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Product Description
Product Description
Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus are back in this gripping mystery involving a secret cabal of some of Los Angeles’ most wealthy—and vicious—teens
LAPD lieutenant detective Decker and his wife, Rina, have willingly welcomed fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman, the son of a troubled former friend, into their home. While the enigmatic teen seems to be adapting easily, Decker knows only too well the secrets adolescents keep—witnessed by the tragic suicide of another teen, Gregory Hesse, a student at Bell and Wakefield, one of the city’s most exclusive prep schools.
Gregory’s mother, Wendy, refuses to believe her son shot himself and convinces Decker to look deeper. What he finds disturbs him. The gun used in the tragedy was stolen—evidence that propels him to launch a full investigation with his trusted team, Sergeant Marge Dunn and Detective Scott Oliver. But the case becomes darkly complicated by the suicide of another Bell and Wakefield student—a death that leads them to uncover an especially nasty group of rich and privileged students with a predilection for guns and violence. Decker thought he understood kids, yet the closer he and his team get to the truth, the clearer it becomes that he knows very little about them, including his own charge, Gabe. The son of a gangster and an absent parent, the boy has had a life filled with too much free time, too many unexplained absences, and too little adult supervision.
Before it’s over, the case and all its terrifying ramifications will take Decker and his detectives down a dark alley of twisted allegiances and unholy alliances, culminating at a heart-stopping point of no return.
About the Author
Faye Kellerman is the author of twenty-seven novels, including twenty New York Times bestselling mysteries that feature the husband-and-wife team of Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus. She has also penned two bestselling short novels with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, and recently teamed up with her daughter Aliza to cowrite a young adult novel, Prism—the story of four teens in an alternate universe. She lives with her husband in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Like what happens to old characters in soap operas.,
By
This review is from: Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel (Hardcover)
Normally I wouldn't bother to review a book that has already been reviewed by 58 other readers on Amazon/USA, but Faye Kellerman's "Gun Games" is so bad that I felt compelled to add to the 1, 2,and 3 star reviews. Now, I've been reading both Kellermans since their first books. The quality of both authors has waxed and waned, but both have - in general - published solid mid-tier books. I don't think I've given either Kellerman less than a 4 star review; I tend to review based on previous books by the same author. It's useless - and unkind - to compare Faye Kellerman to Leo Tolstoy, but she writes a good story with compelling characters. Those characters have changed slightly over the years as the Rina and Peter have grown gray and new characters are added which serves to update the storyline.But in "Gun Games", Kellerman has gone to a plot situation seemingly akin to long-running soap operas on TV. You know, the ones that feature the young lovers in the main roles and the old standbys who are trotted out once-in-a-while to give advise and muse about love "back in the day". And the younger characters are never as interesting as the older ones. But having a "hot story" sells the soap better than an old one does, it seems. In "Gun Games", Kellerman has relegated Peter and Rina to the back bench in favor of young lovers, Gabriel and Yasmine. Star-crossed lovers, Gabriel is the foster son of the Deckers and a budding piano genius, who, at the age of 15 has already been offered admission to both Julliard and Harvard. He's also the son of a hit-man the Deckers have known for a few years and for somewhat murky reasons, murkily told in the last couple of books, is living with the Deckers. His new love is Yasmine, a 14 year old daughter of Persian Jews living in the Valley - San Fernando, of course - and their relationship model is "Romeo/Juliet". But, Faye Kellerman is no William Shakespeare, and the reader is already at an "ick" point because neither Gabe nor Yasmine is particularly interesting and the thought of underage sex is, is...icky. Really icky. Added to the star-crossed (young) lovers are a bunch of rich losers at a well-regarded private school that prides itself on mainlining its students straight into the Ivy League. Now, husband Jonathan has already written about what goes on in LA private schools that are hotbeds of drug use, paganism,"mean girls, murder, and torture. I think he's used the plot point in several of his books. It's a tedious plot devise at best, and boring at worst. And the private-school-loser-sickie-murderers are pretty boring in Faye's once-clever hands. (Full disclosure: my two sons went to private school - admittedly not in LA - and I don't think any of "that stuff" went on at their school. Though maybe I was too busy watching "All My Children" to notice...) Throw in a couple of teenage suicides at the school and a whole bunch of text messaging between R and J and you've basically gotten the gist of Faye Kellerman's "Gun Games". It's just not very good, and I don't know if Faye was channeling the "Young Adult" fiction writers at Amazon's ABNA competition, but she should deep-six the "teens-n-texting", and return to the old folks she's been writing about so well up to now. You know, Rina and Peter...
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good book as per normal for Faye Kellerman,
By
This review is from: Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel (Hardcover)
Very good book. I had a hard time putting the book down. The book ended with a satisfying ending.Warning! There is stuff in this book that will disturb some people (suicide, bullying, descriptive gay stuff) and you can skip it without missing anything. You will know when you have reached this point when Decker and crew watch what is on a camcorder (near the end of the book - it was only a few paragraphs). I was able to skip this part without missing anything. Other than the sick stuff it was a very good book and I would recommend reading it.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Passing grade, but just....,
By
This review is from: Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel (Hardcover)
I started reading Faye Kellerman's Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series way back in 1986 when it first started. I haven't kept up with the last three or four books, so I thought I would pick up Gun Games, the 20th entry in this long running series.Lieutenant Decker is petitioned by a distraught mother to investigate her son's death. It has been ruled a suicide, but she can't accept it. Decker agrees - and finds that her mother's instincts may be right. When another student at the same school also kills themself, a full scale investigation is launched. Rina and Peter have taken in 15 yr. old Gabe as a foster child. He comes from a troubled background, but is having success as a talented pianist. He runs into a group of teens who are looking for trouble, but escapes unscathed - this time. Gabe also meets a family acquaintance of the Deckers - 14 yr. old Yasmine. I have always enjoyed the personal interaction between Rina and Peter in this series. Their home life, learning of their Jewish faith, description of food, Rina's gentle nature and Peter's gruff competence. The supporting cops on Decker's team - Marge and Oliver are characters I've enjoyed following as well. Sadly, there is little of this in Gun Games. Rather we are forced to endure endless pages of texting between Gabe and Yasmine. Their undying love for each other. Promise? Poor Gabe's sexual frustration. Gabe's deflowering of Jasmine.Yeah, I know - I felt like I was in a (bad) YA novel. I found myself skipping pages of italicized texting and moony phone calls to try and get back to Decker and his case - which ended up playing a sad second fiddle to Gabe and his libido. The police work seemed lackluster, only hitting some sort of action at the end, when a list of names and assignments is given (over and over again) in a ten page flurry. A reference to a previous case involving New Mexico is introduced early in the book, ignored and brought back in the last few pages. It added nothing to the book except as a possible set up for book 21. I was disappointed with Gun Games - Kellerman jumped the shark on this one. It just might be time for Decker to retire
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