Flesh and Blood

Kellerman is in top form in this densely plotted tale of child psychologist Alex Delaware and his friend, Detective Milo Sturgis. Ten years earlier, Delaware had been unable to help Lauren Teague, then a 15-year-old. After a more recent encounter (which leaves them both overwhelmed by guilt and shame), Lauren's body is found in a dumpster. Alex feels compelled to find her killer, no matter the personal cost. John Rubinstein's performance is like listening to a full-cast recording. Each character is fully developed, distinctive, and immediately identifiable. Rubinstein makes Alex's quandary understandable and poignant, and his sandpapery voice gives Sturgis a surprising vulnerability. The dialogue is crisp, the situations fraught with danger. Each chapter brings shocking revelations. More than a story of dysfunctional families and maladjusted personalities, the novel is an examination of our darker natures. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

October 22, 2001
In Kellerman's 15th crowd-pleasing Alex Delaware novel (after 2000's Dr. Death), the Los Angeles–based psychologist is tested by a former patient, his conscience and the strains his police work place on his relationship with lover Robin Castagna. Alex only saw Lauren Teague twice as a patient when she was a troubled 15-year-old and once, six years later, when he was an embarrassed audience and she an embarrassed performer at a stag show. Four years after that, Lauren's mother approaches Alex when her daughter disappears. Then Lauren's bound and brutalized body turns up in a dumpster. As homicide detective Milo Sturgis pursues forensic leads and an official inquiry, Alex follows Lauren's tortuous path from high school drop-out to model/hooker to college student to murder victim. Alex finds plenty of suspects among Lauren's college teachers, her estranged parents, members of a Hefner-esque compound, a psychologist with a strange research protocol and Lauren's gay roommate. The dogged psychologist unearths plenty of possible motives and an old murder that may be connected to Lauren's. He also alienates Robin, who's having a hard time accepting the danger his investigation seems to court. Kellerman's well-established hero remains as likable as ever, but the unlikely hypotheses he concocts to connect suspects to Lauren's murder and the improbable links that finally emerge may weaken the book's appeal to new readers. Agent, Barney Karpfinger.

Child psychologist Alex Delaware is drawn into the missing person's case of a former client, a beautiful but emotionally neglected teenager, who had become involved in the enticing world of exotic dancing, porn, and prostitution. Just as she was finding her way back, she disappeared without a trace. Kellerman crafts a sad, but plausible story of the difficult road that some young women walk. John Rubinstein does a terrific job differentiating the characters, particularly the males; however, some of the female voices are airy and distracting. Rubinstein's crisp pace adds energy to the untangling of the plot, the psychology, and a look at L.A.'s sex industry. The resolution remains suspenseful until the end. F.L.F. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine