This book was an interesting experience. I am accustomed to the Alex Delaware series, which I do not adore, but find to be interesting enough to read at about one a year. This is a bit different, but you can certainly tell it's still Jonathan Kellerman at the helm.

Here we have a hospital staff psychologist, Jeremy Carrier, somewhat of a loner, whose hot girlfriend nurse is killed. Of course, suspicion falls on Dr. Carrier, and a big clod of a police detective makes no bones about his suspicions.

Then, slowly, carefully, things begin to happen. Jeremy is befriended for no apparent reason by an elderly retired pathologist who still works part-time. Anonymous medical journal articles and old news clippings start appearing in his interoffice mail. He's invited to a sedately bizarre dinner with a small club of elderly, highly intelligent, very successful retirees. Never do we know why this is happening or even exactly what is happening.

It's all very mysterious--as befits a mystery, eh?

Other reviewers mostly used the word "slow" to describe the plot. A few perhaps pace-sensing-challenged reviewers said it went really fast. Fast like a lightning-fast turtle, maybe; not much faster. (It's a testament to Kellerman's talent that he can make a turtle's pace seem fast to some.)

Stick with it. All will be revealed. Well, almost all. I never did really understand why the person who was behind all the anonymous tips felt it necessary to slowly lead Dr. Carrier to the solution of the mystery rather than just calling the police and telling them. While the good-guy mastermind was messing with Dr. Carrier's mind, a couple of extra people were killed by the bad guy, which seemed to go unnoticed in the explanations at the end.

Anyway, if you're a Kellerman junkie, read this, but know going in that it will be different, it will be slow, and it will be a bit frustrating and puzzling. But it will be rewarding.

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