Kirkus Reviews
~ An academic whose bestselling, man-hating self-helper made her popular enough for somebody to murder provides another overwrought but gripping case for Dr. Alex Delaware (Over the Edge, 1987; The Web, 1996, not reviewed, etc.). Three months after most of the NYPD has given up on nailing Prof. Hope Devane's killer, Lt. Milo Sturgis wants his longtime friend and consultant Delaware to explain why the author of Wolves and Sheep was brutally stabbed to death. The problem, as Delaware soon finds, is that so many people hated Devane, ``the ultimate scholar-slash-good-mother,'' that they might as well have given out numbers at the murder scene. Her withdrawn, older husband was afraid of losing her; her fellow-guests on the talk- show circuit made good livings (surprisingly good) from sharpening their claws on her; the students her freelance university tribunal put on trial for sexual harassment (ranging from persistent requests for dates on up to date rape) would've loved to see her permanently assigned to a higher jurisdiction. And, as usual, when Delaware digs deeper, he finds much, much more, none of it very nice. Why was Devane earning fat consulting fees from big-shot lawyer Robert Barone and fertility specialist Dr. Milan Cruvic (whose own r sum shows some suspicious gaps)? And how did her childhood (which old fans of Delaware will have seen looming as the touchstone long before Delaware gets around to rooting it up) steer her toward misanthropy, kinky sex, and even darker secrets? At the heart of it all are a conspiracy that'll confirm your worst urban-legend fears and a killer so clever that the deductions and the arrest only open a new chapter in Delaware's job. The red-herring neuroses Delaware keeps digging out of Hope Devane's past make this as pulpish as you'd expect from Kellerman. But his success in pulling everything together in the end makes the entry a standout in Delaware's bumpy series. (Book- of-the-Month Club main selection) Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews
Library Journal Reviews
Kellerman's popular series hero, psychologist/sleuth Alex Delaware (e.g., The Web, LJ 11/1/95), delves into a murder involving a controversial female author. Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal Reviews
Who killed Hope Devane? And why? Was it her hostile spouse, a graduate student, or some random psychopath? Detective Milo Sturgis and his friend, psychologist Alex Delaware, must follow a cold trail to find her killer. Kellerman (Self-Defense, LJ 11/15/96) has crafted another masterly, darkly psychological tale, drawing upon timely issues ranging from abortion to organ harvesting. He weaves a frightening story, one that rings all too true in the reader's mind. Strongly recommended for all collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/96.]?Katherine Holmes, Eckerd College Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla. Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
Kellerman is at his page-turning best in his latest Alex Delaware adventure (after The Web), an investigation into the savage stabbing murder of Hope Devane, a psychology professor and celebrity author. The LAPD, unable to solve the case after three months, reassigns it to Lieutenant Milo Sturgis. Milo calls on his friend Alex, a compassionate, astute psychologist, for insight into the victim, who had a seemingly routine academic career and marriage until writing a pop-psych relationship book. Delving beneath the veneer of Hope's life, Alex uncovers possible enemies: a man with whom she clashed on a TV talk show; students brought before her committee on sexual harassment; patients at a beleaguered women's health clinic where she volunteered. Further questions are raised about the victim's relationships with her doctoral supervisee Casey Locking; about the fertility specialist, from whom she received hefty consultation fees; about her sex life; about a shadowy link to an organized crime figure and the murder of a Las Vegas call girl. Each new avenue of investigation leads Alex and Milo to a dead end until they reach back into Hope Devane's childhood, which reveals links to the present that provide the shocking answer to the puzzle. Kellerman may not be a great stylist, but his serpentine plot and cast of mysterious characters grip the reader to the final page. Major ad/promo. (Jan.) Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information.