Sluggish- but only at first, an update

Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker is one of my favorite detectives. I have loved him since I first met him, and his lovely wife, Rina, while I was driving alone to Stone Harbor, NJ. I enjoy her husband, Jonathan's books as well. I usually only like men mystery authors but in the case of the Kellermans, I prefer Faye to Jonathan, though I never miss a book by either author. If Faye is an A, Jonathan is an A-, that's how awesome they are. Double Homicide, a book containing two short novels by Mr. and Mrs. was a serious treat. When I saw Prism on the YA shelf in the library I thought WAY COOL! Prism is written by Faye and the Kellermans' daughter Aliza who is a junior in high school. I really like the premise of the book- three high school students get into a serious accident in the California desert on their way to a school field trip. They struggle their way into a cave and fall deep down into it. The next morning when they wake up, they find themselves back in their old, safe world-- but something is very weird. Things are just a little bit off. The first clue that they aren't in Kansas anymore comes when Kaida, the main character, sees a man being hit and killed by a car. Bystanders just look the other way and a "clean-up" crews throws the dude into a van and drives off. No one seems bothered by this at all, they just find it kind of gross. I am about half way through the book and I want it to be over. Its not bad, its just not as magical as I thought it could be, given that Faye Kellerman is involved and that the premise is so good. I am not going give up on the book though, it isn't that bad. More importantly I won't give up on Aliza Kellerman.
I remember when her older brother, Jesse started publishing his own works. His first book, Sunstroke was like this one, an interesting premise, but sluggish. But his second, Trouble and his third, The Genius, were excellent page-turners. I would think that the Kellerman gene for writing is inside Aliza as well and I look forward to seeing what else she has to offer.

SOOOOOOOO
I finished Prism this morning and I have to say that it ended smartly and made me wanting a sequel! It really seemed to pick up the pace after the first 100 pages. The end redeemed it all for me and makes it a book worth recommending for sure. Now I am even more excited about reading more from this Kellerman.

SPOILER!
One of the funniest things about this book was the hilarious ending. I am not sure it was meant to be hilarious but I bet it was. Either way, I laughed out loud. The premise of the whole book is that Kaida and her friends fall through some kind of hole and end up a world exactly like the one they came from-- except there is no concept of health care. No medicines, no doctors, nurses, 911, nothing. You break something, too bad. You get sick and don't just get better, sorry. It a whole "natural order" of things kind of deal. Well at the end of the book Kaida and her friends find their way home...so it seems...but....Kaida wakes up in the hosptial right? There are doctors and nurses, meds, etc. She and her friends are going to be okay! Everything is normal! But the last sentences of the book are Kaida asking her mom how long she will be in the hospital and her mom replying, "As long as it takes for you to heal."
HILARIOUS!
Kaida and her friends sure as heck didn't end up in TODAY'S US of A! Just as someone who has had out-patient brain or heart surgery (no lie, it happens more than you think.)
This ending was so clever! I loved it! And I hope to hear from more Aliza Kellerman soon!

Abridged is just fine

So I ordered the audio cd of Deception at the library and when it came I realized it was an abridged edition. I guess this doesn't really count as a Read in 2010, so I'll come up with a new tag for it, rather than go back and read the whole blasted thing. I've written about the Kellermans before, I'm definately a fan, but Jonathan is the one Kellerman that I think lends himself to abridgement! Deception is a fine example of this fact. I have often wondered why, if a book can be so easily abridged, and approved by the author, the author didn't just edit the freaking book to begin with and turn out a nice, tight book. This is another predictable-in a good way- Alex and Milo mystery. I'll keep reading them as long as he writes them, but next time when I get the abridgement, it won't be by accident.

Well...

I do feel guilty every time I say that I enjoy male writers more than female writers when it comes to adult fiction.  My only exception are the Kellermans.  But The Undertaker's Daughter series looked like it was going to be a great new series for me, but alas way too much romance and unlike Texas Rangers, the rest of it didn't outweigh the romance.  Still, if you like romance and mystery, you might enjoy The Secrets We Bury.  It was just a little too Hallmark Movie for me.

Get Me Some Kellerman

I have read a lot of Kellermans and written about them a lot, too.  Savage Spawn:  Reflections on Violent Children is an old nonfiction book.  Written in 1999, there are so many more horror stories that it would include today.  This was published just before the Columbine shooting, for example, I assume.  Although folks on goodreads remarked their surprise at it not being included, the book was published in 1999 and the massacre took place in 1999, and it takes a long process to write and publish a book, regardless of the exact date, this one was done before April 20.
In addition to being an author, Kellerman is has a PhD in Psychology and has done a great deal of work with children.  He is very informed on the topic.  This work seems like a very balanced read.  The pros and cons of nature vs. nurture, an examination of what begets violence, is it the media?  Maybe, maybe not.  Is it oppression?  Poverty?  Education?  Maybe, maybe not.  There is discussion of psychopathology as well.  A lot to think about and Kellerman doesn't claim that he or anyone has the answers. But one thing he definitely takes a stand on is children's access to guns.  He admits he has gotten a lot of criticism about this but it makes sense.  I know I always repeat the story that there was a knife attack in China in a school on the same day that the Sandy Hook nightmare occurred.  No fatalities.  Dude to strict gun laws.  Could anyone have stopped the nut who stabbed the Chinese children?  Could anyone have stopped the nut who shot the children of Sandy Hook?  Who knows?  But if the Sandy Hook nut had not had a gun....

Kellermans in a Row

After reading Savage Spawn, I thought I would pick up an Alex Delaware, as it had been a while for me.  As I have said before, I am more of a Faye fan than Jonathan.  Compulsion was okay.  It seems that I still favor the Mrs. over the Mr.  It might be the whole Robin-Alex thing.  It might have been that this particular mystery seemed to lose me.  I still love Milo though.