Private Eyes (Alex Delaware Series #6)

by Jonathan Kellerman

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
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 the 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.
 
“A page-turner from beginning to end.”—Los Angeles Times
 
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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345540164
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/26/2013
Series:	Alex Delaware Series
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	33,436
Product dimensions:	4.42(w) x 7.28(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Kellerman is one of the world’s most popular authors. He has brought his expertise as a clinical psychologist to more than thirty bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, and True Detectives. With his wife, the novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored the bestsellers Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. He is the author of numerous essays, short stories, scientific articles, two children’s books, and three volumes of psychology, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children, as well as the lavishly illustrated With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California, New Mexico, and New York. Their four children include the novelists Jesse Kellerman and Aliza Kellerman.

Hometown:

Beverly Hills, California

Date of Birth:

August 9, 1949

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

B.A. in psychology, University of California-Los Angeles; Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1974

Website:

http://www.jonathankellerman.com/

Table of Contents

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Vividly realistic . . . explores the subject with haunting emotional power.”—Playboy
 
“Spellbinding suspense . . . unforgettable.”—Houston Chronicle

Editorial Reviews

Vividly realistic . . . explores the subject with haunting emotional power.”—Playboy
 
“Spellbinding suspense . . . unforgettable.”—Houston Chronicle

From the Publisher

But my goodness! What a very dry meal of cliche without cream or sugar Mr. Kellerman does serve up in the process. His psychobabbly dialogue has the pace of a 78 r.p.m. record played at 33. There isn't a setting in the book that isn't overdescribed or a character who isn't overdetailed. . . maybe the point of "Private Eyes" is simply to entertain? Well, if the mere unscrambling of a complicated scramble is to your taste, then this novel is a multi-course banquet. -- New York Times

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

Kellerman devises a psychologically complex, highly satisfying plot in this latest mystery (after Time Bomb ) to feature child psychologist Alex Delaware, although we wait too long for the best parts and although Delaware, his love life on hold, seems less emotionally present than in previous cases. Harvard-bound, 18-year-old heiress Melissa Dickinson, whom Delaware had successfully treated for anxiety 10 years earlier, calls him with concerns about leaving her wealthy mother, an agoraphobe. Years before Melissa's birth, Gina Dickinson Ramp had been disfigured by acid thrown for never-revealed reasons by a former lover, now out of prison and back in town. Widowed for many years, recently remarried and making progress in her own intensive therapy with a noted husband-and-wife team of behaviorial psychologists, Gina is still fragile. When she disappears, Melissa enlists Delaware's help and that of his friend, Milo Sturgis, on leave from the LAPD (for having slugged, on TV, a homophobic superior). Kellerman deftly handles the strings of his plot, keeping in question the plight of Gina and the identities of those wishing her ill, until final events make what came before seem inevitable. A brief reunion with his former lover Robin will leave readers hoping for a reconciliation in Delaware's next appearance. 150,000 first printing; major ad/promo. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly