Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23)

Chance is Chance Brandt, a teenager who redefines the word 'obnoxious'. BONES opens with Chance and what an opener it is. After that, things get a little more conventional. The story, ultimately, concerns the death of a family, in multiple senses of that phrase. The form, of course, is police procedural with a dash of psychological thriller, not Greek tragedy, but there is blood enough (as well as bone fragments) for most readers. The linear investigation eventually breaks down and we reach a definitive conclusion that is satisfying if not always completely plausible. The plot is a bit convoluted in the second and third acts as Milo and Alex peel away layers of family history and the list of dramatis personae begins to proliferate. Still, this is a good read and Chance is worth the price of admission. Let's hope he returns in a future book with a more central role. It's interesting that there is an S/M subplot in the novel, since Chance is both a very great pleasure and an enormous pain in the backside. He is the uber-slacker.

Kellerman and Alex Delaware are always good reads. I listen to the audio while I work and drive. Didn't want to get out of car LOL.

As the story is resolved, I thought the explanations were weak, not particularly believable, and unsatisfying.

I always enjoy the stories that feature Milo, though.

Jonathan Kellerman has returned to his roots in this entry in the Delaware series, leaving behind the much-criticized passive-aggressive soap opera revolving around Delaware's relationship with live-in girlfriend Robin.

Thank God! That was boring beyond tears.

We are now back to the essential Alex: a tough crime with psychological overtones; the witty banter with Milo; the quirky and unique "only in LA" characters and suspects; all revealing the weird wonder that is Los Angeles.

I live in LA County and can attest to his skill at portraying how strange this place is, rightfully earning the sobriquet "LaLa Land". Sun-washed weirdness, which Kellerman portrays so well.

A fast-paced, highly entertaining book. If you're a classic Delaware fan, don't miss it!

I hate to admit it: I like to read books about serial killers. The abnormal psychology that drives them provides a new perspective on what every day life is all about. This book begins as such a classic, involving lots of weirdness (hands chopped off, bones kept as souvenirs, bodies facing east, burials of prostitutes in a nature sanctuary, the Bird Marsh) . . . but tails off from there. The book's redeeming feature is that Jonathan Kellerman takes the time to make some of the new characters interesting, complex, and likely to surprise the reader.

Alex Delaware also has a bigger role to play than in several of the recent books in the series, especially in acting like a good guy.

The book's main weakness is that much of the plot hinges on the police having not done enough investigation to find out what all of the related parties look like. That seemed like a big miss. As a result, I was left feeling dissatisfied with the book at the end . . . especially after the motive for murder became clear, despite its strong beginning.

Unless you feel like you need to read every word that Jonathan Kellerman wrote about Alex Delaware, you could skip this book and not miss any important developments in the on-going characters.