Serpentine: An Alex Delaware Novel

Jonathan Kellerman

Feb 2021 · Alex Delaware Book 36 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis search for answers to a brutal, decades-old crime in this electrifying psychological thriller from the master of suspense.

LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis is a master detective. He has a near-perfect solve rate and he’s written his own rule book. Some of those successes—the toughest ones—have involved his best friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. But Milo doesn’t call Alex in unless cases are “different.”
This murder warrants an immediate call. Milo’s independence has been compromised as never before, as the department pressures him to cater to the demands of a mogul: a hard-to-fathom, megarich young woman who is obsessed with reopening the coldest of cases—the decades-old death of the mother she never knew.

The facts describe a likely loser: a mysterious woman found with a bullet in her head in a torched Cadillac that has overturned on infamously treacherous Mulholland Drive. No physical evidence, no witnesses, no apparent motive. And a slew of detectives have already worked the case and failed. But as Delaware and Sturgis begin digging, the mist begins to lift. Too many coincidences. Facts turn out to be anything but. And as they soon discover, very real threats lurking in the present.

This is Delaware/Sturgis at their best: traversing the beautiful but forbidding place known as Los Angeles and exhuming the past in order to bring a vicious killer to justice.

Ratings and reviews

4.5 STARS Detective Milo Sturgis and Psychologist Alex Delaware team up again when Milo is assigned to look into a cold case ... The powers that be have ordered Milo to investigate the death of a woman who's wanting to know what happened to the mother she never knew. Thirty-five years ago a woman was found in a torched car with a bullet in her head. The case was never solved. The more Milo and Alex dig, the more questions they have. Over the years several detectives have been given the file, but with no witnesses, no DNA, no suspects, it's remained unsolved. Does anyone believe in coincidences? As they go back in time, they find several other "accidents" that have taken the lives of people who knew the original victim... and the killing still goes on today. Who is killing ... and why? While digging up the past, the present becomes much more dangerous for the duo. It's another winner for Jonathan Kellerman! Although 36th in the series, it is easily read as a stand alone. This series just never gets old. The plots are intricate with plenty of suspects to follow. The characters are solidly drawn amid a background of suspense and mystery. Fans of Alex Delaware will eagerly grab this book. For newcomers, this is a great place to start. Many thanks to the author / Penguin Random House - Cornerstone / Random House - Ballantine / Netgalley for the digital copy of this exceptional crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I will read any Delaware novel but I found this one really enjoyable!

Boring!! Dont waste your money.

About the author

Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than forty crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, True Detectives, and The Murderer’s Daughter. With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored Half Moon Bay, A Measure of Darkness, Crime Scene, The Golem of Hollywood, and The Golem of Paris. He is also the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association, and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California and New York.