The Golem of Hollywood

De: Jonathan Kellerman, Jesse Kellerman

Narrado por: John Rubinstein

“An extraordinary work of detection, suspense, and supernatural mystery. I spent three days totally lost in the world Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman have created. This is brilliant, page-turning fiction with mythic underpinnings that give it a special resonance; a rare collaboration where the sum is truly greater than the parts. The book is like nothing I’ve ever read before. It sort of took my breath away.”—Stephen King

From Jonathan Kellerman, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author and master of psychological suspense, and Jesse Kellerman, the international #1 bestselling author of The Genius, comes one of the most remarkable novels of the year.

A burned-out L.A. detective . . . a woman of mystery who is far more than she seems . . . a grotesque, ancient monster bent on a mission of retribution. When these three collide, a new standard of suspense is born.

The legend of the Golem of Prague has endured through the ages, a creature fashioned by a sixteenth-century rabbi to protect his congregation, now lying dormant in the garret of a synagogue. But the Golem is dormant no longer.

Detective Jacob Lev wakes one morning, dazed and confused: He seems to have picked up a beautiful woman in a bar the night before, but he can’t remember anything about the encounter, and before he knows it, she has gone. But this mystery pales in comparison to the one he’s about to be called on to solve. Newly reassigned to a Special Projects squad he didn’t even know existed, he’s sent to a murder scene far up in the hills of Hollywood Division. There is no body, only an unidentified head lying on the floor of a house. Seared into a kitchen counter nearby is a single word: the Hebrew for justice.

Detective Lev is about to embark on an odyssey—through Los Angeles, through many parts of the United States, through London and Prague, but most of all, through himself. All that he has believed to be true will be upended—and not only his world, but the world itself, will be changed.

Interesting subjects!

I was captivated by the story; the locations; the cultures of the characters; the pace of the action; etc.)!’y On the down side, all that fascinating culture led to a lot of confusion that limited my enjoyment of the who-done-it aspect!! I prefer a good ol' Delaware & Sturgis story, thanx!

Plodding Pace and excessive self examination

Any additional comments?

I bought this book based on how much I like the Alex Delaware novels. It just didn't work for me. The jumping between the modern world and the imaginary past, the constant alcoholic meandering of introspection and the (for me at least) heavy handed use of dramatic irony did not work for me. I won't continue this series.

Disappointing

Jonathan Kellerman is my favorite author.
This book is nothing like I would expect from him.
I dragged my way through it, but it seemed to take forever.

Strange book

I did not like the continuous switching back and forth of the stories - like two books trying to merge as one. At times it was confusing - mostly just strange.

Would not recommend this to most readers.

Number of stars I've given this book probably says it all

I rarely write reviews. I rarely even find a book that I don't care if I finish. And, I've enjoyed Jonathan Kellerman's work for years. There have even been a few that I wasn't so fond of, but I still got to the end and I could've still said something good about them. This book is a bit of a mess. I do admit I learned a few interesting things about Jewish cultures and practices, so that gives it a couple of stars to begin with. But the flow of the story, the quality of the characters and an overall bad plot makes this book hardly worth the time to listen to it. It is rare for me, but I honestly didn't even finish this book. And there were a couple of chapters that I passed up on because they were so boring and I couldn't figure out how they related to the story. I'm sure that would've been explained in the end had I gotten to it. I do have to commend the narrator for his his usual excellent work. The quality of the performance had absolutely nothing to do with my personal difficulty enjoying this book. I logged in today to use my credits to move on to something else. Enjoy!