True Detectives

Kellerman scores a bulls eye again with this dark, rocket paced exploration of the criminal underbelly of Southern California.

I really enjoy a mystery that I can't figure out,even by not trying.I never open Christmas presents early or shake them to figure them out. Same goes for my mystery reading. AND, I appreciate a tight storyline. Try this one, you'll like it alot.

Ostensibly an Alex Delaware series novel, the good doctor merely makes a cameo appearance in this book, merely offering a suggestion to detectives in a murder inquiry. In fact, Milo appears just in passing. Instead, the plot involves two antagonistic brothers, Moses Reed and his half-black/half-white step-brother Aaron Fox, who, despite their filial differences, previously solved the Marsh Murders in a prior novel. Mo is an LAPD homicide detective and Aaron, formerly a cop, now is a highly paid private eye. Somehow, they both end up investigating the same murder. Even more surprising, they even help each other in their efforts despite competing fiercely. From the initial assignment investigating the disappearance of a missing college student, they progress to three more murders, all inter-related and involving Hollywood types. Written with the usual psychological insights of a Jonathan Kellerman novel, the plot is tightly drawn. The juxtaposition of the brothers' thought processes and methodology deeply contrasts their personalities and provides an interesting approach to the story. Highly recommended.

One of the BEST by Jonathan Kellerman. Signs of the earlier books! Completely absorbing, impossible to put down. Once you start reading this book, everything else stops until you finish it! If you like Kellerman, you will LOVE this book!

I love Jonathan Kellerman's standalones; my previous favorite was Billy Straight. My new favorite is True Detectives. Reprising their appearance in his novel, Bones, we again meet Moses Reed and Aaron Fox. Fox is a PI, Reed an LAPD detective. They are also half-brothers. While not at violent odds with one another, they have not been close. In True Detectives they find themselves working the same case from different directions. In order to solve the crime(s?) they must put together their individually-secured evidence and, in the process, put together their relationship. Thus, we also have converging plot lines, all of which Kellerman handles well. More interesting than the plots, in some respects, is the fact that Kellerman must develop a new voice in order to tell the tale. Sturgis and Delaware are shadowy background figures here, making brief cameo appearances and being referenced by the principal characters. Instead of a psychologist who feeds koi, walks a dog and loves a luthier, we have a mixed-race PI and his LAPD half-brother. The language is appropriate for their voices and their thought patterns. It's not quite full-blown L.A. Quartet/Ellroy, but it's closer to Ellroy-speak than to Delaware-speak, a staccato shorthand laced with street argot and cop idiom. And it's done absolutely expertly. Kellerman steps out of his comfort zone and into the realm of if-not-quite-genius, at least pulp and crime fiction heaven. The setting is, as always, fully realized, the plotting highly skilled and the mystery at the center a disquieting pattern of man's inhumanity to just about everybody. Highly recommended.