Friday, November 24, 2017

Review - Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman

Tanya Bigelow was a solemn little girl when Dr. Alex Delaware successfully treated her obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Now, at nineteen, 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. Armed with only the vaguest details, Delaware follows 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.

Then a very real murder tears open a terrifying tunnel into the past, where secrets–and bodies–are buried. 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.

Review: The story begins 19 years in the past with the introduction to Tanya Bigelow's Mother and her Aunt. Tanya's mother tries but ultimately gives up mothering and leaves Tanya with Patty. Patty's dark childhood pushes Patty to make difficult choices for Tanya benefit and the mystery begins.

Tanya has suffered from OCD since childhood and a confession by Patty pushes Tanya to learn what her adopted mother's encrypted words mean. She seeks out her old doctor to help her cope and to help solve this mystery.

Dr. Delaware and Lt. Milo Sturgis to the rescue. Going forward it's a police procedural story. There are some really strange and disgusting characters our heroes come across. When you turn over rocks, you will eventually find snakes and scorpions. It's not a fast paced novel, it's a flower slowly opening. After all is said and done the show down at high noon breaks the doldrums. Unfortunately, the action is passively described afterward.
John Rubinstein reads and does a good job giving life to each character. I enjoyed his reading. The story was very much like an episode of Law and Order. I like that TV show so if you do too, you'll like this book too.

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