Obsession (Alex Delaware, No. 21)
by Jonathan Kellerman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jonathan KellermanEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-26
ISBN: 034545264X
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Obsession (Alex Delaware, No. 21)
Book Review: This book may have single-handedly just ended my Kellerman fanship
Summary: 1 Stars
Ugh... LAME.
I've been a Jonathan Kellerman fan since my first book (Monster, a wonderful read... HIGHLY recommended). I've read many of his books and some are solid (Billy Straight) and some forgettable (Therapy). But this one... the worst yet, and for so many reasons.
First-- the ridiculous premise. A dying, down-home, good-hearted, stand-up kinda gal makes a vague reference, on her deathbed, to her daughter about "killing" someone "close by." Alex and Milo actually come to the conclusion (after about 200 pages of back-and-forth about it) that she was trying to let her daughter know that she'd killed a man who lived close to them at some point in their lives.... and that-- get ready for it-- she kept it vague like that instead of giving names or dates or a location, despite the fact that the implication is that the daughter is in grave danger because of this mysterious past event, because this way, instead of having cold hard facts to go on, the daughter, once alone after the death, could instead take it upon herself to take this non-information to the police and THEY would of course put a ton of man hours into it and run around trying to figure out just who she may or may not have killed at whatever time in the past and out of all these varied places they'd lived. (Ok, a dying woman who is trying to protect her daughter is NOT going to make some cryptic "I killed him. Close by." statement to her and let her figure it out after her death... even if she was speaking her dying words, she could say, for example, "Killed him-- Hudson Street"... or "Killed man-- 1996" or whatever. But some ridiculous "close by".... good grief. (And then Kellerman actually giving one of the other characters the Let's Pat The Author On The Back dialogue of, "If she said that in a vague way like that to warn her daughter that she should seek the help of others.... that's borderline genius...." Ugh, PLEASE. No, Jonathan. That's stupid. That's poor writing. That's non-thorough planning. That's an insult to your readers.
Other issue (spoiler alert, tho): The ONE reason I kept plodding through this book to the last page is because I really wanted to find out-- after wading through all those characters upon characters, and side notes about OCD, and other uninteresting tangents-- what terrible thing Patty really had done. Who had she killed, and why? Alas, that is never revealed. And that is the cheapest, crappiest transgression of all. Suspense Writing Rule #1: you do NOT throw a teaser out to the readers-- one that is the premise of the whole book-- when you don't actually have any idea of how to pull it all off in the end. To drag the readers through that ridiculous story only to never even bother trying to come up with the final bombshell of what the mystery crime actually was-- what a complete rip-off. I was FURIOUS with this. How much can I look forward to any other book of his when I can't even be assured as I read it that it's not going to leave me hanging at the end? Why waste my time to be frustrated and gypped?
Other annoyances: I'm starting to think Jonathan Kellerman has some personal issues to work out with people's personal choice regarding what they eat-- the "healthy eaters" bashing is pretty much standard fare in all his books, but it's getting a bit too propaganda-ish for my taste in this one. How many references does he need to make to how gosh-dang COOL you are if you eat a big double-bacon cheeseburger/ greasy steak sandwich/ chili-cheese-dog, etc? In any one book, how many episodes do we have to be subjected to in which we hear all about him or Milo choosing the meatiest, fattiest, most ~macho~ dish around and going at it with gusto, making lame, played-out little cracks along the lines of "this stuff'll kill ya! but who wants to live forever?!?!" It's getting tired. And to have one of the baddest guys of all being interrogated, talking about one murder after another after another, and Kellerman someone manages to have him stop for a moment now and then to bring up how he eats healthy, and oh, just by the way, officers, I know this doesn't have anything to do with ANYTHING, but I also happen to have turned on the bad chick to vegan eating... Really, Kellerman? You can NOT keep your agenda out of your fiction? Did some vegan sleep with your wife or something?
I agree with another reviewer's comment about how annoying Tanya is. I wanted her shot at the end. That's some pretty bad writing, when the chick you're supposed to he rallying the readers behind ends up a hateful dimwit who commands no sympathy.
Also-- Kellerman's grating little "Hey! Check out THIS little bombshell!" at the end where a non-character throws out that so-and-so's father isn't who he thought it was--- YAWN. I read through that part seriously irritated and bored with the whole thing. Who cared, at that point? What difference did that make to any of the story? Forced and limp. What HAPPENED to this guy's writing? He used to be good!
Lastly-- Robin. Why Kellerman thinks he needs some lame, BORING AS HELL, weak character in his Alex books just so he can say the guy has a girlfriend is beyond me. Every scene with her in it is the literary equivalent to nails on a blackboard for me. His pained, forced, embarrassing attempts at throwing some "action" into the story-line are annoying and maddening. Who in the world is he pleasing with this part of the book? There's no action at all, so it's not going to work as a cheap thrill to anyone looking for that, and the inane, sophomoric references to ~trying a new position in bed~ are unnecessary, retarded little annoyances to those trying to actually stay on top of the confusing, changing plot. I cringe when I see Robin's name come up, and have actually started scanning over all scenes that involve her. It adds nothing to the story. It's like reading the writings of a 14-year-old boy with no experience but a desperate need to prove he knows how to get it on. Lame as hell.
All in all-- Obsession is the worst Kellerman I've read. So bad I don't know if I'll be reading another. I feel ripped-off enough as it is. Hope someone else reading these reviews won't be.
Summary of Obsession (Alex Delaware, No. 21)
With scores of millions of books in print, translation into two dozen languages, and one of the most popular heroes in contemporary fiction to his name, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman is the unequivocal ?master of the psychological thriller? (People). In his newest novel Kellerman delivers a tour de force?poignant, dark, and chilling?that illuminates a shadowy world where impulse rules.Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when Dr. Alex Delaware successfully treated her obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Now, at nineteen, she still seems older than her years?but her problems go beyond hyper-maturity. Patty Bigelow, Tanya?s aunt and adoptive mother, has made a deathbed confession of murder and urged the young woman to seek Delaware?s help. The doctor recalls Patty as a selfless E.R. nurse struggling to raise a child on her own?a woman seemingly incapable of the ?terrible thing? she has admitted. But for Tanya?s peace of mind, Delaware agrees to investigate, and he enlists LAPD detective Milo Sturgis in the search for the phantom victim of a crime that may never have occurred.
Armed with only the vaguest details, psychologist and cop follow a trail twisting from L.A.?s sleaziest low-rent districts to its overblown mansions, retracing Patty and Tanya?s nomadic and increasingly puzzling life to the doorsteps of a sullen heroin addict; a randy real-estate broker; and a brilliant, enigmatic physics student. Suddenly a very real murder tears open a terrifying tunnel into the past, where secrets?and bodies?are buried. As the tension mounts, Delaware and Sturgis uncover a tangled history of desperation, vengeance, and death?a legacy of evil that refuses to die.
Dramatic, action-packed, and filled with the psychological detail that only Jonathan Kellerman can provide, Obsession is a whodunit, a whydunit?and something unique: a did-it-even-happen? This is Kellerman at his heart-racing best.
From the Hardcover edition.
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