Kellerman, Jonathan

Compulsion: An Alex Delaware Novel (Alex Delaware Novels)

Once again, the depths of the criminal mind and the darkest side of a glittering city fuel #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman’s brilliant storytelling. And no one conducts a more harrowing and suspenseful manhunt than the modern Sherlock Holmes of the psyche, Dr. Alex Delaware.

A tipsy young woman seeking aid on a desolate highway disappears into the inky black night. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are butchered after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. These and other bizarre acts of cruelty and psychopathology are linked only by the killer’s use of luxury vehicles and a baffling lack of motive. The ultimate whodunits, these crimes demand the attention of LAPD detective Milo Sturgis and his collaborator on the crime beat, psychologist Alex Delaware.

What begins with a solitary bloodstain in a stolen sedan quickly spirals outward in odd and unexpected directions, leading Delaware and Sturgis from the well-heeled center of L.A. society to its desperate edges; across the paths of commodities brokers and transvestite hookers; and as far away as New York City, where the search thaws out a long-cold case and exposes a grotesque homicidal crusade. The killer proves to be a fleeting shape-shifter, defying identification, leaving behind dazed witnesses and death–and compelling Alex and Milo to confront the true face of murderous madness.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Obsession: An Alex Delaware Novel (Alex Delaware Novels)

With scores of millions of books in print, translation into two dozen languages, and one of the most popular heroes in contemporary fiction to his name, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman is the unequivocal “master of the psychological thriller” (People). In his newest novel Kellerman delivers a tour de force–poignant, dark, and chilling–that illuminates a shadowy world where impulse rules.

Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when Dr. Alex Delaware successfully treated her obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Now, at nineteen, she still seems older than her years–but her problems go beyond hyper-maturity. Patty Bigelow, Tanya’s aunt and adoptive mother, has made a deathbed confession of murder and urged the young woman to seek Delaware’s help. The doctor recalls Patty as a selfless E.R. nurse struggling to raise a child on her own–a woman seemingly incapable of the “terrible thing” she has admitted. But for Tanya’s peace of mind, Delaware agrees to investigate, and he enlists LAPD detective Milo Sturgis in the search for the phantom victim of a crime that may never have occurred.

Armed with only the vaguest details, psychologist and cop follow a trail twisting from L.A.’s sleaziest low-rent districts to its overblown mansions, retracing Patty and Tanya’s nomadic and increasingly puzzling life to the doorsteps of a sullen heroin addict; a randy real-estate broker; and a brilliant, enigmatic physics student. Suddenly a very real murder tears open a terrifying tunnel into the past, where secrets–and bodies–are buried. As the tension mounts, Delaware and Sturgis uncover a tangled history of desperation, vengeance, and death–a legacy of evil that refuses to die.

Dramatic, action-packed, and filled with the psychological detail that only Jonathan Kellerman can provide, Obsession is a whodunit, a whydunit–and something unique: a did-it-even-happen? This is Kellerman at his heart-racing best.


From the Hardcover edition.

Self-Defense (Alex Delaware)

Dr. Alex Delaware doesn’t see many private patients anymore, but the young woman called Lucy is an exception. So is her dream. Lucy Lowell is referred to Alex by Los Angeles police detective Milo Sturgis. A juror at the agonizing trial of a serial killer, Lucy survived the trauma only to be tormented by a recurring nightmare: a young child in the forest at night, watching a strange and furtive act.

Now Lucy’s dream is starting to disrupt her waking life, and Alex is concerned. The power of the dream, its grip on Lucy’s emotions, suggests to him that it may be more than a nightmare. It may be the repressed childhood memory of something very real. Something like murder.

Dr. Alex Delaware doesn't see many private patients anymore, but the young woman called Lucy is an exception. So is her dream. Lucy Lowell is referred to Alex by Los Angeles police detective Milo Sturgis. A juror at the agonizing trial of a serial killer, Lucy survived the trauma only to be tormented by a recurring nightmare: a young child in the forest at night, watching a strange and furtive act.

Now Lucy's dream is starting to disrupt her waking life, and Alex is concerned. The power of the dream, its grip on Lucy's emotions, suggests to him that it may be more than a nightmare. It may be the repressed childhood memory of something very real. Something like murder.

"Exciting... loaded with tension and packed with titillating insights."
   THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Kellerman at his best."
   USA TODAY

"Satisfying... suspenseful."
   PLAYBOY

Private Eyes (Alex Delaware)

The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex  Delaware remembers a little girl. It is eleven  years since seven-years-old Melissa Dickinson dialed  a hospital help line for comfort--and found it in  therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the lovely young  heiress is desperately calling for psychologist's  help once more. Only this time it looks like  Melissa's deepest childhood nightmare is really  coming true ...  Twenty years ago, Gina Dickinson, Melissa's  mother, suffered a grisly assault that left the budding  actress irreparably scarred and emotionally  crippled. Now her acid-wielding assailant is out of  prison and back in L.A.--and Melissa is terrified  that the monster has returned to hurt Gina again.  But before Alex Delaware  can even begin to soothe his former patient's  fears, Gina, a recluse for twenty, disappears. And  now, unless Delaware turns crack detective to  uncover the truth, Gina Dickinson will be just one  more victim of a cold fury that has already spawned  madness--and murder.

The voice belongs to a woman, but Dr. Alex Delaware remembers a little girl. It is eleven years since seven-year-old Melissa Dickinson dialed a hospital help line for comfort -- and found it in therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the lovely young heiress is desperately calling for the psychologist's help once more. Only this time it looks like Melissa's deepest childhood nightmare is really coming true...

Twenty years ago, Gina Dickinson, Melissa's mother, suffered a grisly assault that left the budding actress irreparably scarred and emotionally crippled. Now her acid-wielding assailant is out of prison and back in L.A. -- and Melissa is terrified that the monster has returned to hurt Gina again.

But before Alex Delaware can even begin to soothe his former patient's fears, Gina, a recluse for twenty years, disappears. And now, unless Delaware turns crack detective to uncover the truth, Gina Dickinson will be just one more victim of a cold fury that has already spawned madness -- and murder.

Blood Test (Alex Delaware)

It is a case unlike any psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware has ever encountered. Five-year-old Woody Swope is ill, but the real problem is his parents. They refuse to agree to the one treatment that could save this boy's life.

Alex sets out to convince Mr. and Mrs. Swope--only to find that the parents have left the hospital and taken their son with them. Worse, the sleazy motel room where the Swopes were staying is empty--except for the ominous bloodstain. The Swopes and their son have vanished into the sordid shadows of the city.

Now Alex and his friend, homocide detective Milo Sturgis, have no choice but to push the law to the breaking point. They've entered an amoral underworld where drugs, dreams, and sex are all for sale...where fantasies are fulfilled at any price--even at the cost of a young boy's life.

Silent Partner (Alex Delaware)

The bestselling author of When The  Bough Breaks, Blood Test,  and Over The Edge delivers the  most stunning novel yet and featuring  psychologist-detective Dr. Alex Delaware. At a party for a  controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex  encounters a face from his own past--Sharon Ransom, an  exquisite, alluring lover who left him abruptly more  than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints that he  desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The  next day she is dead, an apparent suicide. Driven by  guilt and sadness, Alex plunges into the maze of  Sharon's life--a journey that will take him through  the pleasure palaces of California's ultra-rich,  into the dark closets of a family's disturbing  past, and finally into the alleyways of the mind,  where childhood terrors still hold sway.

Also available on BDD Audio Cassette.

The bestselling author of The Murder Book and A Cold Heart delivers the most stunning novel yet and featuring psychologist-detective Dr. Alex Delaware.

At a party for a controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex encounters a face from his own past -- Sharon Ransom, an exquisite, alluring lover who left him abruptly more than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints that she desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The next day she is dead, an apparent suicide.

Driven by guilt and sadness, Alex plunges into the maze of Sharon's life -- a journey that will take him through the pleasure palaces of California's ultra-rich, into the dark closets of a family's disturbing past, and finally into the alleyways of the mind, where childhood terrors still hold sway.

Rage: An Alex Delaware Novel (Alex Delaware Novels)

In a host of consecutive bestsellers, Jonathan Kellerman has kept readers spellbound with the intense, psychologically acute adventures of Dr. Alex Delaware–and with excursions through the raw underside of L.A. and the coldest alleys of the criminal mind. Rage offers a powerful new case in point, as Delaware and LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis revisit a horrifying crime from the past that has taken on shocking and deadly new dimensions.

Troy Turner and Rand Duchay were barely teenagers when they kidnapped and murdered a younger child. Troy, a remorseless sociopath, died violently behind bars. But the hulking, slow-witted Rand managed to survive his stretch. Now, at age twenty-one, he’s emerged a haunted, rootless young man with a pressing need: to talk–once again–with psychologist Alex Delaware. But the young killer comes to a brutal end, that conversation never takes place.

Has karma caught up with Rand? Or has someone waited for eight patient years to dine on ice-cold revenge? Both seem strong possibilities to Sturgis, but Delaware’s suspicions run deeper . . . and darker. Because fear in the voice of the grownup Rand Duchay–and his eerie final words to Alex: “I’m not a bad person”–betray untold secrets. Buried revelations so horrendous, and so damning, they’re worth killing for.

As Delaware and Sturgis retrace their steps through a grisly murder case that devastated a community, they discover a chilling legacy of madness, suicide, and multiple killings left in its wake–and even uglier truths waiting to be unearthed. And the nearer they come to understanding an unspeakable crime, the more harrowingly close they get to unmasking a monster hiding in plain sight.

Rage finds Jonathan Kellerman in phenomenal form–orchestrating a relentlessly suspenseful, devilishly unpredictable plot to a finale as stunning and thought-provoking as it is satisfying.


From the Hardcover edition.

PRAISE FOR JONATHAN KELLERMAN

THERAPY

“Labyrinthine twists, excellent pacing, and hard-boiled, swaggering dialogue.”
–The Washington Post

“Immensely enjoyable . . . there’s even a shocking surprise.”
–Associated Press

“A tight, engaging . . . brainteaser.”
–New York Daily News


THE CONSPIRACY CLUB

“An unnerving, highly cinematic plot . . . [Kellerman has] headed off into different terrain . . . with striking success.”
–JANET MASLIN, The New York Times

“[Kellerman] keeps the creepiness coming until the big-twist finish.”
–People

“Turn the page and you’re hooked.”
–The New York Times Book Review


From the Hardcover edition.

Devil's Waltz (Alex Delaware)

The doctors call it Munchausen by proxy, the  terrifying disease that causes parents to induce  illness in their own children. Now, in his most  frightening case, Dr. Alex Delaware may have to prove  that a child's own mother or father is making her  sick.

Twenty-one-month-old Cassie Jones  is bright, energetic, the picture of health. Yet  her parents rush her to the emergency room night  after night with medical symptoms no doctor can  explain. Cassie's parents seem sympathetic and  deeply concerned. Her favorite nurse is a model of  devotion. Yet when child psychologist Alex  Delaware is called in to investigate, instinct tells him  that one of them may be a monster.

Then  a physician at the hospital is brutally murdered.  A shadowy death is revealed. And Alex and his  friend LAPD detective Milo Sturgis have only hours  to uncover the link between these shocking events  and the fate of an innocent child.

The doctors call it Munchausen by proxy, the terrifying disease that causes parents to induce illness in their own children. Now, in his most frightening case, Dr. Alex Delaware may have to prove that a child's own mother or father is making her sick.

Twenty-one-month-old Cassie Jones is bright, energetic, the picture of health. Yet her parents rush her to the emergency room night after night with medical symptoms no doctor can explain. Cassie's parents seem sympathetic and deeply concerned. Her favorite nurse is a model of devotion. Yet when child psychologist Alex Delaware is called in to investigate, instinct tells him that one of them may be a monster.

Then a physician at the hospital is brutally murdered. A shadowy death is revealed. And Alex and his friend LAPD detective Milo Sturgis have only hours to uncover the link between these shocking events and the fate of an innocent child.

Bad Love (Alex Delaware)

It came in a plain brown wrapper, no return  address--an audiocassette recording of a horrifying,  soul-lacerating scream, followed by the sound of a  childlike voice chanting: "Bad love. Bad love.  Don't give me the bad love... ". For Alex  Delaware the tape is the first intimation that he is  about to enter a living nightmare. Others soon  follow: disquieting laughter echoing over a phone  line that suddenly goes dead, a chilling act of  trespass and vandalism. He has become the target of a  carefully orchestrated campaign of vague threats  and intimidation rapidly building to a crescendo as  harassment turns to terror, mischief to madness.  With the help of his friend LAPD detective Milo  Sturgis, Alex uncovers a series of violent deaths  that may follow a diabolical pattern. And if he fails  to decipher the twisted logic of the stalker's  mind games, Alex will be the next to die. Taut,  penetrating, terrifying, Bad Love is  vintage Kellerman.

Also available on BDD Audio Cassette.

It came in a plain brown wrapper, no return address -- an audiocassette recording of a horrifying, soul-lacerating scream, followed by the sound of a childlike voice chanting: "Bad love. Bad love. Don't give me the bad love." For Alex Delaware the tape is the first intimation that he is about to enter a living nightmare. Others soon follow: disquieting laughter echoing over a phone line that suddenly goes dead, a chilling act of trespass and vandalism. He has become the target of a carefully orchestrated campaign of vague threats and intimidation rapidly building to a crescendo as harassment turns to terror, mischief to madness.

With the help of his friend LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, Alex uncovers a series of violent deaths that may follow a diabolical pattern. And if he fails to decipher the twisted logic of the stalker's mind games, Alex will be the next to die. Taut, penetrating, terrifying, Bad Love is vintage Kellerman.

"A wonderful roller-coaster ride... a guaranteed page-turner."
   LARRY KING, USA TODAY

"By the end I was fairly racing through the pages."
   LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Will have you looking over your shoulder before you turn out the lights."
   DETROIT FREE PRESS

When the Bough Breaks (Alex Delaware)

In the first Alex Delaware novel, Dr.  Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry.  Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and  sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when  he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific  Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but  they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old  Melody Quinn.

It's psychologist Dr. Alex  Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret  buried in Melody's memory. But as the sinister  shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex  discovers that the mystery touches a shocking  incident in his own past.

This connection is  only the beginning, a single link in a  forty-year-old conspiracy. And behind it lies an unspeakable  evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it  claims another innocent victim: Melody Quinn.