Product Description
A second-rate actor is found mutilated in a car trunk. Then a psychologist at a Los Angeles hospital for the criminally insane is murdered in a similar grisly fashion. Suddenly the incoherent ramblings of an inmate at th… More >>
Monster
Written by admin on August 26th, 2010 in Mystery & Thrillers.
Tags: Monster
I usually grab a Dean Koontz novel and am satisfied, but I read the description of this book and dove right into it. I must say, I didn’t think I could fall in love with another novelist!
Usually, I can pick out the bad guys in a mystery. Not in this book. I was surprised right up until the end. I kept this book near my bed, and would read it until I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
On another note, I work in the mental health field and Kellerman really did his research. Descriptions of everything from medication types to the behavior of patients with various disorders were extremely accurate. I was also happy that he didn’t demonize the mentally ill.
Rating: 5 / 5
Kellerman breaks no new ground in his new thriller “Monster”. The books starts interestingly enough with our heroes Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware trying to solve a series of grisly murders. They have a hard time figuring out how the murders are connected and whether or not a pathetic mental patient who has been locked up for many years has some connection to the killings. Milo and Alex are likeable enough, but the book has some big weaknesses. It is too long. The descriptions of the mental hospital/prison (Starkweather) are lengthy and tedious. Every scene is described in exhaustive detail. The middle of the book is slow-moving and the ending is convoluted and not particularly suspenseful. If Kellerman’s writing had been tighter, the book would have packed a greater wallop. As it is, my interest waned at least 100 pages before the long-awaited end.
Rating: 3 / 5
I’m a long-time Kellerman fan, and “Monster” is one of his best. This is a fast-paced novel of contemporary suspense. Albeit there are some loose ends and unlikely plot mechanisms, the suspense is of the old-fashioned nail-biting variety. The cast of characters — a motley crew of twisted doctors, calculating nurses, amoral rich people, the has-been actress, etc. — is well crafted and believable. We don’t see much of Robin or Spike in this story, while Milo the cop plays second fiddle to Alex without having to fight the rest of the Police Dept. every step of the way. This is Dr. Delaware’s mystery to solve, more so than in some of the previous Alex Delaware novels in which he does little more than consult. The alert reader will find himself rooting for the nominal “Monster” as the action picks up. The series of murders is particularly gruesome but, hey, that’s the nature of this genre. The ultimate unveiling of the “Monster” is almost anticlimatic if you’ve been paying attention and catching the clues, but what a hellava good read getting there!
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve read all of the Jonathan Kellerman books and some of his earlier books were well worth reading. This one, however, is sterile. Kellerman only goes through the motions of writing without developing his on-going characters and with scenes and situations that are unpleasant. I do not want to plod through an institution for the insane, endure the disgusting descriptions of the inmates, and read about gory murders without having some reward… either in the writing, the characters, a visit to somewhere pleasant – SOMETHING! This book is an unrelieved nightmare and any possible reader is advised that he/she will only put garbage into the mind without any reward or insight when the book is finished. I wish I’d never heard of it and I will read no more Jonathan Kellerman books. He has not developed and moved forward, nor have his books.
Rating: 1 / 5
After reading Kellerman’s first novel, When The Bough Breaks, back in 1985, I was disappointed and haven’t tried him since, but the summary of his new book, Monster, sounded so very intriguing that I decided to give Kellerman another go. Bad decision. Once you have read the dust jacket blurb, you won’t find anything new or interesting until page 148 so you are in for a long, slow read. If you haven’t figured out the entire plot line and all of the key elements by the middle of the book, you probably need to take a refresher course in Mystery Stories 101. So you spend the first half of the book waiting in vain for something exciting to happen and then you spend the last half of the book waiting for Kellerman to reveal the mystery that you have already figured out. What a waste of time! If you are a Kellerman devotee, you are probably going to buy this book no matter what anyone says, but if you are looking for a really good mystery to read, I urge that you give this sophomoric effort a pass and try someone like William Diehl or Michael Slade. Those guys know how to write mysteries that grab you on page 1 and don’t let go until the very end. If you can guess one of their plot lines early, you must truly be a mystery pro.
Rating: 1 / 5