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227th out of 500 books
—
191 voters
Private Eyes (Alex Delaware #6)
It's been 11 years since seven-year-old Melissa Dickinson found help in therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the young heiress desperately calls for help once more. Only this time it looks like her deepest childhood nightmare is coming true.
Paperback, 560 pages
Published
April 1st 2003
by Ballantine Books
(first published January 1992)
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Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series is one that I haven't read in order. I pick them up at book sales though and save them for times when I need an Alex Delaware fix. I just love this character, a pediatric psychologist who solves crimes, often with his friend Det. Milo Sturgis of LAPD. Delaware is smart, caring, and at the moment of this story lonely. Sturgis is gay and takes a lot of you-know-what from other LAPD cops. In this story he has been put on suspension for a period of months an...more
Oct 13, 2012
aPriL MEOWS often with scratching
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mysteries-suspense-thrillers
Complicated, concentrated (despite the length) and competent. Not enough Milo or Alex, actually, although, as usual, Alex narrates. This is a great mystery in the series, but the author has clearly evolved his character and his writing is closer to genre standards unlike the first four books in the series. In the early books, Alex was in despair, and was motivated more by righteous rage and an obsessive, driven compulsion to rescue and avenge. Now, he sounds more like a private detective instead...more
I've been reading Kellerman's Alex Delware series since it started. Although I grew disenchanted with the deterioration of the one-a-year output, I loved the first few so much that I always held out hope that Kellerman would reutrn to his compleling character, his well fleshed out women, his simmering sex scenes, and his mixture of psychological dysfunction, sex, and horror. Private Eyes starts out so well that I was seduced into thinking this was a return to earlier days: the first 80% of the b...more
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PRIVATE EYES by Jonathan Kellerman is 421 pages in hardback form. This is #6 in The Alex Delaware Series.
Brief Description:
The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex Delaware remembers a little girl. It is eleven years since seven-years-old Melissa Dickinson dialed a hospital help line for comfort--and found it in therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the lovely young heiress is desperately calling for psychologist's help once more. Only this time it looks like Melissa's deepest childhood nightmare is...more
Brief Description:
The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex Delaware remembers a little girl. It is eleven years since seven-years-old Melissa Dickinson dialed a hospital help line for comfort--and found it in therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the lovely young heiress is desperately calling for psychologist's help once more. Only this time it looks like Melissa's deepest childhood nightmare is...more
I was pleasantly surprised by this, the 6th in the Alex Delaware series. Compared to the previous titles, this one was positively tight plot-wise-- much more focused and much less conspiracy-oriented (though it did have some of that far-fetched feeling). Delaware continues to be a fascinating character, but the real treat was getting to hang out a little more with Milo, who begins to dabble in the world of private investigation in this book. Also-- Robin returns. I'm not sure how I feel about th...more
AUDIO/ABRIDGED: First, John Rubinstein did a great narration, he always does. This one is part of the Alex Delaware series, very early on. A teen, who was Alex's patient 11-years earlier for anxiety, comes to see Alex when she dreads going off to school. He mother has a phobia of leaving the house and soon disappears. It was only three discs and I did feel like I was missing a few things. Milo is wonderful, as usual and you hear the first of Alex and Robin briefly getting together. I did have pr...more
The pacing of Jonathan Kellerman's sixth Alex Delaware novel never flagged. The tension of the central mystery never really dissipated. But the plot, characters and narrative did feel overly formulaic and tired. Alex Delaware's constant cynicism about pretty much everyone he met became quite grating about one third through. In fact, only a few of the characters were described in even remotely positive terms. Furthermore, the novel's conclusion was enormously dissatisfying, both in terms of the p...more
The Alex & Milo books are great leisure reading. I read this series for the police/psychology procedural aspects, not for Alex's relationship drama. This one is part of the getting-back-together with Robin arc (after their first breakup), so the relationship drama is not a huge part of it. There's a whole lot of exposition an odd lack of murder in this one. As in many of Kellerman's novels, the climax has an intense, Grand Guignol quality. I think that works better here than some of his othe...more
I liked this Alex Delaware book. It had a specific focus, with well-defined characters, leading to a rather weird (but satisfying) conclusion. I enjoyed seeing the 'private eye' side of Milo; having him temporarily suspended from the police force was a good sidebar and set up some very interesting scenarios in which he gets more in touch with the human side of investigating a missing person case. One unsatisfying aspect--Alex gets it on with his ex-girlfriend, Robin--who I abhor. Oh well...on to...more
In this Alex Delaware instalment, Alex helps a young woman who he treated as a child. Her mother suffers from severe agoraphobia, and through recent treatment is now feeling ready to venture outside the gates of their estate. When she leaves the estate on her own, she doesn't return. Her disappearance rattles the skeletons in the closet, and Milo and Alex team up to get to the root of the evils. Milo is still on leave after punching FBI Fhisk. Alex and Robin are friendly though not back together...more
It took me two months to get through this, as I couldn't read more than two pages at a time without getting bored to tears. Finally, after 400 pages, it started to get good. But like every single other Alex Delaware mystery, it ends with him randomly figuring out who the bad guy is, knowing exactly where to find him, and then the bad guy just confesses every single detail of his crimes.
400 pages of dullness and an unbelievably boring premise, and then the reader is suddenly thrown into an horrif...more
400 pages of dullness and an unbelievably boring premise, and then the reader is suddenly thrown into an horrif...more
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An older Alex Delaware that I hadn't read has him treating a young girl and years later being contacted by the same girl and getting involved with her mother who is being treated by a couple of Drs. for acrophobia. There is a lot of time spent on the psychological aspect and less on the unfolding mystery until the mother goes missing. The search for her opens up a convoluted mystery that goes to nearly the end before being resolved. The psychological bits slowed things down, but all in all a dec...more
This was a great read. It had just enough psychology and detective work to make me a happy girl. It was an interesting premise, for him to revisit an old client, and the story and characters were all well-developed. The only thing that irked me was how the daughter was made out to be the bad guy in the mother's treatment. It was a very true-to-life example of turning family on each other, and I know that is why hit resonated so hard with me.
This is the abridged version. There were no obvious jumps due to the abridgement and the narrator (John Rubenstein) delivered yet another solid performance. The music on the discs that was apparently meant to signal a new chapter or section was a bit disorienting - each time it played, my Pavlovian response was to change to the next CD.
As for the story, the ending was a bit of a surprise but not unbelieveable.
As for the story, the ending was a bit of a surprise but not unbelieveable.
Alex hears from an old client and becomes entangled in a mystery involving a missing agoraphobic rich woman, some questionable therapeutic practices and a host of eccentric characters. Milo joins in as a private PI while he is on forced leave from the LAPD.
Another entertaining page turner with lots of red herrings. The ending seems a bit contrived, but I like how all the loose ends were tied up.
Another entertaining page turner with lots of red herrings. The ending seems a bit contrived, but I like how all the loose ends were tied up.
This is the first John Kellerman book I've read. It's actually a good one, considering the fact that I finished reading it overnight. I couldn't put it down after reading the first pages. It's interesting and mind bugging. I had to stop reading a couple of times to try and analyze what would happen next in the story.
I'm really glad I bought this one. I recommend reading it.
I'm really glad I bought this one. I recommend reading it.
Kellerman is one of my staples...hero of the child psyche, friend to Milo Sturgis (Holloywood detective; gay). This story was one of compartmentalized family, agoraphobia, hyper vigilance, the very rich. His stories don't always end happily but he brings clinical understanding to the unhappy situations.
3 1/2... Alex Delaware nos visita de nuevo y entretiene como de costumbre. La vertiente psicológica en la novela negra siempre funciona, especialmente cuando el psicólogo en cuestión está especializado en traumas infantiles; incluso cuando la historia no tiene nada que ver con éstos como es el caso.
Second tier. As usual, there is a lot going on in this Alex Delaware / Milo Sturgis book - a great tangle of characters and relationships that only marginally sorts itself out. Some of the dialogue is too smart for its own good ("that's the way the Oreo deteriorates").
I love the Kellerman books with Delaware/Sturgis but, I found this one to be somewhat mundane and repetitive. The plot surfaced itself too quickly and I felt some of the content was filler instead of plot fulfilling. Overall, it was still a good read and I will continue to seek out Kellerman's books.
It was a great story... up to the last chapters, where it went downhill without brakes. A cartoonist villain out of a Bond movie spoof, detailed explaining of his crimes and masterplan included. And this paperback had something else in reserve: a preview of the first chapter of Devil's Waltz, from the same author. Which knocked at the fourth wall.
I am such a fan that I agree that a year in between is to long a wait. I want to know more about the characters as they seem so real. I am mixed over Robin but she is good for Alex. Love Milo & even the dog. Great series & Author.
My first and last Kellerman book. It started out very interesting and kept me reading, but I found the ending to be quite sickening and not at all something that made me want to read any other work by the author.
Apr 19, 2009
The other Sandy
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
alex-delaware,
mystery
The author kept trying to make me feel sympathy towards Alex's former patient, but I thought she was spoiled, arrogant, and self-centered in a way that comes from never having been disciplined for anything as a child.
Alex Delaware novels are a guilty pleasure for me. I put Jonathon Kellerman on the same level as James Patterson and the Alex Cross novels. They are equally enjoyable.
A not great but good mystery book. Kept my attention and kept me turning the pages. Would read another Jonathan Kellerman book again if in the mood for a mystery.
I did not enjoy this book as much of some of the Alex Delaware books. There is not too much action and Alex kinda guesses his way into solving this crime. Interesting twists and turns. Still a fun read.
Liked it as well as the previous 5 Alex Delaware novels. Entertaining, a few "twists" that kept us guessing. I enjoy these Kellerman novels.
Alex Delware #6. I did LIKE this book, but I didn't LOVE it. Not my favorite in the series, mainly because I never really felt any real attachment to any of the main characters (other than Dr. Delware & Milo, of course.)
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Jonathan Kellerman was born in New York City in 1949 and grew up in Los Angeles. He helped work his way through UCLA as an editorial cartoonist, columnist, editor and freelance musician. As a senior, at the age of 22, he won a Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award for fiction.
Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan received at Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the t...more
More about Jonathan Kellerman...
Like his fictional protagonist, Alex Delaware, Jonathan received at Ph.D. in psychology at the age of 24, with a specialty in the t...more
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“The key to excellent report writing' he said between chews, 'is to take every bit of passion out of it. Use an extra heaping portion of superflously extraneous tautological redundancies in order to make it mind-numbingly boring. So that when one's superior officers read it, they zone out and start skimming and maybe don't notice the fact that one has been spinning one's wheels since the body turned up and hasn't solved a goddamn thing.”
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Jan 27, 2013 10:43am