Sacred and Profane

A Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Novel

By: Faye Kellerman

Narrated by: Mitchell Greenberg

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Los Angeles Police Detective Peter Decker had grown very close to Rina's young sons, Sammy and Jake, as he had to their mother, and he looked forward to spending a day of his vacation camping with the boys. A nice reprieve from the grueling work of a homicide cop - until Sammy stumbles upon a gruesome sight.

Two human skeletons, charred beyond recognition, are identified by a forensic dentist as teenage girls - and for Decker, the father of a 16-year-old daughter, vacation time is over. Throwing himself professionally and emotionally into the murder case, he launches a very personal investigation: a quest that pulls him deep into the crack dens of Hollywood Boulevard and painfully close to the children of the streets and a nightmare world he must make his own.

©1987 Faye Kellerman (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Kellerman brings the case to a resounding resolution, suggesting as well a believable conclusion to Pete's personal dilemma even as she leaves his future with Rina unresolved." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Bold, taut, with an artful fusion of the down-and-dirty with characters whose personal lives we care about and whose spiritual and emotional growth are as compelling as the events themselves." (Sue Grafton)
"Moves crisply and the characters are deep and well drawn - Faye Kellerman is a talented writer." ( Chicago Sun-Times)

Again with the music...

As with the first book, this recording contains inexplicable music breaks that I can only assume are the ends/beginnings of cassette tapes on the original recordings. I thought the reading itself was better than the first book, but where I rather liked the random music used in the first book, I very much did not like the one used here.

Second Book Syndrome?

Not as good as the first Rina Lazarus Peter Decker adventure. That integrated their relationship into the storyline. This is 2 narratives: the police procedural and the romance.

Loved the story and narrator

I absolutely loved the story and the narrator was awesome. What I didn’t really like was the weird music interspersed between. I found it was odd and it really ruined the flow of the narrative

WELL DONE MR. GREENBERG!

Any additional comments?

I felt compelled to write this after reading a few reviews from people who did not like the narrator. I thought Mr.Greenberg did a fine job. He was able to handle the voices, especially those of the women and children. Sometimes narrators-especially male ones- have only one voice for all the women/children in the story, therefore, you can't tell who is speaking. With Mr. Greenberg, I was able to distinguish all the different characters well and I was able to get lost in the story.

Terrific Book

I really enjoyed this book - even though I guess it's one of her older ones. I especially enjoyed the history of the Jewish religion.

Ok story, not great

Also had musical interludes that I thought lasted a little too long. The narrator was pretty good but pronounced some words wrong - he read "forte" as "fort", for example.

Hooked

Another book I HAD to listen to almost non-stop. It is an intense action book. I totally like the characters, especially the rabbi. Decker’s homemade Porsche is a feature I had not encountered before, maybe my oversight. Enjoy the story, Fellow Readers!

Way too much religion

The murder mystery portion of the story was very good and was what kept me listening even when I was turned off by the morality lectures and unnecessary religious instruction. The depth of Rena's belief could have been made apparent without the LONG disertations on the Jewish belief system. If I wanted to know about any particular religion I would read a book written by an expert in that particular sect. I do not read murder mysteries to be lectured to about the existance or not of god. I would have given it 4 stars if it had been written without all the excessive morality and religious instruction. I will investigate carefully the subject matter of any further novels by this author before spending my money on them.

Good book!

Love the story. not big on the narrator. second book, looking forward to new narrator, and more on decker!

HOOKED

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, especially if they like following a series. I listened to the preview and was hooked.

What did you like best about this story?

It has very likeable characters.

Any additional comments?

I purchased the 2nd book in the series before I have finished the first. I am looking forward to listening to more. Well narrated so far.