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Sunstroke
The blazingly original novel from the most exciting new voice in crime fiction today-a brilliantly crafted modern noir filled with secrets, heartbreak, and mordant humor.
Gloria Mendez is single and thirty-six, and secretly and somewhat hopelessly in love with her oblivious boss. He is both single and solitary, and far too old for her, but she has worked for him, side by...more
Gloria Mendez is single and thirty-six, and secretly and somewhat hopelessly in love with her oblivious boss. He is both single and solitary, and far too old for her, but she has worked for him, side by...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
January 5th 2006
by Putnam Adult
(first published 2005)
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The book starts with an earthquake. Gloria Mendez, 36, is on forced leave while her much older boss Carl, who she is obsessed with, is on his annual trip to Mexico. She has come into the office to check on Carl’s figurines and while there she listens to the messages on the answering machine and there is a cryptic one from Carl, when she works out what it says she makes some investigations and is told that Carl has been killed. Gloria's world falls apart, distraught and restless; she travels to M...more
What started out as quite a good idea didn't turn into a good book! I felt it was just me but the book dragged in the middle and to be honest I didn't care if the guy who might or might not have been murdered, was alive or dead!
I had to force myself to keep on reading, the author must believe that detailed descriptions adds to the athmosphere of his book whereas I just wanted to charachters to grow. They seemed one dimensional.
The ending was a mess, there had been so many misdirections and twis...more
I had to force myself to keep on reading, the author must believe that detailed descriptions adds to the athmosphere of his book whereas I just wanted to charachters to grow. They seemed one dimensional.
The ending was a mess, there had been so many misdirections and twis...more
First book I've read by Jesse, son of Jonathan and Faye. I took a long time to get comfortable liking Faye's books, but eventually drank the Kool-Aid. I've decided Jonathan's have become just a little too formulaic for me to whole-heartedly endorse. It'll take at least one more of Jesse's to fully commit, but I really liked his style. This book had a quirky development that I appreciated. I don't know if that had more to do with the ennui of the setting (for much of the book Mexico) or the writ...more
This was a disappointing first book by the son of
authors Jonathan and Faye Kellerman. It's big fault was
that it moved so very slowly. There were no characters I
liked, and I really never cared much if the killer was
found.
One line was: "If they remembered every good thing, they would never feel surprise, which is the cause of
happiness." Can't agree at all. I don't like surprises,
and they cause most of my unhappiness.
One bit of wisdom: "Knowing when to quit was as important as persevering." I n...more
authors Jonathan and Faye Kellerman. It's big fault was
that it moved so very slowly. There were no characters I
liked, and I really never cared much if the killer was
found.
One line was: "If they remembered every good thing, they would never feel surprise, which is the cause of
happiness." Can't agree at all. I don't like surprises,
and they cause most of my unhappiness.
One bit of wisdom: "Knowing when to quit was as important as persevering." I n...more
This was my second Kellerman book. I wanted to see if it was his style of writing that I didn't like in general or if it maybe was his style for that particular book.
As in the case of the first book, the story line was good, but can anyone be more long-winded. Kellerman goes into too much detail when he describes things. You just want to jump past all of that and get into the story.
I like his characters though and the twists and turns of this story. And just when you think you know what's going...more
As in the case of the first book, the story line was good, but can anyone be more long-winded. Kellerman goes into too much detail when he describes things. You just want to jump past all of that and get into the story.
I like his characters though and the twists and turns of this story. And just when you think you know what's going...more
Sunstroke
Jesse Kellerman
Suspence
copyright: 2006
isbn: 0-14-305840-1
The blazingly original novel from the most exciting new voice in crime fiction today-a brilliantly crafted modern noir filled with secrets, heartbreak, and mordant humor.
Gloria Mendez is single and thirty-six, and secretly and somewhat hopelessly in love with her oblivious boss. He is both single and solitary, and far too old for her, but she has worked for him, side by side, for ten oddly companionable years. But when he disappe...more
Jesse Kellerman
Suspence
copyright: 2006
isbn: 0-14-305840-1
The blazingly original novel from the most exciting new voice in crime fiction today-a brilliantly crafted modern noir filled with secrets, heartbreak, and mordant humor.
Gloria Mendez is single and thirty-six, and secretly and somewhat hopelessly in love with her oblivious boss. He is both single and solitary, and far too old for her, but she has worked for him, side by side, for ten oddly companionable years. But when he disappe...more
Gloria Mendez is a thirty-something secretary who is secretly in love with her boss Carl Perreira. When he goes off for a holiday in Mexico, and seems to have been in an accident, perhaps even killed, Gloria takes it upon herself to drive down and claim his body... and thus starts her on a journey to solve the mystery that is Carl. A mystery that includes figuring out who Carl Perreira actually is, whether he actually is dead, and whether the person turning up on her doorstep claiming to be name...more
SUNSTROKE (Non-Suspense-California/Mexico-Cont) – DNF
Kellerman, Jesse – 1st book
Jove, 2006- US Paperback – ISBN 0515142239
*** Gloria Mendez has worked for, and been in love with, her boss, Carl Perreira for ten years. Gloria receives an unintelligible message from Carl, who is on vacation in Mexico. When she tries to find him, she learns he was killed in a car accident. As Gloria tries to find out more about Carl, but the more she learns the more she finds he was not who he seemed.
*** I like boo...more
Kellerman, Jesse – 1st book
Jove, 2006- US Paperback – ISBN 0515142239
*** Gloria Mendez has worked for, and been in love with, her boss, Carl Perreira for ten years. Gloria receives an unintelligible message from Carl, who is on vacation in Mexico. When she tries to find him, she learns he was killed in a car accident. As Gloria tries to find out more about Carl, but the more she learns the more she finds he was not who he seemed.
*** I like boo...more
An LA woman secretary goes in search of her missing boss and travels to Mexico twice and finds the story behind the man. the story is told with enough mystery up the sleeve of the author all the time till the very end.
The story is well told but too much attention to detail. The story could have been told more interestingly using half the number of words.
A good effort. I will read more from the author before deciding if she is worth my time.
The story is well told but too much attention to detail. The story could have been told more interestingly using half the number of words.
A good effort. I will read more from the author before deciding if she is worth my time.
I've been in a book funk lately, nothing has really been to my liking. I like the genre of the "ordinary" person (rather than the cop, detective, fbi agent) in extreme circumstances, and that is what this book is. Not the greatest writing, but I'm sticking with it so far.
Finished this book now. It ended up being kind of a mess of a book. Lots of sidetracks which don't end up having much to do with the story, and when the author took me back into the story, I was kind of lost.
Finished this book now. It ended up being kind of a mess of a book. Lots of sidetracks which don't end up having much to do with the story, and when the author took me back into the story, I was kind of lost.
Well done first novel about a woman who finds her boss has vanished. Her closeness to him after years as his assistant sends her to Mexico looking for him. There she interacts with an eccentric Mexican policeman who lays down a smokescreen. The story takes some switchbacks and turns as she uncovers the truth about her boss and his disappearance.
Started a little slow, but grabbed me and held me to the revealing conclusion.
Started a little slow, but grabbed me and held me to the revealing conclusion.
This was sort of an odd book. The protagonist's boss goes missing while on vacation in Mexico and it seems no one else misses him or cares what happened. Obviously that is a mystery to solve, but this book seems to care more about the main character's journey than solving the mystery, since so many ends are left untied. It is a testament to the writer's skill that I am not as cranky about that as I normally would be.
Not spectacular, but not bad either, and substantially better than anything I've read from Kellerman's mom and dad lately. (Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman.) It starts out with a fairly simple mystery, stays fairly straightforward until about two-thirds through, when it got more complicated (and interesting.)
If you enjoy any of Kellerman's parents' books, you might want to pick this one up and give it a try.
If you enjoy any of Kellerman's parents' books, you might want to pick this one up and give it a try.
Yes, another member of the Kellerman family. I didn't like this book. The first half was okay although I had a lot of trouble getting into the characters. The second half went downhill fast. Maybe it's just not my kind of book. I don't need to have a happy end but the end of this one was just depressing and made me kind of angry I had waisted my time reading this book. Guess I'll stick to Mom and Dad's from now on.
At first, I thought Jesse Kellerman was too hellbent on impressing but then I realized, here is an intelligent and creative guy, raised by a couple of literary artists, and so this is simply his language. I enjoyed this book. Not as spellbinding as some, just nice, readable diversion from life as I know it.
I picked this one up over vacation not expecting much but really enjoyed it. One of the blurbs says "a slow-burning, sunbaked noir treat" and that about captures it. It's well-written, with characters you care about, and a pace that is never rushed, but not slow either. This is a mystery that kept me guessing up till the end.
A good read- a bit confusing and people don't act in predictable ways, but at the end, you think- that was worth the time. As a first book, it was a very good read. The hardest part was that I didn't like any of the However, the ending was spot on- nearly perfect!
Jesse Kellerman amps up the tension in this first published novel. I'm a huge fan of his many times published parents, Jonathan and Faye Kellerman. Jesse has a similar writing style, but his stories don't always end tied up with a neat knot.
while this book had a surprising twist at one point, it took me awhile to get into, and I was surprised I kept reading it. [spoiler:] i think it was the part where she was staying at his house for days on end that really got to me....
Another Jesse Kellerman book, that I was prepared to read. Although I finished it, it was a very far fetched book. A secretary chasing after a sketchy message she received from her boss...All in all, it was a good time killer.
I struggled a bit with this book... It started slowly, picked up in the middle but ended poorly (in my humble opinion). Twas a bit meh!
I've enjoyed the younger Kellerman's other novels far more than this one.
I've enjoyed the younger Kellerman's other novels far more than this one.
It was a struggle to finish this book. I did not like the writing style. I found the plot contradicting itself, characters were bland. I don't think I will be bothering with anymore of his books!
Well it is supposed to be a thriller . . . but I found nothing "thrilling" about it. Although I did find myself annoyed that the most exciting parts were relegated to 3 paragraphs of the novel
As a fan of the Kellerman family writers (Jonathan & Faye are Jesse's parents), I'd hoped his novel would reflect some of the family talent. And it does, in a way...just not a talent for storytelling.
I kept waiting for this book to get good, but it never really did. All of the dialogue with the small town Mexican police officials was especially tiresome.
Aug 25, 2012
Plainfield Public Library District
marked it as to-read
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11358645
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11358645
After finishing this book my main thought was "who cares".
The story line was contrived and totally jumbled. It was a struggle to finish and unbelievable.
The story line was contrived and totally jumbled. It was a struggle to finish and unbelievable.
I was disappointed in how this book ended. I won't give any spoilers ... but, I don't think that I can recommend this book for anyone.
Nice beach read. Nothing to write home about but I enjoyed it. The end surprised me a little which is always nice.
By the 3rd chapter, I was done with this novel. Too many good books out there to waste any more time on this one.
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Jesse Kellerman was born in Los Angeles in 1978. His award-winning plays have been produced throughout the United States and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Most recently, he received the Princess Grace Award, given to America’s most promising young playwright. He lives with his wife in New York City.
More about Jesse Kellerman...
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