Alex Delaware 06 - Private Eyes

Psychologist Dr Alex Delaware has always looked on Melissa Dickinson as one of his greatest triumphs. A terrified, tormented seven-year-old when she first appeared in his Los Angeles surgery, Melissa after two years seemed totally recovered. But nine years later Melissa contacts Alex again, anxious this time for her mother. As Alex recalls, weatlthy widow Gina Dickinson has problems of her own. For two decades she has hidden herself away from the eyes of the world - ever since a vicious acid attack destroyed the face of Hollywood actress Gina Prince. Then the reclusive Gina climbs into her car - and totally disappears.

Kellerman provides his fans with yet another of his exciting tales centered on Dr. Alex Delaware, psychologist/sleuth. Set in California, the book opens with a near massacre in a schoolyard. In this intricately plotted story, the hero is challenged to locate a cleverly disguised villain from a collection of normal and not-so-normal suspects. The rapid pace carries readers into a world of politicians who are more than they seem to be on the surface, families that dysfunction in spectacular ways, and suspicious characters with murky and unusual pasts.
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This is the first of Jonathan Kellerman's highly popluar Dr. Alex Delaware series, and one can see why this first book has led to many more. Dr. Delaware is an interesting character with several different - and often conflicting - aspects to his personality. Milo Sturgis, the slovenly LAPD Homicide detective with a heart of gold and unique personality foibles all his own is Alex's co-star, and is a fascinating character in his own right.
[cover image = first edition]
Audio added Thanks to 2211!

There are many good things about this novel, the second book in the Alex Delaware series. For starters, the reader really gets to know Alex better in this book and he's beginning to grow on us. The core plot is dandy and the resolution is a page turner. And, while Alex is based in Los Angeles, much of the action takes place near the Mexican border in an interestingly twisted imaginary town called La Vista.

Audio reuploaded. Thanks to 2211!

Kellerman's psychologist/sleuth Alex Delaware nimbly executes tricky steps of his own when called in to consult on the mysterious ailments afflicting a baby being seen at his training hospital in Los Angeles. In his seventh appearance (after Private Eyes), Delaware is in top form, carefully pursuing the possibility that 21-month-old Cassie Jones may be the victim of Munchausen's Disease by Proxy, a complex syndrome in which a parent, usually the mother, secretly causes the symptoms that endanger the child.