Bones (Alex Delaware Series #23)

WELL WORTH THE READ!

Alex is back, and this is one of his better books, BONES. When one body is found in a protected wetland, oddly, with a hand missing, the chase is on. Within a short time, more bodies missing hands have been located in the same marsh. All the bodies face east and all except the latest one were prostitutes. Apparently, a serial killer is stalking LA, and Alex and Milo are in pursuit.
The characters in "Bones" are memorable, including an environmental fanatic, a genius child set to inherit a mind boggling fortune, a smarty rich teenager so awful even his mother can barely stand him, and, I kid you not, a fifty year old prostitute. It's entertaining. It's quick. It's one not to miss.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

#23 in this fantastic series!

One of the best pairings in detective/suspense novels returns in the 23nd (!) novel in this series from Jonathan Kellerman.


Psychologist and police consultant Alex Delaware and LA police Lieutenant Milo Sturgis are back together to solve one of their darkest cases yet.

A young volunteer at a marsh sanctuary receives an anonymous call telling him to look for something dead in the marsh. The call is dismissed as a prank. That changes when a young woman's body is found - in plain view. A search dog discovers three more bodies, submerged in the marsh. These women are all prostitutes, but the first body found is that of a piano teacher. Are they connected? Is the marsh the dumping ground of a serial killer? Will he kill again? Can they find him before he does? Milo and Alex's investigation leads to unexpected places.

Lots of plot twists and turns will keep you turning pages. The banter between Milo and Alex is always witty and entertaining. A new character is introduced, Moses, a young rookie Homicide detective. I found him to be an engaging addition and hope he returns in future books. In the past Alex's girlfriend Robin played a more significant role. She seems to have been relegated to deciding dinner selections. Milo's boyfriend Rick is another character I'd like to see more of. Kellerman is a clinical psychologist and his character's insight and dialogue have the ring of authenticity.

Jonathan Kellerman is on my list of favourite authors and I was not disappointed with Bones. My only disappointment was finishing it too quickly! I'll be waiting for #24!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A great read! Typical Alex Delaware excitement from Jonathan Kellerman.

A thrilling combination of science and psychology with outstanding policework.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Must read.

I read all the Alex Delaware series and was surprised to see another one out so soon. Alex and Milo are so like The Odd Couple, but work together smoothly. Lots of twists and turns and great finish. I would like to see more of Robin than small cameos and also Rick, Milo's partner. I wish Kellerman would clean Milo up a little, and think about a weight lose program. He reads like a heart attack waiting to happen. Couldn't he go to the gym with Rick once in a while?

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

bones

James patterson is a great writer this book will make you not want to put the book dowm. it is very well written.

Typical Kellerman fair. Good writting and delivers the goods as you expect.

Typical characters, enjoyable.

Not great, not too bad

A mysterious caller to Save the Marsh tells the young "volunteer" doing community service at the marshlands that a body is on the premises and doesn't tell anyone right away. After the brother of one teen's friend call the police to report said fact, a body of a young, gifted piano teacher to a wealthy child prodigy is found with her right hand cut off. Soon three more skeletons are found on Save the Marsh property. They are determined to be female. A man attending an auction buys a beautiful box in which are human bones. Intriguing plot, but poor execution.

Kellerman devotes an entire chapter developing the buyer of the box only to have this character to make a cameo appearance later in the novel. The reader is bombarded with the teen volunteer's usage of the F word throughout the story and even devotes a whole chapter to it, wonderful.not! Immediately the investigation focuses upon the hapless, somewhat disabled caretaker of the Vander estate, and I mean focused to the point that Milo Sturgis (is he gay?), Moses Reed, and Delaware almost exclude everyone else. When the skeleton's were identified as long missing female prostitutes, psychologist Alex Delaware should have pointed the two detectives in another direction, though he does investigate a couple of leads himself.

No red herrings here, unfortunately for an avid mystery reader. Even the dialogue was confusing. All of the characters sounded the same except Fox and Simone Vander The side story of Reed and his bi-racial brother, Aaron Fox, as well as the identity of the prostitutes' killer kept me reading. My introduction to Joseph Kellerman reminded me of James Patterson, good plots, bad dialogue, the hard deadline forced poor execution of a very promising plot.

Not Up to His Usual Standard

Bones by Jonathan Kellerman is certainly worth reading. As a devoted J. Kellerman fan, I would never pass up any of his mystery books---I've read them all. But his latest two or three are not up to his former standards. The writing is still excellent, fast-paced with sparkling dialog. BUT, I liked earlier books where Alex Delaware was actually involved in solving the crime, etc., instead of more or less an interested observer. There is not the immediacy that there once was. Still, they are great for a relaxing, interesting read, and I'll continue to buy them. Marjorie Flathers

Well-written, exciting story.

Interesting cast of characters.

bones

More twists and turns in this one than a coiled rope. Hard to follow the characters. Could have been a ot better.

Another great read!

Cannot get enough of the Alex Delaware series. Looking forward to the next one!

Not typical Kellerman - the characters weren't as well fleshed out as usual for a Delaware tale

I was a bit disappointed in this particular Alex Delaware novel. Usually the recurring characters are better fleshed out than they were in Bones. There was little interaction between Alex and Robin on one hand or Milo and Rick on the other. And even the usual banter and dialogue between Milo and Alex was less peppy than I am used to.

I was also disappointed in the development of the Moses and Aaron characters. It turned out to be rather formulaic brother versus brother with reconciliation at the end. Boring! Even the villains were less than scintillating. Maybe it's time for Mr. Kellerman start something different.

Great Book - Love Jonathan Kellerman's work- A real page turner.

Great Book - Love Jonathan Kellerman's work- A real page turner.

bones

Another Alex Delaware great novel. Kept me interested the whole time! Loved it

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

AWESOME

I went to the book store to buy this book. and I'm glad I did. The plot and the characters are so real you will read it twice.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A good reading experience

High school troublemaker Chance Brandt is doing community service at the Bird Marsh nature conservatory near Marina Del Rey, California when he receives a weird anonymous phone call that he assumes is a silly prank. The caller insists there are corpses buried in the marsh. Soon after the eerie call, the body of a woman is found and Chance mentions the message he received.---------------- LAPD Special case Investigator Police Lieutenant Milo Sturgis leads the investigation. They quickly find four female bodies with the right hand removed in the marsh. Realizing there is a serial killer on the loose murdering prostitutes though the last homicide does not fit the victims¿ pattern as the victim is musician Selena Bass. Milo asks police psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware to help. The focus is on the Bass murder as she was teaching piano to the wealthy offspring of the Vander family with the estate manager the prime suspect due to a criminal history.-------------- Although somewhat similar to most of the Delaware police procedurals, BONES is refreshed by the psychologist playing third fiddle on the investigation with Sturgis being the star he provides limited assistance on the investigation. The serial killer inquiry is clever and fun to follow with a couple of strong twists. In spite of the hero playing a tertiary role in the case (although Delaware has other goings-on), fans will enjoy Jonathan Kellerman entertaining whodunit.--------------- Harriet Klausner

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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