I cannot believe I have gone this far in my life and not read a Kellerman novel. I was visiting my mom recently and she had this on her bookshelf. She picks up older novels at places like WH Smiths, two for a tenner, to read. She had read this one ages ago and so I picked it up. I had been hearing about these books for years but never really sought one out which is ridiculous really but anyway. While this book is rather large the story never really lags. We start off with the hero, psychologist Alex Delaware and his cop friend, Milo Sturgis, having dinner when they receive a call about a crime scene. Sturgis offers to take the case as he has been bored lately and needs a challenge. I can relate, you know. Anyway the scene is a double homicide of a couple found in a car, shot to death. They identify the male but not the female which is one of many components of the story – trying to figure out who she is and why she is with the guy. When Alex and Milo go to inform the deceased man’s parents they encounter quite an interesting family.
Gavin, the deceased, had been in therapy following an accident that he had been in the previous year. They have to figure out why he was in therapy as his mother and the therapist are not exactly forthcoming. The therapist is linked to another homicide which could or may not be connected. Friends of Gavin are few are far between due mainly to his accident but not solely. He seems to be a strange person in many ways, changing his major in college and starting to be interested in investigative reporting or maybe just gossip.
There are many clues which may or may not be misleading. The female victim was dressed relatively shabbily, but on her feet were Jimmy Choo’s which are very pricey. She is nearly impossible to identify or someone isn’t telling the truth. They assume she is a call girl but there is no record of her or her fingerprints. Every time they turn around there is another lead or diversion which takes more and more time. The therapist practices in an office with two other psychologists who claim to know absolutely nothing about her patients so they are useless as well.
So you add together all the people involved in the case as well as Alex’s personal life and all the contacts he calls on to try to get to the bottom of the story this becomes quite an involved novel but not hard to follow at all. I will now try to get a hold of the first novel featuring Mr. Delaware and start from the beginning.