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Survival of the Fittest: An unputdownable psychological crime novel (Alex Delaware Book 12) by [Jonathan Kellerman]

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Jonathan Kellerman

Survival of the Fittest: An unputdownable psychological crime novel (Alex Delaware Book 12) Kindle Edition

by Jonathan Kellerman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Book 12 of 37: An Alex Delaware

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Alex Delaware reveals a ghastly trail of slaughter...

New York Times No. 1 bestseller Jonathan Kellerman writes a gripping thriller in Survival of the Fittest. Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Michael Connelly.

'Fast-paced, well thought out, with an unexpected denouement' - Sunday Telegraph

The mentally disabled daughter of a diplomat is killed in cold blood in a deserted corner of the Santa Monica mountains. Her father adamantly denies the possibility of a political motive, which leaves LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his friend Alex Delaware to pose the question: why? The father is so intent on controlling the investigation that Alex and Milo start to wonder if he wants to find the truth - or keep it buried.

Within days, and after another killing, Alex finds himself ensnared in one of the darkest, most menacing cases of his career. Driven to find answers, Alex goes undercover, alone, to expose the smug brutality of a murderous conspiracy and a terrifying contempt for human life.

What readers are saying about Survival of the Fittest:

'The plot is complex yet utterly believable, characters are as sharp as ever and the pace is breath-taking'

'If you want a book that will grip you from cover to cover, then this is it!'

'Five stars'

Print length

514 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Headline
Publication date

3 May 2009
File size

1284 KB
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Product description

Book Description

Weaving together the threads of a mystery that lead from a child's murder to a young scientist's suicide, Jonathan Kellerman draws one of the most chilling, frighteningly realistic portraits of evil you will ever experience in Survival of the Fittest.

Review

"Why is it so hard to put down a Kellerman thriller . . . ? It's simple: the nonstop action leaves you breathless; the plot twists keep you guessing; the themes . . . are provocative."--Publishers Weekly

"An original and gripping tale that is one of his best."--Chicago Tribune --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Jonathan Kellerman was a child psychologist before becoming a full-time novelist. He is married to the writer Faye Kellerman and they live in Los Angeles with their four children. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Hooray for Hollywood.

Brass stars with celebrities' names were inlaid in the sidewalk but the stars of the night were toxin merchants, strong-arm specialists, and fifteen-year-olds running from family values turned vicious.

Open twenty-four hours a day, Go-Ji's welcomed them all.  The coffee shop sat on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard, east of Vine, between a tattoo parlor and a thrash-metal bar.

At 3:00 a.m., a Mexican boy was sweeping the sidewalk when Nolan Dahl pulled his cruiser into the front loading zone.  The boy lacked documentation but the sight of the policeman didn't alter his rhythm; cops could care less about inmigraci¾n.  From what the boy had observed after a month, no one in L.A. cared much about anything.

Nolan Dahl locked the black-and-white and entered the restaurant, sauntering the way only 220 pounds of young, muscular cop laden with baton, belt, radio, flashlight, and holstered nine-millimeter could saunter.  The place smelled rancid and the aisle of deep red carpet between the duct-taped orange booths was stained beyond redemption.  Dahl settled at the rear, allowing himself a view of the Filipino cashier.

The next booth was occupied by a twenty-three-year-old pimp from Compton named Terrell Cochrane and one of his employees, a chubby sixteen-year-old mother of two named Germadine Batts, formerly of Checkpoint, Oklahoma.  Fifteen minutes ago, the two had sat around the corner in Terrell's white Lexus, where Germadine had rolled up a blue, spangled legging and shot fifteen dollars' worth of tar heroin into a faltering ankle vein.  Now nicely numbed and hypoglycemic, she was on her second diluted jumbo Coke, sucking ice and fooling with the pink plastic stirrer.

Terrell had mixed heroin and cocaine into a speedball and was feeling as perfectly balanced as a tightrope walker.  He slouched, forked holes in his cheeseburger, simulated the Olympic logo with five flaccid onion rings while pretending not to watch the big blond cop.

Nolan Dahl couldn't have cared less about either of them, or the five other things scattered around the bright room.  Elevator rock played softly.  A slim, pretty waitress the color of molasses hurried down the aisle and stopped at Nolan's booth, smiling.  Nolan smiled back, waved away a menu, and asked for coconut cream pie and coffee, please.

"New on the night shift?" asked the waitress.  She'd come from Ethiopia five years ago and spoke beautiful English with a pleasant accent.

Nolan smiled again and shook his head.  He'd been working Hollywood night shift for three months but had never patronized Go-Ji's, getting his sugar rush from a Dunkin' on Highland recommended by Wes Baker.  Cops and doughnuts.  Big joke.

"Never seen you before, Officer--Dahl."

"Well," he said, "life's full of new experiences."

The waitress laughed.  "Well, hmm."  She left for the pastry counter and Nolan watched her before shifting his blue eyes, making contact with Terrell Cochrane.

Scruffy thing.

Nolan Dahl was twenty-seven and had been formed, to a large extent, by TV.  Before joining the force, his notion of pimps had been red velvet suits and big hats with feathers.  Soon he'd learned you couldn't prepare for anything.

Anything.

He scanned Terrell and the hooker, who had to be a minor.  This month the pimp was into coarse, oversized, insipid plaid shirts over black T-shirts, abbreviated cornrows above shaved temples.  Last month had been black leather; before that, African prince.

The cop's stare bothered Terrell.  Hoping it was someone else under scrutiny, he looked across the aisle at the three transsexuals giggling and whispering and making a big deal out of eating french fries.

He eased back to the cop.

The cop was smiling at him.  A weird smile--almost sad.  What did that mean?

Terrell returned to his burger, feeling a little out of balance.

The Ethiopian waitress brought Nolan's order and watched as he tasted a forkful of pie.

"Good," he said, though the coconut tasted like bad pi±a-colada mix and the cream was gluey.  He was a practiced culinary liar.  As a kid, when his mother had served swill he'd said, "Delish," along with Helena and Dad.

"Anything else, Officer Dahl?"

"Not for now, thanks."  Nothing you've got.

"Okay, just let me know."

Nolan smiled again and she left.

Terrell Cochrane thought, That smile--one happy fucker.  No reason for a cop to be happy 'ceptin' he busted some rodney with no video going.

Nolan ate more pie and again aimed his smile at Terrell.  Then he shrugged.

The pimp looked sideways at Germadine, by now nodding half-comatose into her Coke.  Few minutes more, bitch, then back outside for more gravel-knee.

The cop ate the rest of the pie, finished his coffee and his water, and the waitress was there right away with refills.

Bitch.  After bringing Terrell's and Germadine's food, she'd mostly ignored them.

Terrell lifted his burger and watched her say something to the cop.  The cop just kept smiling and shaking his head.  The bitch gave the cop his check and the cop gave her money and she turned all grinny.

A twenty, keep it, was the reason.

Fuckers always tipped big, but this?  All that smiling, must be celebrating something.

The cop looked into his empty coffee cup.

Then something came out from under the table.

His gun.

He was smiling at Terrell again.  Showing him the gun!

The cop's arm stretched.

Terrell's bowels gave way as he ducked under the table, not bothering to push down on Germadine's head though he'd had plenty of practice doing that.

The other patrons saw Terrell's dive.  The transsexuals and the drunken long-haul truck driver behind them and the toothless, senile, ninety-year-old man in the first booth.

Everyone ducked.

Except the Ethiopian waitress, who'd been talking to the Filipino cashier.  She stared, too terrified to move.

Nolan Dahl nodded at the waitress.  Smiled.

She thought, A sad smile, what's with this guy?

Nolan closed his eyes, almost as if he were praying.  Opening them, he slid the nine-millimeter between his lips and, sucking like a baby, fixed his gaze on the waitress's pretty face.

She was still unable to move.  He saw her terror, softened his eyes, trying to let her know it was okay, the only way.

A beautiful, black, final image.  God this place smelled crappy.

He pulled the trigger.



From the Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

"FEVERISH IN PACE AND RICH IN CHARACTERS . . . THIS IS A CHILLING AND IRRESISTIBLE THRILLER."
-"People
The daughter of a diplomat disappears on a school field trip-lured into the Santa Monica mountains and killed in cold blood. Her father denies the possibility of a political motive. There are no signs of struggle, no evidence of sexual assault, leaving psychologist Alex Delaware and his friend LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis to pose the disturbing question: "Why?
Working together with Daniel Sharavi, a brilliant Israeli police inspector, Delaware and Sturgis soon find themselves ensnared in one of the darkest, most menacing cases of their careers. And when death strikes again, it is Alex who must go undercover, alone, to expose an unthinkable conspiracy of self-righteous brutality and total contempt for human life. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Synopsis

Psychologist Alex Delaware joins forces with LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and Israeli inspector Daniel Sharavi to solve a series of killings in which the victims--including the Israeli consul's teenage daughter--are linked only by the fact that each had adisability. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

ting follow-up to the New York Times best-selling The Clinic, psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware confronts an almost unimaginably cruel, arrogant, and obsessed killer who takes as much pleasure in matching wits with the police as in robbing human life--all in the name of science.

The nightmare started with a single crime: the murder of 15-year-old Irit Carmeli, the daughter of the Israeli consul in Los Angeles. But within days it had become one of the darkest, most menacing cases of Alex Delaware's career: three young people dead with no apparent motive, and the only trait linking them is the fact that each has a disability. Driven to find the answers, Alex will work closely with his longtime friend Milo Sturgis of the LAPD, but with Inspector Daniel Shavari, the brilliant Israeli detective who solved the serial murders in Kellerman's best-selling novel, The Butcher's Theater. In the end, though, it is Alex who will go undercover to expose --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'Fastpaced, well thought out, with an unexpected denouement' --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002TXZSD0
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Headline (3 May 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1284 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 514 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 149,937 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 746 in Crime, Thriller & Mystery Series
- 1,901 in Serial Killers (Kindle Store)
- 1,913 in Noir Crime

Customer reviews:
427 ratings

About the author

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Jonathan Kellerman

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Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than three dozen bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, True Detectives, and The Murderer’s Daughter. With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored The Golem of Hollywood and The Golem of Paris. He is also the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California, New Mexico, and New York.

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Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		26%
3 star		6%
2 star		4%
1 star		1%

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CaroleQ

Survival of the Fittest Dr Alex Delaware returns in his ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 December 2017

Verified Purchase

Survival of the Fittest

Dr Alex Delaware returns in his twelfth adventure and again Kellerman provides evidence as to how he is developing both the characters whilst taking the story into new areas and different scenarios.

A young child with disabilities has been murdered and there are no indications as to who did it. It is further complicated by the fact that the child’s father is a diplomat based in Los Angeles. Delaware’s detective side-kick Milo Sturgis is given the poisoned chalice to deal with and immediately asks Delaware for his assistance.

Slowly but surely they start to uncover a series of murders across different parts of Los Angeles with the common denominator being that all victims have a disability. Further enquiries lead them into the field of eugenics and a secret group who may be behind the murders. Delaware has to go under cover to infiltrate the group. The plot is further complicated when you throw in the security services from the nation of the bereaved diplomat and the suicide of a young policeman who appeared to have everything to live for.

Delaware moves in this story from being an investigative consultant assisting the police to being an undercover operative whose life is on the line. The impact thus has on him both physically and emotionally is quite profound. In addition the consequences it has on both Sturgis and his partner Robyn Castagna are not something he has fully considered. In the case of the latter it establishes fault lines in their relationship that Kellerman chooses not to explore fully in this adventure but leaves the reader with the view that this is something that will be raised and taken forward in the future.

Well worth a look.

Helpful

S. Rifflart

Delaware puts his life on the line

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 June 2021

Verified Purchase

Eugenics, Israelis, murdered children and a cops very public suicide. Some how these plot lines all come together in another great book

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Nigel

Early Milo and Delaware

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2018

Verified Purchase

One of the early books in the series delivers on all fronts. Well crafted as always with a particularly tense ending.

One person found this helpful

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Ann Ware

Kellerman keeps you enthralled throughout

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 October 2019

Verified Purchase

The Alex Delaware series just keep getting better and better. Kellerman captivates the reader almost from the first page. Lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing

One person found this helpful

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CDC Worcs

Unnerving thriller!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2017

Verified Purchase

Jonathan Kellerman always delivers in the Alex Delaware books and I think this was one of the best, I couldn't put it down!

One person found this helpful

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Shirley Stead

These Alex Delaware books are great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2018

Verified Purchase

Next in series

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mazza

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 September 2017

Verified Purchase

Thrilling page turner as always. Looking forward to reading the next one as soon as possible! Kellerman brilliant. In the Michael Connelly class

One person found this helpful

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jackie

Riveting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2020

Verified Purchase

Plot was very clever. Kept me in suspense from beginning to end.A thoroughly good read as all the Delaware books are.

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Survival of the Fittest: An unputdownable psychological crime novel (Alex Delaware Book 12) Kindle Edition

Product description

Book Description

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From the Back Cover

Synopsis

From the Inside Flap

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Product details

About the author

Jonathan Kellerman

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