Book Review: Rage by Jonathan Kellerman

Quick Review:

Rage by Jonathan Kellerman
Published 2005
Genre: Psychological Crime Thriller
Bob's Thoughts: A fast paced thriller which highlights what Kellerman does best.
Avaliability: At Your Local Bookseller
Bob's Grade: B+







Full Review:

You’d think with over 20 books, the vast majority dealing with the same character that the author and character both would start to get stale. Honestly, for a while there he did. Probably around the turn of the millenium I sort of lost interest in Kellerman’s novels. Maybe it was a change in my lifestlye or some outside factor, by Kellerman’s Alex Delaware novels just lost me. For the most part, the main charcter seemed to become whiney, pining over his deteriorating relationship with long time girldfriend Robin. His investigations seemed to get lazy, consisting of google searches and calling up various friends who, of course, were experts in just what Delaware needed.

Then came The Murder Book, and Kellerman had me back. The saving grace and heart of all his novels has been his complicated detective Milo Sturgis and his relationship with Alex Delaware. Now, this is a rant I go off on every time a review an Alex Delaware novel, but Kellerman is truly a gifted writer when he is writing in the third person. His first person tales, while interesting, sometimes gets bogged down in the charcter, without truly developing him. When the world is filtered through Dr.Delaware’s eyes, it takes on a tinted tone. Remove that tint, and you see Kellerman’s world at it’s best. The Murder book proved to me that Kellerman can, and should right a third person novel with Sturgis as the driving character.

Yet, despite those concerns and wishes, Rage is one of Kelleman’s best novels in a while. The story hooks you in right away. Before you realize it, you’ve torn through the first 100 pages and you need to find out what happens. The story focuses on, in typical Kellerman fashion, a brutal crime. This time it’s the murder of a small girl by two teenage boys, with seemingly no motive. One of the boys, Rand, is slow witted and impressionable. Kellerman is called into the case as a consultant, but eventually a deal is struck and the boys are sent away to juvenile prison. While one of the boys is brutally murdered, Rand serves his sentence. Eventually upon release he attempts to contact Alex Delaware, but he himself is killed before the meeting takes place. This, of course, sets off the always inquisitive mind of Dr. Delaware.

The investigation is so full of twists and turns that at time it leaves your head spinning. Milo and Alez meet such an wide assortment of badies, potential badies and potential victims that your no sure of anything at first. Yet, eventually the answers are fleshed out. One of my favorite aspects of this novel was the thought processes and just plain bull sessions that took place between Alez and Milo. Instead of Kellerman just having Alex flesh it out, the two bounce ideas and theories of each other, sometimes at lightning pace. While this goes to help move the story along, it also gives us more of a glimpse into the two characters friendship.

This is also an incredibly slimmed down novel. While some of the typical Alex Delaware subplots are there, they live in the peripheral and never distract from the main focus of the book. Best yet, the ending is crisp and quick, answering questions but leaving openings. Gone is the wham bam actioner ending, which ends the storyline with a quick bust or a fatal bullet. Enter a more ambiguous ending the leaves the readers asking many of the same intellectual and psychological questions that plagued the main characters.

Check out Jonathan Kellerman's website.