterpiece.The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something ?real dead . . . buried in your marsh.? The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it?s a prank, but when a young woman?s body turns up in L.A.?s Bird Marsh preserve no one?s laughing. And when the bones of more victims surface, homicide detective Milo Sturgis realizes the city?s under siege to an insidious killer. Milo?s first move: calling in psychologist Alex Delaware.
The murdered women are prostitutes?except the most recent victim; a brilliant young musician from the East Coast, employed by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy, Selena Bass seems out of place in the marsh?s grim tableau.
Conveniently?perhaps ominously?Selena?s blueblood employers are nowhere to be found, and their estate? s jittery caretaker raises hackles. But Milo?s instincts and Alex?s insight are too well-honed to settle for easy answers, even given the dark secrets in this troubled man?s past. Their investigation unearths disturbing layers?about victims, potential victims, and suspects alike?plunging even deeper into the murky marsh?s enigmatic depths.
Bizarre details of the crimes suggest a devilish serial killer prowling L.A.?s gritty streets. But when a new murder deviates from the pattern, derailing a possible profile, Alex and Milo must look beyond the suspicion of madness and consider an even more sinister mind at work. Answers don?t come easy, but the darkest of drives and desires may fuel the most devious of foes.
Bones is classic Kellerman?relentlessly peeling back the skin and psyches of its characters and revealing the shadows and sins of the souls beneath. With jolt after jolt of galvanizing suspense, it drives the reader through its twists and turns toward a climax as satisfying as it is shattering.
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