Suz

He’s back!

Revisado: 03-08-24

Though I’ve loved the Alex Delaware novels for years, the last few have been disappointing. This one is a dandy—nicely plotted in a way that invites reader participation, funny, paced right. Throwing in the surprise ringer
perp at the end was a little too easy for my taste, but otherwise solid and a good listen.

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Unbelievable Coincidences drive plot

Revisado: 10-02-22

While this story has some good moments, it’s ultimately driven by coincidences that are so unlikely as to seem impossible. It’s also WAY too long, with suspense artificially stretched out, and has silly stereotypical romantic moments (you lost me when the brooding mysterious hero carries the smitten swooning narrator in his arms up to shelter in old ruins on the heath on a winter night—come ON!). At least the character psychology is more generally sophisticated, resisting the soppy ending I feared and adding a more open one.

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Serious disappointment

Revisado: 10-19-21

I've loved the Alex Delaware series and others; always thought Kellerman a very skilled writer at character drawing and plot, with wonderful dry wit and rounded characters. Sadly, virtually all of those things are missing here. The characters are flat (even those who seem at first potentially edgy and interesting turn out to be angelically-motivated aging survivors of trauma); the plot reveal really isn't (except in the exact identity of the perp) because we've been told what's going on in advance--no surprise at all, so "thriller" isn't an accurate description. Aside from a cutting aside or two about cool jazz, the characteristic stylistic edge is missing--at times details are actually trite (as in the banquet). So disappointing!!!

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So many cliches

Revisado: 08-02-21

Someone’s been reading too much Henry James. Every cliche imaginable about Venice, and the end is obvious from a VERY long way off.

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Improbable to say the least

Revisado: 06-11-21

Whining 30-something yuppie characters and a totally improbable plot based on coincidences (the solution to the mystery is especially far-fetched both logistically and psychologically) make this a big disappointment, though the now-then multi point of view structure is intriguing and handled well.

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Not vintage

Revisado: 04-16-21

I usually adore Jonathan Kellerman’s work, and am always thrilled when a new Alex Delaware book comes out. This one, though the recurring characters are great as always, suffers from a serious lack of narrative tension. There’s nothing really pulling the events forward in any compelling dramatic way, few surprises that give the reader something to do in terms of recalibrating and guessing. I was half-expecting a big surprise at the end, but no, what’s been obvious for a long time is true and goes out with a whimper. Hard to believe I had to make myself finish a book in my favorite series—but I did.

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You think you have problems, girlfriend—

Revisado: 02-01-20

The advice is ok, but the whole argument is based on a crisis of privilege, as if that’s an existential disaster everybody will naturally identify with: the writer has a passport glitch and can’t go on vacation with her daughter. Seriously? What about readers who have lost loved ones, including children, to death/violence/addiction, or have done really terrible things for which they must try to forgive themselves? Trivial and self-indulgent premise made this un-listenable for me.

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Plot flaws

Revisado: 02-01-20

Great build-up, but very contrived surprises to sort things out at the end, and odd unsatisfactory ending. Felt cheated.

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Lots of good information, but some irritating components

Revisado: 10-21-19

Wonderful information, if a somewhat predictable thesis. Good leads for further reading. Style, though, is at times almost a parody of current academic jargon (every cultural debate or disagreement is a “conversation”) and the narrator, though with a voice quality ideal for the subject matter, mispronounces both names and a few common words.

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Henry James is the ghost in the attic, and he’s pissed—or he would be if this were worth his time

Revisado: 08-15-19

Was looking forward to a reworking of Turn of the Screw, and for a long time was admiring the updated technology angle, millennial narrator, etc. But— though the writer can write a sentence and a scene and a character—the plot and character connections get cheaper and cheaper as this goes along ( the sexual key to the mysterious attic unlocking is so obvious it’s like a dirty cartoon)— and the facile very quick tying up at the end is SUCH a betrayal of James’s nuanced mystery. You should be hearing footsteps, Ms Ware— though HJ can probably shame you into silence with an eyebrow and needs no gothic dolls heads. You have real talent—dare to break from facile easy molds if you follow the master, please. This should have been open-ended, as was the original, vs simplistic pandering.

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