|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Blues great guitarist Baby Boy Lee, a man who's been on a roller coaster ride from the top to the bottom, was on the road to a big comeback when he is found stabbed to death outside of a jazz club on the night of his big gig. Detective Petra Connor is assigned to the case. She speaks to a witness, a homeless man who saw the crime from the dark of an alleyway, but Petra can't find anything that leads to the killer. A little while later in another part of town, the body of Julie Kipper is found in the bathroom of the gallery where she had a successful art exhibit. After years of struggling Julie was just about to have her big break in the art world when she was found murdered. Because her family knows Homicide Detective Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, he agrees to take over the investigation. Milo soon finds he's not getting anywhere fast, so he calls in his friend, clinical psychologist and police consultant, Alex Delaware to help him out. When Alex makes a connection to the murders of other rising art stars on the comeback trail, the police see that they have a different kind of serial killer on their hands. A Cold Heart is number 17 in Jonathan Kellerman's, Alex Delaware series. In A COLD HEART, Kellerman has chosen to share the lead first person amongst three of his characters, Delaware, Connor, who has starred in previous Kellerman books, and Eric Stahl, his newest character, obviously being groomed for yet another series. I was a fan of the Alex Delaware novels for a long while, but I found this book to be a disappointment. Doctor Delaware is now the one who makes and breaks cases, knowing more about murder weapons then all of the experts and is somehow called upon to interview people who turn out to have the best clues. Even with Delawareıs help, solving the murder isn't easy for the three and then five detectives assigned to the case. The clues that the doctor dredges up gives the police some leads, but even then, things get turned around and they find more dead ends - and more murdered victims. A COLD HEART is not one of Kellermanıs best books. In fact, Iıve found his latest novels to be lacking. To make matters worse, John Rubinstein is narrating this audio and I had problems with his voice and his use of accents. Since he has recorded 18 Jonathan Kellerman novels, the author must approve of his work, but I found that the narration pushed me out of the story on more than on occasion. Women have high, sing song patterns to their speech and Eric Stahl, an ex-navy man and security expert, haunted by bad memories, for some reason has an ill-fitting light note to his voice. Iım not sure why Jonathan Kellermanıs books are not hitting the target lately but Iım very disappointed. What used to be a good, thrilling series, with an interesting character has turned into something completely different. Unfortunately Delawareıs main focus in this book is to fill page after page, with the details and ups and downs of his love life. Through excessive bending of logic, Kellerman manages to jigsaw the women in Delawareıs private life into the mystery section of the story, but it isn't an easy fit. Delaware is also there to contribute negative psychological and physical overviews of every person who enters the pages of the book, except his friends and lovers of course, who are exceptional people, every one. The Doctor also adds facile and rudimentary psychological insights to the search for the killer that ultimately prove to be useless. A COLD HEART is filled with characters who all have a cold heart and donıt care about other human beings. By the end, I was almost rooting that the smug main characters were following the wrong person. I hope Kellerman changes back to the way he used to write and to give Delaware more of a warmer heart. Until then I will steer clear of this series.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, May 2003
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
