Monster - Jonathan Kellerman

Ardis Peake had been a quiet but strange boy. One day he walked into the kitchen, where his mother sat preparing vegetables. He decapitated her and calmly walked up the stairs to the bedroom where the husband and wife of the household lay sleeping. He battered and cut them to death, then continued along the corridor to where their children lay. The 5 year old girl was later found with her eyes removed but of the baby boy there was no sign. The policeman followed the bloody sneaker tracks out of the house to the shack where Peake lay snoozing. There on the stove a pot sat bubbling. The baby had ... more

Monster is another of the Jonathan Kellerman books to feature the Los Angeles based Dr Alex Delaware and LA homicide detective Milo Sturgis. Delaware is a child psychologist who no longer takes on patients directly instead he consults on legal cases and also works as a part time consultant for the police on their criminal investigations. Not married he lives with his long term partner Robin who designs and makes guitars and other string instruments. The Central Characters Delaware is portrayed as a bit of a loner and in Sturgis he has a friend who is equally on the outside as he is an openly ... more

A minor actor is found dead in the boot of his car - his body sawn in half. A few months later, a psychiatrist at a hospital for the criminally insane dies in the same way. When an inmate's ramblings become predictions for forthcoming deaths, predictions that are borne out, it is down to Dr. Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis to try to stop the killer before there are any more murders. Jonathan Kellerman has certainly got writing thrillers down to a fine art. In this novel, he throws Delaware and Sturgis into one of their most gruesome cases yet, a case that is just packed full of ... more

I'm not your usual detective/murder fan but my goodness this book had me awake till all hours, missing my stops on the train and waiting until the very last minute to get off planes. It's a very unusual setting and you become very attached to the characters. Mainly a psychologist, his partner and a detective collegue. Together they solve the mystery of horrifically brutal murders in California that centre around a state mental institution. But don't stereotype this to your usual psycho killer novel, it's totally different. This was my first Johnathon Kellerman novel - I've now made it my ... more