Gone

An Alex Delaware Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: John Rubinstein

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

It's a story tailor-made for the nightly news: Dylan Meserve and Michaela Brand, young lovers and fellow acting students, vanish on the way home from a rehearsal. Three days later, the two of them are found in the remote mountains of Malibu, battered and terrified after a harrowing ordeal at the hands of a sadistic abductor.

The details of the nightmarish event are shocking and brutal: The couple was carjacked at gunpoint by a masked assailant and subjected to a horrific regimen of confinement, starvation, and assault.

But before long, doubts arise about the couple's story, and as forensic details unfold, the abduction is exposed as a hoax. Charged as criminals themselves, the aspiring actors claim emotional problems, and the court orders psychological evaluation for both.

Michaela is examined by Alex Delaware, who finds that her claims of depression and stress ring true enough. But they don't explain her lies, and Alex is certain that there are hidden layers in this sordid psychodrama that even he hasn't been able to penetrate.

Nevertheless, the case is closed, only to be violently reopened when Michaela is savagely murdered. When the police look for Dylan, they find that he's gone. Is he the killer or a victim himself? Casting their dragnet into the murkiest corners of L.A., Delaware and Sturgis unearth more questions than answers, including a host of eerily identical killings. What really happened to the couple who cried wolf? And what bizarre and brutal epidemic is infecting the city with terror, madness, and sudden, twisted death?

©2006 Jonathan Kellerman (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The author's ability to convey the unrelenting sadness of his characters' lives and his deep psychological insights will satisfy those looking for more than mere thrills." (Publishers Weekly)

Predictable but well written

A simple and slow moving novel with a very predictable culprit. It still makes for a nice distraction.

Another Winner

Always great stories and Rubenstein is a master at his craft. Love his voice. Kellerman is great. I just have 2 more to listen to and I will have completed his entire Alex Delaware series...couldn't have found a better series to listen to. Thanks Jon and John.

The stories are getting 'slower'

I've heard all of the Alex Delaware stories so far. What's bothering me more and more is the fact the the stories contain less and less action and more theorizing about how it could have happened.

I'm not at all a fan of John Rubinstein's way of telling the stories. all too often he confuses the caracters and keeps going in the same voice although a different person is speaking. also he's often 'whining' even if the content doesn't require it.

Good Read

always like Delaware books. But am not Happy Robin is back. she doesn't deserve Alex. She seems to come back when something goes wrong with her other relationships. Also being a blond myself I don't like the idea that every good woman is brunette and every blond in tge stories are skanks.

Zzzzzzzzzz

Why is this book on the Bestseller's List? A real snoozer.......

Is it over yet?

You have to be desperate to hear someone talking to listen to this one to the end. After a 2 star beginning..... this one went on, and on, and on, only to fizzle out.

Disappointing & Gross

I have been an avid reader of J. Kellerman for years and this is undoubtably his worst effort to date. While it has a good start & Milo Sturgis is his entertaing self, it turns into droning narrative descriptions like bad Beat Poetry. From there it becomes a stomach turning read full of unnessecary grotesque writing. Ketterman blew it with this one. Unless you like the truly gross, don't bother.
It seems as if Kellerman, like many other popular authors, is churning out books with petty content & quantity and not quality in mind. This can be the demise of an artist.

Poor Poor Book

I have heard alot of good things about Kellerman's books. So I figured what the hay! Well now I kick my self in the butt for wasting a credit. The Story was so so boring, predictable, and a horrible ending. The worst was the narrarator. Like someone previous stated the attempt in doing a womans voice was hidious!!!! Do not waste a credit on this book.

don't buy it

slow, very slow and boring.

Do not like the writing style

Contrary to so many fine reviews, I just could not finish this unabridged audio book and have finally given up. Boring. For me the author just has too much detail and not enough story.