Grievous Sin

A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

By: Faye Kellerman

Narrated by: Mitchell Greenberg

Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The birth of their baby girl has filled Rina Lazarus and her husband, LAPD Homicide Detective Peter Decker, with joy mingled with sorrow, since complications have ensured that they can have no more children. But the situation is grim at the hospital, which has been devastated by severe budget cutbacks and staff shortages. And when a respected nurse vanishes along with a newborn from the nursery, Peter and Rina fear for the safety of their own precious child - especially when the missing nurse's car is found at the bottom of a cliff... with a corpse inside.

A most grievous sin has been committed. In pursuit of justice, Decker - with the help of his tough-as-nails partner, Marge, and an able assist from his teenage daughter, Cindy - follows a twisted path that winds through a sinister maze of hospital politics, misplaced passions, and torturous mind games that can all too easily lead to murder.

Solve another case with Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus.

©1993 Faye Kellerman (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

Not quite there!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Although there was enough of a plot to keep you interested, in the final analysis it was not really worth the time. The plot was too contrived and the LAPD detectives were completely unconvincing.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting aspect was the mystery, but its solution was the least interesting.

Did Mitchell Greenberg do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Mitchell Greenberg did a good job of differentiating the characters. However, it was not clear why some of them had NY accents.

Any additional comments?

Decker is not believable as either a cop or a guy who owns a ranch. Actually, he is not believable as a male character.

Loved this book!

Narrator was fabulous. Storyline and characters fascinating. My second favorite of her books so far.

Want to give this a five star review, but...

I've read most of this series in print before, but wanted to reread them before picking up the ones that I hadn't read yet. I like the narrator but my husband doesn't. Un fortunately, the music between chapters is HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. When it begins. it's louder than the text. causing the sound to suddenly blast. It's very frustrating! Then. after the next chapter begins the music doesn't stop, so it's hard to understand what the narrator is saying!

Another great book

I can't wait to download the next one in this Ceres of books They all are very good

Not for me

The family life is contrived, kind of cheesy and gets boring. The actual plot of the story was pretty good, but there was too much other fluff and nonsense to listen to in order to get it.

The lead characters are Jewish. Nothing wrong with that...interesting and informative somewhat, but there was a lot of derogatory remarks about Christians and Jesus. Totally unnecessary and offensive to me. I would not appreciate a book that makes fun of any religion. Seems kind of a foolish thing for an author to do...offended readers won't buy your books again At least I won't.

Narrator's voice just doesn't appeal to me.

the worst of the series

I'm sorry but this book is not worth the time I spent reading it. It was contrived and nothing about it felt real. I found the decisions made by Peter and Rina when they found themselves smack in the middle of this mystery were all off. Nothing they did made sense. The plot felt like it was being forced upon the reader and that we were only feeling scared or sad because we were told to feel that way. It was like a bad movie that uses bad music to cue the appropriate emotional reaction. I hope that this novel is not indicative of the direction in which the Decker/Lazarus series is headed.

I don't like this series

I tried to like Peter and Rina - gave them another chance with Grievous Sin - but it's a no go for me! Rina's whining about her hysterectomy was annoying. I've known CHILDLESS women who lost their uteruses with less drama then Rina. I guess her other choice was to bleed to death?!!?! I'm also thinking that there were major inconsistencies but I could be mistaken because I was to unconcerned to go back on the audio. One example - did Rina really have a 17 year old son who could donate blood for her and then later wail, "But I'm only 30 years old?" Someone should do the math. I'm not interested enough to try to make sense of it.

There are better F Kellerman books

Would you be willing to try another one of Mitchell Greenberg???s performances?

I didn't like the female character voices.

Any additional comments?

The daughter Cindy is thin and doesn't appear her age.

Awful narration, simpleton story

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

A five year old

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The almost non-existant mystery of the missing nurse was somewhat interesting but the constant religious instruction was a bore. The characters don't react like real people or speak like real people but more like Cinderella in a Disney movie. Ick.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator reads like a kindergarten teacher reading to 5 year olds....very pollyanna like style. ANd definitely not appropriate to the story making it difficult to determine if the story itself was that childish or just the reader's tone.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

My constant thought...and I'm still listening to it.. is "Oh, PLEASE! Really?" Not sure I can finish it.

Any additional comments?

Not likely I'll buy this author again.

Not so great for my first Kellerman Listen

This was my first Faye Kellerman listen. I did not care for the character of Peter Decker. He seemed a little "goody goody" that was not realistic (maybe it was the narrator?).

I almost did not finish the book because the story line was not very good, and I did not care for the main character or the narrator.

The story line had potential, but as others have said, it was was dragged out.