The Executor

Starred review from February 1, 2010
At the start of this outstanding novel of psychological suspense, Kellerman's fourth (after The Genius
), 30-year-old philosophy grad student Joseph Geist finds himself at loose ends after being suspended from Harvard (for failing to do any work) and breaking up with his longtime girlfriend. When Geist answers an ad in the Harvard Crimson
seeking a serious “conversationalist,” he ends up being paid to debate free will for a few hours a day with Alma Spielmann, an elderly woman of Viennese origin. After the two bond, Spielmann offers Geist free room and board at her Cambridge house, where she lives alone. The sudden appearance of Spielmann's difficult nephew, who relies on Spielmann's financial support, threatens Geist's comfortable relationship with his benefactor. The plot builds to a climax that's as devastating as it is plausible. Few thriller writers today are as gifted as Kellerman at using lucid and evocative prose in the service of an intense and nail-biting story.

The fourth Jesse Kellerman mystery would be a challenge to any narrator. It's tedious, overly philosophical, and takes much too long to get to the point. Joseph Geise is booted from Harvard University after failing to complete his thesis on free will after six years. He has few possessions and little ambition. He then takes a job talking philosophy with a woman in her seventies, Alma, who is originally from Vienna. Enter Alma's nephew, and the tone of the plot changes: Murder is on the horizon. Kirby Heyborne's characterization of Geise is appropriately frustrating at the start. Geise truly is a bore, but as he is transmogrified into a killer, Heyborne hits his stride. He delivers a much better performance than this book deserves. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine