Ah, el hard-boiled fiction… Otro de los grandes subgéneros industriales de hoy en día. En el marco de un asesinato añádase al detective una falla personal, un cierto número de demonios personales y una vida aburrida y odiosa y sobretodo, desenmascárese el crimen con toda su brutal realidad y tenemos a toda una escuela. Jonathan Kellerman y Jeff Deaver son dos de los más contemporáneos aquí.tEsta novela, trepidante en serio, es un misterio que involucra los aspectos más desgraciados de los pobres suspirantes que van a Los Ángeles para buscar papeles, fama y fortuna. El sagaz psicólogo Alex Delaware y su glotón detective Milo Sturgis se ven las caras directamente con la sordidez propia de los márgenes de una sociedad obsesionada con las candilejas.tÉsta debería ser una reseña de cuatro estrellas, pero le quité una por la acción de la traductora traidora, y en general por una tendencia de las editoriales españolas. Nadie hace jamás la mitad de un esfuerzo por adaptar el slang a otros países que no sean España y es tan difícil. Lo hubiera leído en inglés (que lo tengo). Entiendo que seguramente a estas editoriales no les hace sentido económico hacer varias versiones de la traducción, pero joder… es una novela con muchísimo diálogo, muchísimo juego de palabras y referencias cruzadas que si uno no está familiarizado con la jerga, se vuelve más complicado y sobretodo, uno no llega a apreciar todos los matices y la habilidad de ‘wordsmith’ del autor.tY quitándome un poco de la queja por la traducción, estoy retirando una estrella más porque el autor hizo mano de un par de estereotipos étnicos que no me hicieron gracia: el italiano que aparece es un individuo gordo, seboso, explosivo y ultramontano. Y el mexicano es igual de pío y defensor de su familia, pero provocado es una bestiecilla en potencia capaz de matar.tConclusión: hay que leerla en inglés, y torturarse y emocionarse en una sentada, utilizando un trayecto largo (¿Qué tal un vuelo?). Definitivamente hecha película (que no creo porque ésta es la #20 de las novelas de Delaware y en la correspondiente saga de Lincoln Rhyme de Deavers sólo hicieron una), sería un flick para ver un sábado por la noche, con una cobija, y para terminar asqueado de la brutalidad a la que pueden llegar ciertos hombres.
"Gone," by Jonathan Kellerman, stars his two main characters, Milo Sturgis, gay detective inspector, and Alex Delaware, straight psychologist. At the start of this book a naive (and slightly dim-witted) pair of wannabe actors stage their own kidnapping to get attention from the world's media (and hopefully some juicy roles). They do this because they are sick of waiting tables, having decamped to Hollywood from the plane states to act.When, a month after the incident, the girl turns up dead and the guy disappears, Milo Sturgis is called in to solve the case (and goes to his favorite psychologist-cum-side-kick Alex Delaware for advice about their behaviour). The two then work together to solve the case.The book is a really easy read. It rattles along at a fair old pace. Kellerman really knows how to tell a story, but I got a little irritated by the way he portrays struggling actors. I don't expect them all to be Lawrence Olivier (or even a regular on General Hospital), but I got a little irritated with quite how shallowly they're portrayed. They're presented as "beautiful people" types with little (if any) curiosity about the world around them. I think he could have done better than the cardboard cut out style characterization he achieved for some of this secondary characters.On an unrelated note, if this is the first book you're thinking about reading by Kellerman, I should warn you that you're going to have to suspend your disbelief pretty quickly. As an example, one of the things I've never understood about the series is quite how Sturgis is allowed to bring Delaware in so regularly. He (Delaware) tends to go at it like a bull in a china shop sometimes, gets himself in hot water a lot and blurs the line between the police and civilians. In real life he wouldn't be allowed to do the things he does with impunity here.
What do You think about Gone (2007)?
This is the second Alex Delaware book I've listened to, and it's going to be the last. I'll admit, I thought that about the first book, but when you get a audio book for free, it's hard to be super picky. Set in LA, Gone follows Alex Delaware and his cop friend, Milo, as they search for answers in a young woman's killing. Per the usual with mystery novels, the young woman's murder turns out just to be the first in a long line of murders and lo and behold, there's a serial killer on the loose. Delaware is a psychologist, and honestly, I can't stand the non-assertive, let's all hold hands approach that he embodies throughout the book. I find Delaware's character about as engaging as a piece of limp celery. Perhaps I am just not meant to listen to/read novels that feature a psychologist protagonist, so ask yourself, do you like the idea of therapy? If you do, maybe you won't mind an Alex Delaware novel. If you don't, there are plenty of other novels out there.
—Perrin Pring
A pair of young, would-be movie stars, Michaela and Dylan, stage a publicity stunt, hoping to garner attention and film offers. Both attend the drama school run by a wealthy, eccentric older woman who never made it as an actor herself. Psychologist Alex Delaware is hired to evaluate Michaela in preparation for her trial for wasting police resources. When, weeks later, Michaela is murdered, Alex assists the cops with the investigation. The school, it seems, is a very dangerous place to enroll.As a thriller, Gone simply never takes off. The investigation is a plodding, rather dull one, and the upshot of the case is less than surprising. Alex's clinical skills are way underutilized. This novel's OK, but if you're looking for better, better look elsewhere.
—Linda
Listened to this book because of a patron's complaint. This would not normally be my cup of tea. The book was a nicely written crime novel with nice touches of character description. I admit that I didn't figure out "who-dun-it" until right before the reveal.The interesting case is that the mix-up with the audio book involved the abridged version mixed in with the unabridged. When the abridged version ended I listened to the unabridged part that was included. I do not think I would have survived that level of description for an entire book.
—Debra
