Guilt

An Alex Delaware Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: John Rubinstein

Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The number one New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Kellerman's "psychology skills and dark imagination are a potent literary mix" (Los Angeles Times), and this intensely thrilling blend has never been so powerful as in the acclaimed author's new novel of murder and madness among the beautiful dreamers, seductive predators, and doomed innocents adrift in the glare of Southern California's eternal sunshine.

A series of horrifying events occur in quick succession in the same upscale L.A. neighborhood. A backyard renovation unearths an infant's body, buried 60 years ago. And soon thereafter in a nearby park, another disturbingly bizarre discovery is made not far from the body of a young woman shot in the head. Helping LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis to link these eerie incidents is brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. But even the good doctor's vast experience with matters both clinical and criminal might not be enough to cut down to the bone of this chilling case - and draw out the disturbing truth.

Backtracking six decades into the past stirs up tales of a beautiful nurse with a mystery lover, a handsome, wealthy doctor who seems too good to be true, and a hospital with a notorious reputation - all of them long gone, along with any records of a newborn, and destined for anonymity. But the specter of fame rears its head when the case unexpectedly twists in the direction of the highest echelons of celebrity privilege. Entering this sheltered world, Alex little imagines the macabre layer just below the surface - a decadent quagmire of unholy rituals and grisly sacrifice.

Before their work is done, Alex and Milo, "the most original whodunit duo since Watson and Holmes" (Forbes), must confront a fanatically deranged mind of such monstrous cunning that even the most depraved madman would shudder.

©2013 Jonathan Kellerman (P)2013 Random House Audio

boring and slow

What would have made Guilt better?

Intensity in storyline

What was most disappointing about Jonathan Kellerman’s story?

The thrill was left to the end chapters.

Would you be willing to try another one of John Rubinstein’s performances?

Maybe one more time to see if a different storyline would help

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I 've always liked the how well Alex and Milos got along

Boring, Can Put It Down Easily

What disappointed you about Guilt?

I do not recommend this book. The plot is so excruciatingly slow to develop that I lost interest in the book, though forced myself to listen to the end. In the end, learning the conclusion, I found myself saying, "So what . . ." The problem with the book is too many disparate pieces that are not coherently linked. I can think of parts of the book now that seemed like a waste of time, even in retrospect. Too much minutia, gets bogged down. I would improve the book by cutting it in half and that would probably remedy the pace and allow the plot to thicken and conclude in a reasonable manner. All in all, on a 5 point scale, I give it the lowest rating of "1".

Would you ever listen to anything by Jonathan Kellerman again?

I would not judge him on this alone; but if this was the hallmark of his work and I knew that, I would not listen to his material again.

Have you listened to any of John Rubinstein’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I think Rubinstein performed very well.

What character would you cut from Guilt?

About half of the characters, leaving Milo and Alex D.

Don't bother

Would you try another book from Jonathan Kellerman and/or John Rubinstein?

The old ones

Would you ever listen to anything by Jonathan Kellerman again?

Maybe the old ones

Would you listen to another book narrated by John Rubinstein?

Yes

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

Sadness. Disappointment

Any additional comments?

This review has spoilers, maybe, but not really. Do not waste money or credit. Hours and hours of uninteresting rambling monologue by Delaware that clouded any part of the mystery which was a teeny tiny part of the story with no detective work by milo, all by Alex. Touching on or glancing on issues and thoughts that and then dropped, till it culminates in the capture of a bad guy who wasn't part of the story, whose motivation and pathology in doing what he does is muddied and unexplored and who is painted as stupid, but who knows enough to order flesh eating bugs? And enough about anatomy to do what he did? And to sort of, but not really frame his wife, and who brings many girls into a house with a real skeleton hanging in the living room and none of them freak out or call the police? The story and development made no sense and had more holes in it then I could count. Horrible

HUGE Disappointment

Don't waste your credit! I have been a Jonathan Kellerman fan from the first Alex Delaware novel. Read or listened to them all. This book was so boring if I could get my credit back I would. The story is weak with absolutely NO excitement and very little of the humor that is normally interjected between the characters. I certainly hope Jonathan was just having a bad year and not starting to get stale in his writing.

Disappointing !

I found a very weak story line.....too much repetition.....and do readers really need a detailed description of each article of clothing each character is wearing ....does this add to the story line....don't waste a credit on this one !

Please--don't bother to use your credits on this

This was a disappointment. The story line ultimately proved to be completely boring. Kellerman seems to be writing from a formula and the characters aren't developing in any way at all. The plot line just fizzed out in the end....no real mystery, nothing to ponder. Very flat ending.

And, Kellerman tends to have the characters ponder endless possibilities and explanations for each tiny event. After awhile, I just wanted him to get on with it.

There's a curious lack of action in this book as well.

The narrator is good--that's the only thing that kept me going to the end.

At this point, I won't be reading anymore in this series. Save your credits!!!

Everyone is Guilty here - especially the author.

From the first "discovery" of bones until the end of the book when that finding is explained, the story had very little substance. When the explanation of the blue box is given at the end, one wonders how and when Alex put it all together. But then, I may have nodded out during that part.

In fact, the story that surrounds the blue box is more interesting, realistic and emotional than the junk in the middle. There were some interesting "red herrings," some witty anti-stereotypes that did little to hide the fact that some of the fictional personalities were taken from today's tabloids.

The mystery that Milo and Alex investigate together was downright ridiculous, improbable and uninteresting. I wanted to squeeze this quick listen in between some required reading, knowing I could knock down a dozen hours in a day or so. I was wrong. It was so tedious, I couldn't stay with it. I found myself reading the paper and listening to it as background noise, having to rewind to catch up and try to get further with it.

It seemed like the large story that comprises the deaths of several people was contrived to showcase very rich Hollywood types. The anti-stereotype may have been an effort at defusing some clichés that surround that kind of lifestyle. In this mire of wealth are religious fanatics, entrepreneurs, pimps, drug addicts, perfect mothers and lousy fathers, castration, abortion, adoption, bad marriages, murder and taxidermy.

The woman who finds the blue box under the tree of her new home is an unfinished character. She appears 2-3 times throughout the story, has a heart-to-heart with Alex and is "cured." The mother of four whom Alex suspects is a certain type of spoiled and damaging superstar turns out to be June Cleaver. Alex literally stalks one character, and thinking he is *tricking* her into revealing herself, the character, who is on to him at once, tells him Milo everything, incriminating another person. Illogical, unbelievable.

Milo is true to form; if you loved him before, you will love him still. Robin is as bland as Blanche is white. A couple of love scenes between Robin and Alex are all we get about them and they are stilted. In fact, the only *love* in the whole damned thing is demonstrated in the final paragraphs of the whole book and those scenes relate to NOTHING else at all.

Guilt? Almost everyone in this cast of characters is guilty of something.

Mystery? Yes, but fairly easy to put together, because Alex and Milo discuss the possibilities and rate them as feasible or not. Toward the end of the book, Alex recognizes how wrong he had been about some of the elements of the story. So what?

Thriller? No.

Historical/Scientific/Criminal/Psychological content? Light at best.

Horror? Indirect horror when contemplating the nature of mankind -- historical and current.

Redemptions? None. No turnarounds, no recapitulations, no ah-ha moments, nothing.

Informative/Educational? At approximately the 5th grade level.

Love the narrator though. I have come to depend on that voice -- even the silly female voices -- in Kellerman's books. I hope he stays on until the next one.

Hoping for better sooner than later.

Yawn....

What disappointed you about Guilt?

The moves from 3 rd person narration to first person narration were jarring...but I persevered. The circumstances surrounding, the facts of, and the procedures following the finding of the bodies were just dull. Nothing to inspire either the reader or the listener. I returned it after struggling through 16 chapters.