OBSESSION by Jonathan Kellerman was a quick pick from the grocery store aisles. I’ve always like Kellerman’s character, Alex Delaware who is a psychologist working part time for the LA Police Department.

Maybe Kellerman jumped the shark this time. A former patient comes to him for help because she heard what may be a death bed confession by the mother who adopted her.
Alex stops all his work and joins his LAPD friend in a search for a “possible” crime.

Of course, Mr. Delaware is so influential that a bevy of crime solvers are aboard and, guess what? They discover a crime.

I almost wanted Delaware’s sidekick, Milo, to bite the bullet. I am so tired of him being described as “the big guy” with sausage fingers and meaty paws. I’m tired of his acme scarred face.

Here is a sample of the descriptive verbiage: A deputy commander had showed (maybe this is correct but I’ve always used shown) up to a stage-direct, a thickset, bowlegged bald man named Lionel Harger, with meaty furrows sausaging his forehead and multicrushed nose that sniffed the air with canine intensity. PLEASE.

The think I’ve always liked about Kellerman is that his characters live in LA and Delaware has a house with a fish pond. I vicariously enjoy hearing about life in “sin city.” I can feel the temperature of an LA day and smell the beach smells as Mr. Delaware goes about solving a crime that was never identified as crime-specific until his young patient comes calling.

I think this should be the last Alex Delaware book that I read; but I’m a mystery “ho.”

Respectfully Submitted,

Kathy Albers ( )