The two main characters, both inclined to craziness, are extremely well matched. Don’t fall for that one there are plenty of crazy thoughts - and crazier events - in this psychological thriller. “No crazy thoughts allowed,” promises the diarist who narrates THE SILENT PATIENT (Celadon, $26.99), a predictable if disturbing first novel by Alex Michaelides. One-on-one interviews are Kellerman’s strong suit, so expect some shrewd instant analyses and unwittingly funny observations - like “Destroying a wedding has a personal feeling.” This means Delaware has a suspect pool of about 100 people, from the mother of the bride (“Botoxed as smooth as a freshly laundered bedsheet”) to the busboys. A child psychologist who is often consulted by the Los Angeles Police Department, Delaware has no children to tend to here, but he does find a lot of childish grown-ups at the Aura, the former strip joint Brearley and Garrett Burdette whimsically chose for their “Saints and Sinners”-themed party.Īlthough the corpse is admired for her fashion sense - “The dress is Fendi, the shoes are Manolo, and the hair is awesome” - no one seems to know who she is. The bride certainly doesn’t take it very well when a dead woman in a red dress spoils her big day in THE WEDDING GUEST (Ballantine, $28.99), Jonathan Kellerman’s latest mystery featuring Alex Delaware. Wearing red to a wedding reception might seem rude, but wearing red while dead seems downright uncouth. But we also appreciate the well-drawn women, the keen character analysis and, of course, the company of a true gentleman.
The double-sided puzzle, which strikes Banks as “a three-pipe problem,” involves, among other things, a sex-trafficking racket.
Nonetheless, Banks knows that a young woman found dead at the scene of an auto accident would not get all dolled up and neglect to take her handbag, and that a man who supposedly fell to his death in a ravine would not have gone for a stroll on Tetchley Moor wearing an expensive suit. No one expects cops to be au courant with the latest fashions.
#The silent patient analysis series
And I apologize if some of our questions caused you discomfort.” That gentlemanly policeman is Alan Banks, a Yorkshire homicide detective who appears in CARELESS LOVE (Morrow/HarperCollins, $26.99), his 25th outing in the series dedicated to his sleuthing. Can you imagine a cop who concludes a suspect interview by saying: “Sorry to have bothered you at dinnertime. Peter Robinson writes the kind of mysteries they don’t write anymore: smart, civilized whodunits that are intellectually challenging, emotionally engaging and always discreet. But that’s the deal with Kepler: If you want the thrills, you’ve got to expect the chills. He also loves to drop severed body parts into a story, even when it isn’t strictly necessary to advance the plot. Kepler is a virtuoso at delivering scenes of suspense, proving it here with an unnerving sequence in which a woman senses the silent killer who is stalking her. This is not a book for anyone on heart medication. The third member of the team is Erik Maria Bark, a specialist in disaster trauma and an authority in clinical hypnotherapy, who treats us to an impressive example of his skills (“The only thing you’re listening to is my voice …”).
#The silent patient analysis serial
Margot Silverman, a police expert on serial killers, spree killers and stalkers, is properly worked up by these taunts, which also prods into action Joona Linna, a living legend in crime circles and the heavyweight of the Kepler series.
The sadistic twist here is that he sends the videos of his future victims to the National Crime headquarters in Stockholm, daring the police to outwit him before he kills again. Once he’s whipped himself up into a froth, this merciless madman returns to claim his prey with another horrific murder. The essential component of their formula is a worthy villain, someone just like the sicko here, who shoots videos of unsuspecting women to study at his leisure (“He takes his time, enjoys himself”). But that’s the way it goes with Lars Kepler, a pseudonym for the husband and wife team of Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, who have a taste for the macabre and a surefire recipe for the lurid serial-killer thriller. STALKER (Knopf, $27.95) opens with a gruesome crime scene (“a display of extraordinary brutality,” in Neil Smith’s blunt translation from the Swedish) and becomes more explicit as it creeps along to its conclusion (“suddenly his head rolls over”). Having fun? Feelin’ groovy? A new novel by Lars Kepler will wipe that smile off your face.