Sunday 24 June 2007

Therapy by Jonathan Kellerman

Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis join hands once again to solve a double murder. Gavin Quick and an unknown girl are found dead in a car in a lonely lover’s lane. Who is the girl? Why were they murdered? Is the girl the intended victim as she was impaled after being shot and Gavin Quick just an incidental victim? Or is it the otherway round? Delaware and Sturgis try to unravel the mystery. Quick’s background reveal that he became obsessive after a head injury and was undergoing “therapy.” Does Quick’s psychologist know the truth? If she knows will she speak up? Can you trust your Psychologist?

There are too many unnecessary complications that really really add nothing to the story. You can actually skip a few pages you wouldn’t miss much.

There are way too many obnoxious characters the alcoholic mother, philandering father, detestful aunt, and many others. Noboby is what they look. Everybody has a second life.
There seems to be too much therapy. Lots of people undergoing therapy. Well, that’s the key, isn’t it?

Saturday 9 June 2007

Echo Park by Michael Connelly

Detective Harry Bosch is obsessed with a missing person case for last 13 years. On and Off he looks into the records to look for a clue or a break of what happened to Marie Gesto. Thriteen years after Marie Gesto had gone missing, serial killer, Reynard Waits confesses to the murder of Marie Gesto. He even leads to the corpse of Marie Gesto.
Reynard Waits reminds us of Hannibal Lecter and Connelly himself points out that this guy is like Hannibal. It is not a typical whodunit and more or less we know who is the killer. But it is well written and has a fast narration. The chase sequences, final denouement and field trip sequences are nail biting and graphic. With the details given you can actually visualize the entire sequences. Probably Connelly had written this with an eye for the movie. Yes it would make a good movie.