Bones: Alex Delaware 23
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Review
'Strong insights into the quirks of human and criminal behaviour' (Guardian )
'Filled with insight' (Stephen King )
'Coolly intelligent' (GQ )
'A sense of humanity and justice' (Publishers Weekly )
'An alert eye for detail' (New York Times )
'Filled with insight' (Stephen King )
'Coolly intelligent' (GQ )
'A sense of humanity and justice' (Publishers Weekly )
'An alert eye for detail' (New York Times )
Review
`Kellerman does not shy away from the nastiness of human nature - which comes into play in a horrid way at the gripping climax'
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I agree with the above reviews. In fact, although I have previously been a Kellerman fan I'm not even sure I am going to be able to finish this one.
Alex seems a shadow - someone following the investigation around, occasionally speaking, occasionally going to ask some questions of his own. There is no psychology role for him. Not that I like psychology, but what's the point of the protagonist who is a psychologist if all he's going to do is act like the junior cop on the team? He simply doesn't have a function or thoughts of his own.
Milo doesn't seem much like Milo any more, either. I'm trying to avoid the use of the word 'cardboard' here, but it's difficult.
Yes, Kellerman does list what everyone's wearing (not new). It's one of my pet hates and in the writer's book of how not to do it. The dialogue and some of the narrative is very stilted, too. So much so that in places I have to re-read bits and try and work out what he means.
There have as yet been no gripping plot twists (I'm 2/3 of the way through). They haven't consulted anyone on why only the right hands may have been removed, or why the bodies were all facing East. It's all a fairly tedious gradually putting (weird) names to bodies and finding out nothing else except that each victim had at some point been seen with a bald man. I don't see that this justifies them pursuing the only bald man in the story. It may all become clear of course...if I get that far.
On a positive note, there hasn't been any dreary sex in this one.
I dare say that Alex's life will be hanging by a thread at the end, as usual. I can understand why. I'm starting to feel like shooting him myself.
Alex seems a shadow - someone following the investigation around, occasionally speaking, occasionally going to ask some questions of his own. There is no psychology role for him. Not that I like psychology, but what's the point of the protagonist who is a psychologist if all he's going to do is act like the junior cop on the team? He simply doesn't have a function or thoughts of his own.
Milo doesn't seem much like Milo any more, either. I'm trying to avoid the use of the word 'cardboard' here, but it's difficult.
Yes, Kellerman does list what everyone's wearing (not new). It's one of my pet hates and in the writer's book of how not to do it. The dialogue and some of the narrative is very stilted, too. So much so that in places I have to re-read bits and try and work out what he means.
There have as yet been no gripping plot twists (I'm 2/3 of the way through). They haven't consulted anyone on why only the right hands may have been removed, or why the bodies were all facing East. It's all a fairly tedious gradually putting (weird) names to bodies and finding out nothing else except that each victim had at some point been seen with a bald man. I don't see that this justifies them pursuing the only bald man in the story. It may all become clear of course...if I get that far.
On a positive note, there hasn't been any dreary sex in this one.
I dare say that Alex's life will be hanging by a thread at the end, as usual. I can understand why. I'm starting to feel like shooting him myself.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Interesting Characters, More Alex Delaware Than Recently, and a Flawed Police Investigation
9 Nov 2008
Format:Hardcover
I hate to admit it: I like to read books about serial killers. The abnormal psychology that drives them provides a new perspective on what every day life is all about. This book begins as such a classic, involving lots of weirdness (hands chopped off, bones kept as souvenirs, bodies facing east, burials of prostitutes in a nature sanctuary, the Bird Marsh) . . . but tails off from there. The book's redeeming feature is that Jonathan Kellerman takes the time to make some of the new characters interesting, complex, and likely to surprise the reader.
Alex Delaware also has a bigger role to play than in several of the recent books in the series, especially in acting like a good guy.
The book's main weakness is that much of the plot hinges on the police having not done enough investigation to find out what all of the related parties look like. That seemed like a big miss. As a result, I was left feeling dissatisfied with the book at the end . . . especially after the motive for murder became clear, despite its strong beginning.
Unless you feel like you need to read every word that Jonathan Kellerman wrote about Alex Delaware, you could skip this book and not miss any important developments in the on-going characters.
Alex Delaware also has a bigger role to play than in several of the recent books in the series, especially in acting like a good guy.
The book's main weakness is that much of the plot hinges on the police having not done enough investigation to find out what all of the related parties look like. That seemed like a big miss. As a result, I was left feeling dissatisfied with the book at the end . . . especially after the motive for murder became clear, despite its strong beginning.
Unless you feel like you need to read every word that Jonathan Kellerman wrote about Alex Delaware, you could skip this book and not miss any important developments in the on-going characters.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's hard to believe that if a new writer presented this book for publication it wouldn't be met with polite rejection. The plot is clichéd, the pacing is sluggish and in the end you're left thinking " so that was what was going on, how drab" .
With serial killer books that whole "point" of the book is some kind of insight into the killers world. The only thing you get to see in this book are a few wooden characters shuffling around a grey lifeless plot.
If this was a school report would say past good work has been let down be a suddent lack of commitment from Jonathan.
With serial killer books that whole "point" of the book is some kind of insight into the killers world. The only thing you get to see in this book are a few wooden characters shuffling around a grey lifeless plot.
If this was a school report would say past good work has been let down be a suddent lack of commitment from Jonathan.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Rather a Subdued Story by Alex Delaware Standards
Bones is an interesting enough story, not overly fast moving, but with a well thought out plot. The pace picks up somewhat as we head towards the climax, but I would not describe... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Brett H
Bones - Jonathan Kellerman - Thrilling
If you like your thrillers with body parts positioned in various ways, when found then this is one for you! More a puzzle as to why? Read more
Published 13 months ago by Alessi Lover
Book
A very quick and easy transaction. The product was as stated and up to standard.
Published 19 months ago by Mrs. N. Sanghera
The final epiphany does not save the bleakness of teh situation
The plot of this thriller, the whole thriller actually is seen through the eyes of a psychologist or maybe psychiatrist, or any level in-between, who is associated to a team of... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by Jacques COULARDEAU
Mediocre
In this Delaware instalment I found myself... not bored, but not riveted, either. I didn't buy the book (it was on loan from a friend) and am quite glad I didn't. Read more
Published on 27 July 2009 by Konnie
Bones - Jonathan Kellerman
This is a pageturner, as all the other Kellerman books. What else to say, I'm a complete fan!
Published on 11 July 2009 by Candle
Lots of talk, not a lot of action
If you haven't read an Alex Delaware novel before then don't start here. Go back to the early books and read one of those. Read more
Published on 2 May 2009 by Rowena Hoseason
A pretty poor, badly written thriller
This is really a rather poor thriller. It is written in a mixture of third person, with first person narration by Alex Delaware, a criminal psychologist. Read more
Published on 1 May 2009 by John M
Kellerman
As always Jonathon Kellerman never fails to deliver
I as usual could not put the book down. Alex and Milo
make a good team, and Robin has been softened quite a bit... Read more
I as usual could not put the book down. Alex and Milo
make a good team, and Robin has been softened quite a bit... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2009 by Mrs. Jacklyn Compton
Another Deeply Disappointing Alex Delaware Novel
I've read all of Kellerman's novels with the exception of three or four of the Alex Delaware books, but unfortunately he's turned into someone who churns out potboilers. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2009 by G. J. Oxley
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