I am trying out a few good women mystery writers. This is my first Faye Kellerman. And likely my last.Our lead character remarks early in the book that she is Jewish by way of explaining why she does not eat pork. I don’t read many books where I am aware of someone being Jewish so I was interested to see if that fact enters into the story. It does play a background role but does not tie in directly with the mystery.This mystery series is titled “Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus.” I am reading book #12 as my introduction for the simple reason that this book was the one available from the online swap. Maybe not the best way to start a series especially since the protagonist in this particular book is their daughter Cindy, a rookie police officer. She is twenty-five, a cop, a redhead and a daughter, not necessarily in that order.This is predominantly a book read by women judging by the fact that the vast majority of GR reviewers are women. Maybe that explains the long segments about clothing, fashion and furniture. When I say that, it might seem sexist. Why should books “for women” overdo these things? But there was a lot more “girl stuff” than the average book. Including fending off asshole men, a regular experience for women cops who evidently have no way to successfully combat it.If you are trying to live in and create a world that is less gender dominated, you will not love this book even if you are a woman. Cindy is a woman trying to be strong and independent. But she is in a predominantly male world of a police department and is also set apart by her college education. Her father, Peter Decker, is a veteran officer in the same department. She is trying to learn about being a field police officer without taking advantage of her father’s position as well as being a woman fitting into a man’s world. I don’t think anyone in the book would qualify as a feminist including Cindy. That is disappointing to me.There is a good deal of tension and excitement with the good cops and the really bad cops. The bad cops will disable your car and point a shotgun at you on the side of the road. It is a full time effort to decide which is which. Cops trying to protect her and cops trying to scare her and maybe even kill her. Occasionally I remember that this book is part of the “Peter/Rina” series and about all I know is that Peter is a police lieutenant and an overprotective father and Rina is a religious Orthodox Jew. I am not sure I could call this a dysfunctional family but they certainly have their issues with each other.This is not a book that would make you very sanguine about the police department. This is the same police department as in the other books in the series. How distressing. The blue code of silence makes me want to puke. I do not pray but if I did, I would pray that nothing about the police in this book – and maybe in the series – is true. I give Stalker three stars for an exciting conclusion but one that leaves the blue code intact. Peter and Rina, the putative stars of the series, were small potatoes in this book and did not give any evidence that they would be more interesting in central roles. Now I want to find out if Jonathan Kellerman is any better at telling a story than Faye.
The Stalker was an amazing story. Faye Kellerman writes this interesting cop mystery thrill that totally keep me on hooked thru out the whole story. It was a fast read for me since it was a real page turner. I know that Stalker is part of the Decker & Lazarus series, but this book centered on Decker's daughter Cindy. She is a brave, smart,strong confident & independent young woman. Also hard-headed too. She and her father share the same qualities. Their father/daughter relationship is very sweet and protecting. Since she is a rookie cop is works with male cops. Too bad for her case most of them are perverted, sexes jerks. Well Cindy is the one is being stalked, at first she shows no fear whatsoever until the stalking is getting way too close to home, and of her loved ones. In between the story there is some clever dark humor and some romance.Faye Kellerman delivered gold in this crime tale. Now this is the second novel of I've read from her work. I know it wont be the last one either. I would recommend this book to anyone & give it two thumbs up. =)~
What do You think about Stalker (2001)?
I am doing something I never do: reading a series out of order. In this case someone recommended Hangman and I liked it, so I went to the library and got an older one (very limited choice that day, so I took what I could get). This one is more about Decker's daughter, Cindy, a rookie cop who gets caught up in her father's investigation of murder/carjackings. The story is good, the characters are good and I enjoy the view of Decker as a person as well as a cop. I didn't like Cindy particularly, but hopefully her character will develop and we will see her progress as she gets older and more mature as a cop. Highly recommend.
—Nancy Rogan
This is the twelfth in the Decker series. Great series IMHO.Back Cover Blurb:It began with a policewoman's sixth sense. Someone is watching her. Then, after the break-in and the midnight car pursuit, she knows. Someone wants to frighten her. Someone wants to hurt her.But why?As an inexperienced policewoman, daughter of one of the force's veterans, admitting what's happening feels like a confession of weakness. There seems no option for Cindy Decker but to go it alone, keeping her colleagues and family in the dark. And in a world in which someone is trying to kill you, alone is a very frightening place....
—Barbra
L.A. Homicide Detective Peter Decker never wanted the perils of his job to touch his family. But now his two worlds have collided.A first year rookie with the LAPD's Hollywood Division, Cynthia Decker became a cop against her father, Peter Decker's, wishes. But police work is in her blood, and she's determined to make it on her own -- even now, when her razor sharp instincts for danger are telling her that something is very wrong...The signs are impossible to ignore: things being moved around in her apartment, the destruction of personal effects. But it's a harrowing trip down a dark canyon road that confirms Cindy's worst fears. Someone fiendishly relentless, and with decidedly evil intentions, is stalking her. And with Peter Decker isolated from her troubles by his own investigation into a disturbing series of car-jackings, it's up to Cindy alone to find out who in her personal and/or professional life wants her frightened or harmed...or dead.
—Alan Hughes
