Obsession

An Alex Delaware Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: John Rubinstein

Length: 12 hrs

Publisher's summary

Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when Dr. Alex Delaware successfully treated her obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Now, at 19, Patty Bigelow, Tanya's aunt and adoptive mother, has made a deathbed confession of murder and urged the young woman to seek Delaware's help.

Armed with only the vaguest details, Delaware follows a trail twisting from L.A.'s sleaziest low-rent districts to its overblown mansions, retracing Patty and Tanya's nomadic and increasingly puzzling life. Then, a very real murder tears open a terrifying tunnel into the past, where secrets, and bodies, are buried.

Dramatic, action-packed, and filled with psychological detail that only Jonathan Kellerman can provide, Obsession is a whodunit, a whydunit, and something unique: a did-it-ever-happen. This is Kellerman at his heart-racing best.

Psyched? Listen to all of Jonathan Kellerman's Dr. Alex Delaware thrillers.

©2007 Plotline, Inc. (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a Division of Random House, Inc.

bad buy

listening to this book was right up there with root canal surgery !

avoid this ... waist of time. no real plot [ dronong reader.

Disappointing

Much too slow...could never feel invested in the characters...storyline not interesting and even a bit too complicated to follow...there's MUCH better mystery reading out there. The pluses...I've come to love the voices of Dr. Delaware and Det.Sturgis as read by John Rubenstein..you can almost picture them.

Odd flow of ideas

I did finish this book. It did have some odd flow and the characters in my view were a little shallow. He has some nice ideas but the follow thru isn't to my liking. The book was mildly interesting but the plot was just too hard to follow or too predictable. I did not enjoy this book as much as I believe I should have.

I agree with all these reviewers!

I won't say this is Kellerman's WORST, but it was unquestionably much too long and convoluted. Oh, and boring. I was rather lost before reaching the second half of the download, and if I'm enjoying a book and lose the thread of the story, I don't mind starting again from the beginning and enjoying it all over again. But I never even considered that with this one; I just shrugged off my confusion with "who cares?"

GONE and MURDER BOOK were, as one other reviewer said, superior examples, and RAGE was okay. But this one was pretty blah. Not the worst -- THE WEB may have that honor. But a waste of bytes and credits.

more about reader than book

I've gotten pretty into audiobooks lately, but this one I would have rather read. The guy reading it kept yanking me out because he just didn't sound right. And when he kept changing voices they weren't distinct enough and kept confusing me as to who was supposed to be talking. This makes it difficult to rate the book itself.

Obsession

Plot is not real interesting and it moved very slowly.

Long with little substance

I love Johnathan Kellerman's other audiobooks- but this one was a huge disappointment. There wasn't much of a storyline and the end wasn't worth the wait.

Very Disappointing

One of the slowest reads I've purchased in a long time. Just about puts me off on Alex Delaware. I'm not even sure I would have enjoyed an Abridged version of this story. The entire story line was poor and very unbelievable. The dog was more interesting than the plot. The first 5 hours had me wondering if it was ever going to get to the reason for the book.

I wish there had been these reviews before I had purchased the book -- I would NOT have made the purchase.

It's a Sad Day When...

Well, it's a sad day when Jonathan Kellerman disappoints, but that day has arrived. When I saw that there was a new Alex Delaware novel out, I felt that warm feeling of pleasure you get when you just know you're soon going to be settling down with a really good book. After "The Murder Book" and "Gone", both two of Kellerman's best, I could hardly wait.


To say that the book "takes off slowly" would be similar to saying, "in January, molasses is slow". I listened to the entire first half before even a hint of a plot began to emerge. I have never had a problem finding Kellerman's characters fascinating, but in this book the female protagonist (which ever one you pick for that role) was a forgettable person. I barely remembered her name. Even the ending, which (kind of) pulls things together and does pick up, was certainly not enough. Sadly, I cannot recommend this book.

Kellerman used to be a sure thing...

I was disappointed with this book. I automatically get all the Alex Delaware books because they have twists and turns and are mentally stimulating, but this one tanked. They figure out who the bad guy is halfway through, then they have to repetitively go over his psyche and rehash it and "look" for him when they don't seem to be doing anything very hard. You think that there might be a twist, but there isn't. And then it is over, without Alex or Milo really doing anything. I recently tried to listen to one of Kellerman's son's books, and I felt like it had the same slow plot where you're just waiting to get to the conclusion. I didn't even finish that one.