Flesh and Blood - Softcover

Alex Delaware is back in Flesh and Blood, one of the tautest outings yet for Jonathan Kellerman's resourceful protagonist. The new book represents a further level of refinement in Kellerman's functional, astringently written prose--it's clear that the author knows exactly what his readers need, and he dispenses with the superfluous. Nary a comma is wasted in this lean, direct piece of work.

Alex first encounters Lauren Teague as an uncommunicative teenager with all the usual hang-ups: poor grades at school, open warfare with her parents, etc. She is sent to a psychologist, and Alex loses track of her. Years later, at a bachelor party for a colleague, Alex is watching two strippers perform a fairly tasteless display and notices that one of them is Lauren. Lauren disappears, and her mother pleads for Alex's help in tracking her down. But her disappearance turns into a murder investigation, and Alex is obliged to confront the demons that brought Lauren to an unenviable end.

The theme of a descent into a truly dark criminal underworld is desperately over-familiar, but Kellerman is fully aware of that and rings the changes with commanding authority. If Alex is more cursorily characterised than usual, that's undoubtedly Kellerman's game plan: the narrative here is the thing, and the merest touches are needed to characterise his canny protagonist. --Barry Forshaw

'Kellerman's speciality is getting quietly but persistently inside his hero's head...this is thoughtful and intelligent stuff, a sparse, precision-paced professional thriller that is slick, quick and a pleasure to read' Mirror (Mirror)

'I enjoyed this one a whole lot' Independent On Sunday (Independent On Sunday)

'A well-crafted psychological whodunnit with enough intrigue to keep the pages turning' The Big Issue (The Big Issue)

'A gripping thriller' Ireland on Sunday (Ireland on Sunday)

'A very clever mystery with a whammy of a finale' The Scotsman (The Scotsman)

'Full of suspense and with an evil atmospheric LA as a backdrop' Stoke Sentinel Sunday (Stoke Sentinel Sunday)

'An absorbing read, with some unexpected twists and turns' Yorkshire Evening Post (Yorkshire Evening Post)

''An alert eye for detail... Engrossing' New York Times (New York Times)

`Alex and Milo are well-developed personalities and it's their relationship as much as the investigation which keeps the story flowing' (Sunday Telegraph)