This is my first Kellerman novel and perhaps my last. I can see how Kellerman can be successful. He has appealing characters, offers good psychological insights on their motivations, and is good at plotting. This book started out in an extremely promising manner. I loved the way Kellerman introduced the character Tanya Bigelow into the story. She is a girl who was abandoned by her mother and raised by her aunt. She had issues as she was growing up and thus became Dr. Delaware's patient. Dr. Delaware and Milo are commissioned to investigate an act the aunt (Patty) confessed to in a vague way. Their motivations for agreeing to investigate are carefully well-managed by Kellerman. They want to set the daughter's mind at ease over her aunt's dying declaration. But then, the story for me becomes really frustrating as it goes astray. A heroin addict/dealer is killed soon after Dr. Delaware and Milo ask him questions related to the investigation. This murder happens "off stage", a mistake in writing that foreshadows everything that went wrong with this book. The entire case either happened in the past, or, if it affects the present, it happens off stage, and we find out about it the following day. Milo, Dr. Delaware, and Petra have to figure out what happened in the past and how these events affect what is happening in the present. In order to do so they question people, then get by themselves and throw out hypotheses regarding what happened. Later, they ask a few more questions of some other person, get another clue, and then hypothesize some more. The middle sixty percent of the book goes in this pattern, repeating it time and time again. No action takes place in the middle of the novel of any significance. No suspense is built up, unless you find people sitting around talking about what might have happened suspenseful. The interludes between Dr. Delaware and his wife are weird and have virtually nothing to do with the plot. They seem forced into the book, perhaps to update the readers of the previous twenty novels on the latest gossip. It amounts to nothing except Dr. Delaware showing off a bit of bedroom prowess. Again, off stage. (Thank you for that, this time.)Then things get really confusing. So many character names, so many cast members get introduced that it becomes impossible to keep them all straight even with the character chart I drew up in order to try. Eighty percent of the way through the book, Kellerman is still introducing new characters -- the Starks, Bandini, etc. whose actions all take place in the past and off stage, yet are central to the plot which is somehow about missing girls who were murdered. It's all way too confusing for me to keep straight.I need to add one final note regarding Kellerman's writing style. The sentences are short, so short they are devoid of needed description. The style kept forcing me to reread sentence fragments in order to make sure the subject hadn't changed and to try to guess what missing referents were. In other words, the style was designed to speed things up, but instead distracted to the point that it slowed things way down.All in all, there are the germs of a good story in here somewhere and great central characters in Kyle and Tanya. I just wish the novel had stayed more focused on them instead of going off to anywhere else.
Incomplete THIS SUMMARY/REVIEW WAS COPIED FROM OTHER SOURCES AND IS USED ONLY AS A REMINDER OF WHAT THE BOOK WAS ABOUT FOR MY PERSONAL INTEREST. ANY PERSONAL NOTATIONS ARE FOR MY RECOLLECTION ONLYAs a long time fan of both Jonathan Kellerman and Alex Delaware, OBSESSION does not disappoint. As I was immersed once again into another case of past meeting present, I was reminded of how much I love these characters! When Dr. Delaware is contacted by a former patient after her mother dies, a very strange story unfolds. The girl's mother was a "saint," a nurse who kept the E.R. running smoothly with her tenacity and talents. The fact that she died after a brief illness, and after confessing to having committed a terrible deed, leads her daughter to seek Alex's help. The fact that her mother's boss was Rick Silverman, Milo Sturgis' significant other, only adds to the creative layers of this case. Tanya Bigelow, now nineteen, once suffered from OCD, and thanks Dr. Delaware for "curing" her. Although Alex has his doubts about the state of Tanya's condition, more stressing matters are on his mind when bodies start piling up, and the "terrible deed" and possible murder that Patty Bigelow confessed to on her deathbed is only the beginning. OBSESSION is a must-read for all Delaware fans, and for readers who really love a good thriller/mystery. I promise, you won't be disappointed -- although you will be wondering when the next Alex Delaware novel will be published
What do You think about Obsession (2007)?
I'd rate this closer to a 4 star read than a 3, but it's just lacking that extra little something needed. Kellerman isn't a favorite author, but he is one I really enjoy when I'm taking a break from my usual go to favs. I've read a few of the Alex Deleware novels and have always found them to be interesting enough to warrant picking up another one should I stumble upon it. I always like a little humor in my thrillers and Kellerman delivers in that department. I chuckled a time or three while lost in the pages of Obsession, usually over something Milo, Alex's gay police detective best friend, had said or done. (I like how Kellerman makes mention of some of the characters' alternative lifestyles without making a big issue out of it.) For the most part I like how Kellerman sprinkles little tid bits here and there that help to define the characters and their relationships with each other. However, occassionally those little asides are distracting by their pure randomness.Try as I might, I just cannot seem to come up with an insightful, spectacular review. It's not that the novel is lacking in any way. It just doesn't stand out. The characters are well rounded and full of life. The book is packed with action and the story never drags. But it's not one you're likely to stay up way past your bedtime reading.I'd still recommend it to any one who loves a good thriller. I'll certainly pick up any other Alex Delaware novels I come across.Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when Dr. Alex Delaware successfully trreated her obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Now, at nineteen, Tanya returns with a curious request: that Delaware investigate her aunt's deathbed confession of murder. While Delaware doubts that Patty Bigelow was capable of such a horrific act, he agrees to look into the matter. Armed with only the vaguest details, Delaware and LAPD detective Milo Sturgis retrace Patty's and Tanya's nomadic and increasingly puzzling life. Then a very real murder tears open a terrifying tunnel into the past, where secrets-and bodies-are buried. As the tension mounts, Delaware and Sturgis uncover a tangled history of desperation, vengeance, and death-a legacy of evil that refuses to die.
—Angela~twistedmind~
I am always looking for a good Kellerman book. He rarely disappoints and though Robin hasn't shown up in this book yet, I am so glad that they are back together.This book is about a young woman (20 or so) who's mother just died and confessed to hurting someone on her deathbed. The interesting thing is that the young woman was a patient of Dr. Delaware's when she was younger as we read and work through the mystery of the confession, we also have flashbacks and memories of the previous therapy sessions. It's quite good.I just finished a book by Stuart Woods - he has a therapist/police duo in his books but he doesn't write them nearly as well as Kellerman does.Amendement: I have now finished the book and I have to step back on my comment of Stuart Woods. In comparison with this book, he's not so bad. I still really love Kellerman but perhaps he's not as great as I remember from the last book I finished of his.
—Melissa
This book started out as a general run of the mill mystery. The author seemed to have a formula for writing that obviously the publishers like but which read to me like a screen play. Start the scene with an exact time and place, give a rundown of what clothes the characters are wearing right down to their socks, have a conversation such as "this person asks this question, this person responds". I found it almost comical how predictable the pattern became. I would even venture to guess the publisher came back and said something like we need to see more description of the characters. I imagine Kellerman going to his most fashion conscious friend and giving them the task of dressing each character each time the scene changes. This was a bit annoying but even so I would have given this book 3 stars. Then came about chapter 30. The nature of the crimes was disgusting! Nobody wants to think about disgusting perverted people doing disgusted perverted things! Gross. And it is introduced at nearly the end of the book, making me feel tricked that I had invested so much time only to find out it wasn't what I thought it was. There are so many millions of books to read that I won't waste my time reading Kellerman again.
—Sarah
