K.K.’s Book Reviews: RAGE, Kellerman
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5463775864
Here’s the weird thing about Rage: I read it before, I know I did and I remembered bits and pieces of the plot, but not everything. Which, for this reader, was slightly irritating.
I generally like Kellerman’s writing, and I do enjoy his Alex Delaware novels, esp. because they so often feature the gay detective Milo, one of my favorite fictional characters. In this novel, Milo has a rather prominent role and I liked spending time with him, even more than I did the title character.
The plot is intriguing at first (a young, newly-released murderer reaches out to Alex, seeking something . . . advice? Redemption?) Alex agrees to a meeting, but the young man never shows up. That non-meeting is the start of a convoluted tale of murder, sexual abuse of minors, false preachers, revenge. . . sounds good, right? So why didn’t I remember a lot of what happens in this book?
I think the reason is because RAGE quickly bumps off two fascinating young killers, and ends up being a rather staid police procedural, with Alex and Milo considering numerous theories and scenarios to explain who dun what. Not just once or twice, mind you. A LOT. The big reveal at the end is kind of anti-climatic, at least for me. And I felt that the secondary characters received short shrift, reduced to caricatures or filler. In the former case, the fostered teenage girls ‘kept’ for sex or used as cash cows constantly say ‘prolly” instead of “probably,” snap their gum, lick their hair, engage in cat fights. A disgraced lawyer who’s apparently lost her mind is disheveled, talks non-stop, screams for no reason. As for the filler characters, primarily Alex’s love interests (past and present)–both women are largely forgotten as Alex and Milo galivant all over the place morning noon, and night. Literally. And, brief aside, there’s one scene where Alex’s current squeeze finally learns why Alex hasn’t shared this case with her. Let’s just say that her reaction seemed so over the top as to make this reader want to barf–just a little, but still. The actual ending of this novel is abrupt, but that was ok with me. In all honesty, I wasn’t sorry to see it end.
I’ll prolly forget the damn thing again anyway.
