A treat for fans of crime fiction. Delaware and Sturgis are a durable duo.
Psychologist Alex Delaware and Lt. Milo Sturgis collaborate for the 40th time to solve a series of puzzling murders in the Los Angeles area.
Deep into a Saturday night, a car pulls up to a hospital and the driver dumps a body and speeds away. Despite first impressions, it’s not an overdose. But then the coroner finds no wounds on the body. Hmm, what’s going on? It’s the first in a cluster of killings that have the two friends working together again. The victim was a photogenic 25-year-old woman with images of herself posted online. It appears she may have hooked up with a fake movie producer. Then, a guy who is shot in the neck appears to have been responsible for the woman’s death. And then another, also shot with precision to hit the jugular and carotid artery at an exact angle. That victim may have been coming onto someone’s daughter a little too strongly. Perhaps these two separate victims were killed for two separate motives, “united in death by one hired killer.” Or “Mr. Sniper’s a knight-errant avenging victims of abuse.” Or he might be helping someone in a custody battle. In one case, a woman is shot in a rowboat in the middle of a lake, leaving her unharmed child wailing and helpless. Author Kellerman, a psychologist himself, applies his professional knowledge with a light touch, mixing in a generous helping of police procedure, so all the readers notice is that they’re being entertained. And speaking of helpings, Milo seems to enjoy helping himself to whatever is in the Delawares’ refrigerator. (What else would you expect? They’ve been friends since 1985.) The two men are the best at what they do and complement each other in cracking open difficult cases. Alex’s wife, Robin, helps him “zero in on a common theme” about the killings. What a great relationship: When she’s not pursuing her own interests, they’re either having thoughtful conversations or joyous sex. Meanwhile, Milo admires Alex for his intellect: “I go to sleep and produce night-music, you reinvent the wheel.” The story moves quickly and smoothly, with vivid descriptions such as a woman with “hoop earrings the size of drink coasters.”
A treat for fans of crime fiction. Delaware and Sturgis are a durable duo.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593497692
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
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