Fun read starring Decker's cop daughter Cindy !With more than a dozen books in the popular Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker series, Faye Kellerman's new books are normally anxiously awaited by her fans. We've come to enjoy the clever mysteries solved by this conservative Jewish couple, with fairly detailed expositions of the Jewish religion part of the nominal price of admission. In one earlier book, "Stalker", Decker's daughter by his first marriage, Cindy, now an LAPD officer, was the central character in an compelling story of danger and crime solving. In "Street Dreams", so titled from the recurring nightmares she has of her earlier experience, Cindy once again plays front and center, the opening premise about a still-alive baby she finds in a dumpster. Through some brilliant and persistent sleuthing, above the call of duty for a "mere" officer not yet on the official ("gold shield") Detective staff, Cindy finds not only the natural mother but pursues strong leads to the probable natural father. Along the way, and with just a little help from her father Peter, Cindy helps track down a hit and run killer while getting leads on some dangerous gang members. All in all, the mystery had an entertaining plot and a nicely drawn conclusion.Unlike most of Kellerman's stories which feature sometimes almost overwhelming descriptions of Jewish orthodox practices, in this novel she provides a love interest for Cindy in the form of a male nurse named Yaakov "Koby" Kutiel, an African who turns out to be an Ethiopian Jew. When things get hot between the two, some interesting scenes take place when Cindy decides to take Koby home for Sabbath dinner. The family reactions to the mixed race couple varies from shock by daddy Peter to immediate acceptance by mama Rina, that latter based on the simple binary discriminator that Koby is a Jew. A great deal of interesting dialogue from these characters as well as some of the detectives spoke to the issue of mixed race and faiths, and added a provocative element to the main story line without "taking sides".To us, this is one of the best Kellerman offerings in the recent past. Her usual excellent story telling, combined with social issues of concern to all, with just passing indulgence in Jewish practices, make "Dreams" a novel that should enjoy broad reader delight.
Once again, the expense of used books where I currently live has lead me to a strange choice. This was found literally lodged behind a shelf in the teacher's lounge and I said "what the hell". I've enjoyed some of her husband's stuff in the past.But to be clear: this is a romance/thriller hybrid. It's not that the writing was "bad", I burned through it in a quick read, it just isn't good. It's fluffy. There is nothing dark about it. Well, the notion of a mentally challenged woman being gang-raped, later giving birth in an LA alley to then abandon the baby in a dumpster is dark. But there is no "inside the dark mind" angle like with J. Kellerman. This was written to placate fans of the series... one of whom I have no desire to become. Learning a bit about Ethiopian Jewish cultrue was interesting, not fascinating. The sub-plot, attempts to solve a murder in Munich a half century before, literally ends in an old ladies' joyful reunion over tea and snacks - with nothing solved.If you a semi-conservative Jewish American woman who enjoys positive cultural depictions, while having guilt free titilation picturing scenes of black cock on a non-threating, swell guy of whom mom would approve, this may be a novel for you. Anyone else: don't bother.
What do You think about Street Dreams (2004)?
#15 in the Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus series. Peter's daughter by his first marriage, Cindy, takes center stage in this 2003 entry. She previously appeared in Stalker (2000).Peter Decker / Rina Lazarus mystery - Cindy, a rookie cop and Peter's 28-year-old daughter by his first marriage, takes center stage here. Both her rocky history with the department and with her dad come to the fore as she digs into the case of a developmentally disabled teenager who abandoned her baby, insists she was raped, and may have witnessed a murder. Following the strangely coincidental hit-and-run of another disabled teen from the same area, the case blossoms into a mystery that requires help from Peter and from Cindy's new boyfriend, an Ethiopian-born Jew who finds willowy, red-haired Cindy to be the girl of his dreams.
—Ed
This is the story of a Los Angeles cop who finds a baby abandoned in a Dumpster and her journey to unravel the sordid details of the baby’s origin. Meanwhile, her stepmother is immersed in a quest to find the truth of her grandmother’s murder in pre-Nazi Munich.I enjoyed this book. The one thing that really struck me about it was that it had the same kind of back and forth banter as in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. The pacing was good, the story was interesting and unfolded well, and there were some surprises. I was a little surprised that the climax of the novel was as slow as it was, given that there were some well written action scenes through the book, but it worked in the context of the story. All in all, it was a nice read.
—Catherine Fitzsimmons
[library ebook, plot summary elsewhere]Kind of disappointing. Reads well, like all the Kellermans. Upsides were a young woman police officer trying to move up against sexism, concern for the developmentally disabled, a black love interest for a white woman [albeit an orthodox Israeli Ethiopian Jew], way more sex than usual for Kellerman, and references to the Holocaust.Downside was a brutal illegal interrogation of a suspect, a main plot with no twists but a sleeper, a subplot which went nowhere, and a continuation of wallowing in orthodox customs.Since I finished it, it's a 3. Still, I'll likely read another, hard to keep the titles straight.
—Frank
