Compulsion

February 25, 2008
Bestseller Kellerman serves up all the elements his fans have come to love in the 22nd entry in his Alex Delaware series (Obsession
, etc.), including an intriguing plot, likable regular characters supported by an interesting secondary cast, diabolical villains, witty dialogue and a sense of humanity and justice. Alex and his LAPD detective partner, Milo Sturgis, are investigating several murders that, at first, appear to have only one thing in common: the perpetrator's use of expensive black automobiles while committing his crimes. Kellerman sticks to his usual modus, the patient and sometimes painfully slow accumulation of detail, as Alex and Milo slowly build their case. A subplot involves a missing child last seen selling magazine subscriptions in a tony neighborhood 16 years earlier. On the domestic front, Alex is again living with his girlfriend, Robin, with whom he has broken up several times over the course of the series. In the end, a nice twist reminds Robin and Alex to be more careful in the future about drawing assumptions in their private life before all the facts have come to light.

May 26, 2008
Rubinstein, who has had a long, successful run as the voice of Kellerman's popular hero, Dr. Alex Delaware, has seldom been more appreciated than on this rather mediocre entry in the series. While the doctor and his gruff, gay LAPD detective pal Milo Sturgis slog through a now too-familiar witness-to-witness search for a killer (in this case, a particularly loathsome one who uses disguises and pricy black automobiles), Rubinstein revs up the action, providing the secondary characters with an energetic array of on-target vocals and refining and deepening his stellar interpretations of the leads. Thanks to him, there's a nuanced wistfulness in Delaware's approach to both the hunt for the killer and his ever-shifting relationship with girlfriend Robin. And Sturgis's gravelly growl has a definitive quality that suggests a maturity both tougher and more thoughtful than in the past. Simultaneous release with the Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 25).