City of the Dead

An Alex Delaware Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: John Rubinstein

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The past comes back to haunt psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis when they investigate a grisly double homicide and uncover an even more unspeakable motive in this riveting thriller from the bestselling master of suspense.

Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead.

Early one morning, the two of them find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter is anything but. A naked young man lies dead in the street, the apparent victim of a collision with a moving van hurtling through suburbia in the darkness. But any thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home.

Inside, a young woman lies butchered. The identity of the male victim and his role in the horror remain elusive, but that of the woman creates additional questions. And adding to the shock, Alex has met her while working a convoluted child custody case. Cordelia Gannett was a self-styled internet influencer who’d gotten into legal troubles by palming herself off as a psychologist. Even after promising to desist, she’s found a loophole and has continued her online career, aiming to amass clicks and ads by cyber-coaching and cyber-counseling people plagued with relationship issues.

But upon closer examination, Alex and Milo discover that her own relationships are troublesome, including a tortured family history and a dubious personal past. Has that come back to haunt her in the worst way? Is the mystery man out in the street collateral damage or will he turn out to be the key to solving a grisly double homicide? As the psychologist and the detective explore L.A.'s meanest streets, they peel back layer after layer of secrets and encounter a savage, psychologically twisted, almost unthinkable motive for violence and bloodshed.

This is classic Delaware: Alex, a man Milo has come to see as irreplaceable, at his most insightful and brilliant.

©2022 Jonathan Kellerman (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“One of [Kellerman’s] best.”—Mystery & Suspense

“A gripping, readable thriller that combines elements of the police procedural, murder mystery, and psychological thriller genres.”—Booklist

“Kellerman at his best . . . [He] uses his training as a psychologist to construct a crime and perpetrator that will have readers turning pages and guessing until the very end.”—Library Journal

Always Fantastic

Love Kellerman's books!!! Twists and turns and definitely keeps you guessing. Wish the Alex Delaware series would last forever...<sigh>

Love Alex and Milo!!

Good story and great narration. His books are never a disappointment. Never saw the ending coming!!

Yet another excellent novel.

I love Alex and Milo and consider them some of my best friends.! Narration was superb and so well done. The story was well written and the plot what is thick & great. I do however get really bored during all the directions and navigating and road drives in Los Angeles. Seems excessive and as a Midwestern her, who gives a care. But I can tolerate it because the story is a Grand. Thanks , keep them coming.

lots of surprisez

good characters, a familiar pair leading the investigation, nice additional characters added, surprise ending, facility with language

12 hour road trip, this book was excellent company

I have enjoyed this series from the beginning (probably 3 were medicore but loved all the rest) was not disappointed in the latest. Great listen.

Always Happy to Get the New Kellerman

City of the Dead did not disappoint. The story was great and I never figured the bad guy out until the end. I love John Rubinstein as the narrator of this series. He brings it to life.

Good and Bad

I’ve read every book in this series. This one was a good story - I think. I was so distracted by the awful reader I couldn’t tell for sure!

Another Alex Delaware Thriller

My biggest problem with all of the audiobooks in this series is that Mr Rubinstein gives Milo a New York accent. I also dislike the lisp that he gives most of the women and how he says "Noo-yen" when every Nguyen I have met pronounces it "Nwin."

Aside from the narration, the story is probably the best of the last half dozen or so Delaware novels, in my opinion. The twists and turns in this one felt smoother and more realistic, and the characters were much more down to earth and believable. I really enjoyed this book.

Not to the usual standard

Book was OK. Needed edits. Too many sub plots. But I finished it. oh well

Better than the last few I read

I enjoyed the Alex Delaware series for a while. But some became tedious due to it being obvious who did it halfway through. This one kept it tame before the quick wrap up.
This book goes back to the heyday of the books and looks good for the future.