3.0 out of 5 stars
Many Missing Persons Make for Slow Investigative Progress, Oct 2 2010
This review is from: Hangman (Hardcover)
"O LORD God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel,
that today there should be one tribe missing in Israel?" -- Judges 21:3 (NKJV)
I am a big fan of this series. Faye Kellerman has a wonderful way of humanizing the nasty business of homicide detection. That same humane touch and warm heart are ever-present in this story about what it means to be a family.
Sometimes an author picks a plot that makes telling the story unusually difficult. That's certainly true with Hangman. Why? People keep going missing in the book. Now, tracking down one missing person can fill quite a long police procedural. If there's more than one, you are in for a long sit . . . where progress occurs very slowly.
The story starts off a lot more intensely than that, and afterward you may feel as if someone is slowly letting the air out of the balloon until it's pretty flat at the end.
Those plot problems are more than balanced by the more heart-warming elements of the story. If I could give out half-stars, I would vote three-and-a-half stars for this book.
I've carefully avoided what I think are spoilers, but it's good for you to know the basic set-up of the mysteries here before you decide if you want to read this book.
The book's opening is filled with tension as Lieutenant Peter Decker attempts to protect Terry McLaughlin from her abusive husband, hit man Chris Donatti. Just when all seems resolved, Decker gets a call from Terry's son, Gabe, wondering where his mother is. Concerned about everyone's safety, Decker takes Gabe into his home for a few days. Looking for Terry, Decker finds that Donatti has also disappeared.
While all this is happening, an apparent suicide of a missing nurse occurs in an empty house that's being remodeled. It's a gruesome scene. Reasons to investigate further soon appear, and some of the people Decker wants to interview also disappear.
In the background is a big family celebration that's affected by Decker's dual searches. It's tough to be a cop.
One of the most interesting parts of this story comes in imagining the family life of Terry, Chris, and Gabe. It will shock you, I'm sure.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good read..., Aug 9 2010
This review is from: Hangman (Hardcover)
Okay, let me start by saying that Faye Kellerman isn't Leo Tolstoy. Not even close, BUT she does write a good story. And I believe in comparing an author's work with his previous work.
I'm pretty sure that almost everyone reading my review has read other Faye Kellermans. This book, "Hangman" is a continuation of her Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker series. Basically the same characters, with the addition of new ones who commit crimes or are victims of those who committed the crimes. But Kellerman, in addition to those characters, bring back two from Decker's past who both sort of are a combination of perpetrator and victim and the reader has to keep guessing who will end up as which.
Kellerman has managed to keep her long-term characters fresh in the 20 some-odd novels she's published in the Lazarus/Decker series. They've aged in time and their lives have moved on from their introduction in Kellerman's first novel, "The Ritual Bath", published in 1986. They've developed more nuanced personalities, though the crimes committed often seem same old, same old. Kellerman is a good story plotter as well, and combined with good characterisations, her novels are enjoyable reads. I also read her husband, Jonathan Kellerman, and I think he's become bored with his characters. It might be time for him to move on, where Faye's seem to have a little more life in them.
"Hangman" is a well-written combination of plot and character. For the Faye Kellerman fan, I can whole heartedly recommend "Hangman".
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good But Slow, Aug 17 2010
This review is from: Hangman (Hardcover)
As an avid fan of the Decker/Lazarus novels, this was better than the last one. It was however quite slow and I read through a lot of it rather quickly because it simply dragged on. As the characters of the Decker/Lazarus household have been fleshed out over the 20 odd years, there's not much new to discover. I was however hoping that the character of Hannah would have a more rebellious streak to her - live up to her red hair and provide Peter with a few more gray hairs. The family is too perfect and too happy and therefore have become boring; which I suspect may be the reason for the introduction of Gabe. The Terry/Chris saga was very good and I look forward to this being explored, probably to its ultimate conclusion in the future. Overall, a fairly good read.
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