Flesh and Blood (Alex Delaware Novels) Book

Alex Delaware is back in Flesh and Blood, one of the tautest outings yet for Jonathan Kellerman's resourceful protagonist. The new book represents a further level of refinement in Kellerman's functional, astringently written prose--it's clear that the author knows exactly what his readers need, and he dispenses with the superfluous. Nary a comma is wasted in this lean, direct piece of work. Alex first encounters Lauren Teague as an uncommunicative teenager with all the usual hang-ups: poor grades at school, open warfare with her parents, etc. She is sent to a psychologist, and Alex loses track of her. Years later, at a bachelor party for a colleague, Alex is watching two strippers perform a fairly tasteless display and notices that one of them is Lauren. Lauren disappears, and her mother pleads for Alex's help in tracking her down. But her disappearance turns into a murder investigation, and Alex is obliged to confront the demons that brought Lauren to an unenviable end. The theme of a descent into a truly dark criminal underworld is desperately over-familiar, but Kellerman is fully aware of that and rings the changes with commanding authority. If Alex is more cursorily characterised than usual, that's undoubtedly Kellerman's game plan: the narrative here is the thing, and the merest touches are needed to characterise his canny protagonist. --Barry ForshawRead More