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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 9, No. 28 |
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thriller by Jonathan Kellerman |
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Tracking a perverse, shape-shifting killer
of TheColumnists.com
Earlier this year, best-selling mystery author Jonathan Kellerman published his 22nd Alex Delaware thriller "Compulsion" (Ballantine, $27), latest in a series of popular novels stretching all the way back to 1985 and "When the Bough Breaks."
Normally, I snatch up the new Kellerman the moment it appears on the shelves of my favorite bookstore, which I did in this case. But if my wife sees it lying on the bench in the foyer where we usually temporarily place stuff after shopping, I won't see the sucker for another six months. Which is what happened this time.
She doesn't devour Kellerman's mysteries at a single sitting as I usually do. No, she savors each chapter. She might actually tell me, "Don't bother me now. I'm on the last chapter," for several months at a time. Which is what happened this time.
And, when she's finally decided the time has come to polish off the final few paragraphs, she'll interrupt me, no matter what I'm doing, by thrusting the dog-eared book in my face, saying, "Here. You can start this now. You're really gonna love it!"
Which is exactly what happened this time.
And, she was right. I really loved it.
For those who somehow have escaped forming an addiction to Kellerman, you need to know that Kellerman is, in real life, a clinical psychologist, and his literary hero, Alex Delaware, is one, too--a specialist in treating seriously disturbed children. Dr. Delaware consults to the Los Angeles Police Dept., where he almost always is partnered with Detective Lt. Milo Sturgis, an openly gay sleuth who specializes in solving the most bizarre murder cases Los Angeles can come up with for him.
This time around, Dr. Delaware and Milo are drawn into a confounding mix of old and new cases that all may be linked to one homicidal individual--the long cold case of a missing boy, the savage slashing-murder of a 73-year-old retired schoolteacher, the equally brutal murder of a beautiful young motorist whose car had run out of gas on a freeway in the wee hours of the morning and the unsolved slasher murders of two shopkeepers in a tiny hamlet in a nearby county.
The clues are few, but they're truly strange: The killer seems to prefer black luxury cars that attract everyone's notice while some witnesses report seeing a very large woman near the murder scenes. Following up these clues sends Alex and Milo from exotic car rental firms to the various realms of cross-dressing hookers in L.A. Along the way, they meet some of the most offbeat characters floating their way through the hazy urban atmosphere of Los Angeles and its environs.
The Alex Delaware mysteries are fast-moving and suspenseful, but they're also rich with Kellerman's very insightful and intelligent observations of the setting that has attracted so many superb mystery writers, starting with the immortal Raymond Chandler.
You can be sure that the psychology of the victims and their killers gets a primary focus whenever Dr. Delaware is on the job. Milo, too, brings his own special style to the proceedings, including his prodigious appetite for some of the least palatable of junk foods available in L.A. They are a unique crime-solving team in the genre literature.
True Kellerman freaks will not need my urging to go out and get a book they probably read a few months ago, but for those of you who haven't initiated the thirst for the next Kellerman yet, this is a good place to start--a non-stop thriller that will leave you desperate for another helping.
©2008 by Ron Miller. The book cover illustration is courtesy of Ballantine Books. This column first posted July 14, 2008.
TO ACCESS RON MILLER'S ARCHIVE OF COLUMNS ON THIS SITE, CLICK HERE: MILLER ARCHIVE
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
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