From Publishers Weekly
Peter Decker, detective sergeant in the LAPD, meets young widow Rina Lazarus while investigating an attempted rape at the yeshiva in Deep Canyon where she lives. Rina's religious convictions shape their ensuing relationship and Peter begins the process of converting, in part for his own spiritual needs and in part to be able to marry her. On a camping trip, Rina's young sons discover two charred skeletons, plunging Pete into a case that makes up one thread in this follow-up mystery to Kellerman's The Ritual Bath. Identifying the skeletons via complex dental work (Kellerman is a dentist and the wife of suspense novelist Jonathan Kellerman), Pete traces the murders back to a grisly pornography ring centering around "snuff" films, which climax in death. Wading through the underside of LA's sex-for-sale world, Pete questions the purpose and value of religion in his life. As the horror and death toll mount, he struggles to reconcile the sordid realities with the religious practices of the yeshiva. Pete's growing isolation from Rina and increasing despair comprise the secondperhaps primaryfocus in mystery. Though leaning too heavily on Hebrew words and on details of dentistry, and with more graphic violence than at times seems necessary, Kellerman brings the case to a resounding resolution, suggesting as well a believable conclusion to Pete's personal dilemma even as she leaves his future with Rina unresolved.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From AudioFile
The second in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series (1987) finds Decker on loan from the Juvenile Division to Homicide, investigating L.A.'s sleazy underbelly. Decker's encounters include teenaged runaways, prostitution, child pornography, and snuff films. Further, Decker and Rina's relationship is on the line, as Decker is unable to commit to Orthodox Judaism just to please her. Mitch Greenberg's skillful performance turns Kellerman's well-drawn characters into flesh and blood. Greenberg keeps Yiddish accents from being stereotypes, even singing a Hebrew blessing beautifully. Children sound childlike, women sound womanly, and his urban street toughs, pimps, and hookers never sound like caricatures. With enough plot twists to satisfy, fans will be well pleased with Greenberg's understated, controlled voicing of this popular series. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
by Faye Kellerman
by Faye Kellerman
by Faye Kellerman
by Faye Kellerman
by F. Kellerman
