Day of Atonement

By: Faye Kellerman

Narrated by: Mitch Greenberg

Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Peter Decker of the L.A.P.D. never dreamed he'd be spending his honeymoon with his new wife, Rina Lazarus, in an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York or that a terrible event would end it so abruptly. But a boy has vanished from the midst of this close-knit religious community, a troubled youth fleeing the tight bonds and strictures he felt were strangling him.

The runaway, Noam, is not traveling alone. A killer has taken him under his wing to introduce Noam to a savage world of blood and terror. And now Decker must find them both somewhere in America before a psychopath ends the life of a confused and frightened youngster whose only sin was to want something more.

©1991 Faye Kellerman (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Early book, but not her best

When Faye Kellerman is good, she's very very good. When she's bad, she's horrid. Well, "Day of Atonement" is the fourth Rina/Pete Decker book in the series, and isn't either very very good, nor is it horrid, exactly. it's somewhere in the middle. The problem is that we see a very different kind of Rina and Pete than we see in either the early books or certainly the more recent ones. Some of it isn't pleasant.

Many different times in this book, I -- who thought I personally adored Peter Decker, thought Rina was the luckiest girl in the world -- found myself ready to murder Peter if he kept it up. Wow - what a dictator! Unlike in earlier or later books, Peter here is shouting orders, right and left, expects them to be obeyed. He's short-tempered, unhappy at being where he is -- which is in Brooklyn, being introduced to Rina's former inlaws, the parents/family of her first (and now deceased) husband. Should she have forced Peter into that trip -- which must indeed have been difficult? Maybe not -- or certainly not at a high-stress time like the High Holidays, and not for so long a visit. Perhaps he should have said no to that -- but whatever, it all brings out the worst in Peter. At one point, he even handcuffs Rina to the steering wheel of the car, so she can't get out to meddle when he goes off to investigate something. Should she get out to meddle? No, she shouldn't. He was right to try to keep her away -- but wrong for taking her along on a work errand in the first place.

It gets a little tiresome, actually, the back- and-forth: Rina would be trying to find a way to nose in on his job, Pete trying to find ways to keep her out -- but he always relents a little, and that's when the trouble starts.

The best thing about the first three books in this series is the relatively accurate picture they offer of an orthodox Jewish lifestyle. I think a lot of readers -- Jewish and otherwise -- enjoy that glimpse into a world they otherwise won't see for themselves, and it was good that this series presented an insiders story. But this book has a different story line that makes that difficult -- we've got a lost teenager, one who seemed "weird" even before he got lost, and then went way, way, way off the beaten path when he did, probably not very realistically. And of course the question of misplaced parenthood, which seemed a little forced too.

So? Not her best book, but worth reading, anyway, in the context of the whole story, which started in 1986 and continues to today. Quite a long run -- which is amazing, all by itself.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Love this series! Start from the begining!!

Love Mitch Greenburg’s narration! Definitely start this series from the beginning very little time elapses between books. I am SOOOO excited that Audible has been filling the holes in this series! Keep up the great work!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great story, Fabulous narrator!!

I really enjoy listening to Mitch Greenberg reading this series. I wish he'd done all of them. To me, he's become Peter Decker. Not only that, but his character voices, accents, and Hebrew pronunciation really put these books over the top. Please, please, please, let him complete the series!! I've tried to listen to some of the others and they just aren't "right" after hearing Mitch's treatment of them.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

undertones of racism

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

not so much....

What does Mitch Greenberg bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

good narration. easy on the ears.

Any additional comments?

the writer, and many writers often introduce white and black people very differently... for example.... the white person gets, 'his large frame was imposing. He had steel blue eyes and short hair with a surfer bleach job. he wore a jc penny suit and had a deep voice.' the black person gets introduced like this.... "Joe was a black man with a full mustache and sensible shoes.' if you are going to list a skin color in the description of a person... do it all the time or perhaps dont do it. many writers do it... but with Fay, it is pretty bad. esp. in her earlier books. I have had to stop reading her books.

Great ending!

Faye Kellerman does a super job of fleshing out her characters. Both the job "family" as well as the home family. They all travel seamlessly between books and storylines.
The Jewish community and history easily fits in as part of the storylines. Each book builds upon the last but can stand alone. The problem with a standalone concept is the need to see what happens next. They are all that good!

Great Listen

I really enjoyed the narrative and the story, I couldn't wait until the next time I was able to listen.

Better than the previous ones

I enjoyed Book 4 and I am moving on to Book 5 right away. The Peter and Rina storyline is compelling enough to keep me going, and I found this cop-plot was more interesting than the previous ones.

Part of the reason why I liked this installment more than the others is because of the language - the previous books were not just rude, that wouldn’t faze me at all, but crude. Book 4 was much tamer on that front so maybe the worst is over. (As far as my memory goes, there was a total lack of toilet-talk in Book 16)

The sporadic musical interludes are a little off putting, I think they must be left over from the original production and mark where one CD (or cassette) ended and the other began. Too bad it could not be edited out.

Great story

This book was filled with drama--crime and family drama. The narrator was outstanding. The end was satisfying, too. Thank you!

Excellent!

I truly enjoyed this book. The narration is excellent, kept me entranced! On to the next one!

#4 is better than the first 3

I liked this one best of the first four. I feel as though this book made Rina and Peter both a little more human and real. Perhaps taking Peter to Brooklyn and far out of his comfort zone was the best thing Ms. Kellerman could have done.

Mitch Greenburg is a really good narrator though I find him better at 1.5 speed than at the regular speed. That is okay with me as that speed is my favorite setting anyway.

If you like character driven mysteries give the Decker/Lazarus series a try.