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Amazon.co.uk Review
Faye Kellerman's latest thriller Stalker features Cynthia Decker, daughter of Peter Decker, familiar to readers of the author's previous novels featuring the LA detective and his Orthodox Jewish wife Rina Lazarus. In Kellerman's earlier books, we've met Cynthia briefly as a difficult adolescent upset by her parents' divorce and later as an Ivy League college student with an interest in following her overly protective father into the family business: solving crimes. Now Cynthia's a young LA cop who's the subject of what at first seems like innocent-enough teasing from her colleagues. They think she's snooty and standoffish and riding on her father's reputation. Actually, she's all of those things, which makes for a somewhat less than sympathetic heroine:

Beaudry said, "Every time we start shooting the bull, talking about the day, you say things like, 'Yeah, my father once had a case like that.'"

"I'm trying to relate."

"It pisses people off. It makes them think that their experiences are nothin' special. Everyone wants to feel special. You already feel special because you've got all this college. You gotta remember that the average Joe on the force is a high school graduate, maybe a couple of years at a junior college like me. If you're real smart, okay, you do a four-year state, then enter the academy with the idea of doing the gold."

"Like my dad--"

"Stop mentioning your dad. He isn't a legend, Decker, he's a pencil pusher."

As the teasing escalates, Cindy's stalked, threatened and finally frightened, although it pains her to admit it. There's a killer on the loose, and even if she's not the best cop on the force, she knows enough to turn to her father for help. But first, she has a brief affair with one of the men under his command. It seems a little too obvious a ploy for Daddy's attention and hardly adds to her character--we already know she's immature and a bit of a bitch. But at least this manoeuvre brings Peter back on the scene, allowing Kellerman to hit her stride as she gets back to a character who holds the reader's interest because he's more than two-dimensional. Sadly, Cindy's not quite ready for prime time; perhaps she'll grow up in her next outing. Or better yet, Kellerman will bring us more adventures by Peter and Rina. --Jane Adams --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Amazon.co.uk Review
Faye Kellerman's new suspense thriller Stalker is as intelligent about police procedure as it is about family relationships. Cindy Decker is an ambitious young LA policewoman, mistrusted by her colleagues because her father is a senior lieutenant; when someone starts harassing her--following her car, moving things in her apartment--she is aware that it may be no more than a fellow officer with a streak of malice. But coincidences start piling up, connections to the kidnapping and murder of Crayton, a man she knew slightly from the gym, a kidnapping that may have a connection in turn to a series of car-jackings which have progressively escalated into violence against women. Cindy is an attractive flawed heroine--her determination not to go running to her father for help drifts towards foolhardiness and her piecing together of facts from separate ongoing investigations show real comprehension of the teamwork aspect of policing. Faye Kellerman also brings to this excellent thriller a real sense of place--the cliffs where Crayton died become more terrifying each time the plot takes us back there--and a cumulative suspense that comes not only from real jeopardy, but from characters about whom we care deeply. --Roz Kaveney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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