Customer Reviews

Stalker

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Faye Kellerman always writes a good formula thriller, with scary bad guys, fast-paced plotting, and tense endings. Because Stalker delivers these basics, it is well worth a few hours of your time.

But for Kellerman's devotees, what sets her stories apart from the other formula thrillers on the airport bookstand are her wonderful characters, Peter, Rina, and Marge, and her ability to grant us a peephole into the world of traditional Orthodox Jewry. These attributes are missing from Stalker. The story focuses primarily on Peter's daughter, Cindy, who proves herself to be neither particularly interesting nor particularly likeable. Indeed, in Stalker, Cindy seems downright obnoxious and behaves so stupidly that Faye Kellerman apparently feels the need to remind us to the point of tedium that Cindy is very smart and has an Ivy League education. Kellerman's normal gift for characterization triumphs in only one respect, revealing an endearing side to the usually boorish Scott Oliver.

As a devotee of Kellerman's other books, I was disappointed, but still managed to enjoy Stalker. If Stalker were my first Kellerman, only a five-hour layover in O'Hare would induce me to buy another.

Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant Peter Decker faces the worst crisis of his professional career. His daughter Cindy has joined the force over his objections and he has to balance protecting her vs. showing favorable treatment. Tired of her father's shielding nature, Cindy hides from him the fact that she believes someone is stalking her every move and that person might be tied to the murder of a fellow health club member, Armand Crayton.

Meanwhile Peter works on a couple of car jacking cases. One of them he and his subordinates believe is tied to the murder of Armand. The carjackers have targeted health club members. To Peter's chagrin, he learns that his daughter is being stalked by most likely someone who wants to ensure the health club members remain silent.

The twelfth Decker police procedural is a great entry in a top-notch series because the prime story line turns personal. This provides readers insight into the charcaters of Peter and Cindy. Peter's dilemma and Cindy's distressed reaction to his struggle over a cop for a daughter turns an already fine mystery into a fantastic novel that will entice sub-genre fans to seek out other Faye Kellerman tales (see best-selling JUPITER'S BONES).

Harriet Klausner

Cindy Decker, a new rookie cop based in Hollywood, is finding it hard to cope with the job as she is being constantly hazed by her male colleagues who resent the fact that she has a college education and even more resentful that her father is Lieutenant Peter Decker. When suspicious things start to happen to her, she is determined to go it alone and not seek advice or help from her father...big mistake, as things escalate to downright frightening. It's a great cop story with lots of twists but I couldn't help but feel that this girl who is supposed to be a mature, gun carrying police woman, needs a good slap around the legs for being so obstinate and just plain stupid!

Well, here we go again. Like a fellow reviewer, I'm finding myself with a "love/hate" relationship as far as Faye Kellerman's Rina/Peter Decker series. For instance, Faye, who in the world was responsible for Rina's attempted carjacking---talk about loose ends!!!
Anyway, here Faye focuses on Cindy Decker, Peter's newly initiated rookie cop. In previous novels, I have found Cindy's impetuosity and energy refreshing and likeable. Boy, has she changed. What words can describe her? SNOBBISH. KNOW IT ALL. IMPETUOUS. BITCHY. MANIPULATIVE. INSINCERE. Hmmm...maybe not all the time, but these qualities tend to lessen one's admiration for her character. Like when she goes to Belfleur to look up the people who invested in a sham property deal. She finds one name right away and immediately assumes it's the only one...not thinking to look at the whole list! Also, she acts like she doesn't want to fit in with her fellow cops, and the chauvinism of her fellow male cops is a little exaggerated and over used.
Rina's not in the book much this time, but she still comes across as super mom and super everything. She doesn't seem to have any flaws now. Also little daughter Hannah has turned into a whiny, spoiled brat.
The main problem, however, with this book is despite a couple of tense scenes, the book drags and one gets tired of all the landscape descriptions; what furniture is in any house or room, and also the romance between Scott and Cindy is way too impractical and unnecessary.
NOT A BAD BOOK, BUT SHE'S DONE BETTER (AND WORSE).

I am at a loss to understand why reviewers did not like this book as much as I did.

Like all Faye Kellerman novels that I have read, I found the story strong, the plot gripping, the mystery mesmerizing, and the ending full of heart-pounding suspense.

This particular book focuses on Peter Decker's older daughter Cindy, now a rookie cop. Cindy is not a likeable character--in fact, through most of the book, I could not stand her. But she is compeltely believable--an obnoxious, loudmouth, arrogant young woman with a huge chip on her shoulder--who also happens to be a marshmallow about her family and her secret self.

During a fairly routine hostage situation, Cindy the rookie upstages her own sergeant, not the best of all situations. Although she solves the hostage problem with no blood spilled, she becomes something of a pariah in the tight-knit cop brotherhood. It's not enough that her daddy is a homicide lieutenant, but she is college educated, mouthy, and doesn't know her own place. Or so they think. But is that enough to make HER a hostage? It seems that way, as a mysterious stalker starts to make her life intolerable...and dangerous.

I stand by my opinion of this story, even though Cindy is not a likeable character--and I give it a solid five stars.

I bought this book at random on vacation, looking for good, intriguing books. The summary on the back caught my interest. Well, after reading two Harlan Coben books, this was a big dissapointment. It was okay, and had some exciting moments. First of all, the book is way too long: 442 pages that I wished were about 200. The book has a slow beginning. It took 200 pages for me to become excited about anything in the novel. It is too wordy and goes into too much detail over things of nonimportance, that cause boredom. The caharcters aren't very intriguing, and much of the story seems predictable. After reading Harlan Coben's books that are wonderful from beginning to end and full of twists, this just didn't match up. I will not be buying any more books in this series or by this author. Also, the language became old, as I became tired of seeing the over-used "F-Bomb." This just isn't very good. There are many other mysteries that are much better. I recommend Harlan Coben's Trust No One, Gone For Good, and No Second Chance.

I have a love hate relationship with Kellerman's novels...my main problem is the many inaccuracies with which she litters her books...it is jarring. In this one, she has Rina, supposedly a supurb cook, putting in the broccali before her husband showers. Nobody does that. If it is in the details that greatness lies,she misses.

Cindy Decker, daughter of Lieutenant Peter Decker, is following in his footsteps and has become a cop. Unfortunately, she has a bit of an attitude and her fellow officers are not happy about that or about the fact that her father is a lieutenant. Things begin happening to her which confuse and frighten her. First it's small things, like verbal jibes, and then it becomes things that are out of place in her apartment, and then more serious occurrences. Out of pride, Cindy tries to handle these incidents herself instead of asking for her father's help. This makes her appear more foolish than brave and certainly does nothing to endear her to readers. Things go from bad to worse until the stalker threatens her life. This is an average book in comparison to the other outstanding ones in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series and just goes to show that Cindy is not as riveting a central character as her father and stepmother are.

This has certainly not got the intricate story line of some of Faye Kellerman's Decker/Lazarus novels.
But it is still a well-written and entertaining read.
Cindy can be impetuous and brattish, but she also has some good qualities, for example note
The love she has for her younger half-sister, Hannah.
Cindy has a lot of growing up to do!
I like the way she skillfully weaves the religious family life of Peter and Rina's family into the
novels.
In this one we see how observation of Shabbos (the Jewish Sabbath) is a beautiful and welcome respite from
the chaotic and amoral world outside.

Overall, entertaining , and flows easily.
There are however some loose ends left undone , for example we never find out who it was that was behind the attack on Rina in the park.

It is also better to begin the Decker/Lazarus series with one of Faye Kellerman's earlier novels.

The main vocal point of the story was very agravating and frankly i was pretty sick of reading it around the 2nd or 3rd day i think that the actors in the actually movie were ok i think that they could have use more vintage actors like Darkwing Duck or Harry Doyle. Nate Harjack was clutch in the lead role Larry Szonka and Greg Bitners attitude in the movie was just outa control with the pit stainds. I think that they need more chacthers in the book like pee wee herman or even the great Jason Bateman. Steven Segal made an appearance in the movie and it think that he could have done a little better job as Kip Peterson and Dean Kane was awsome in the hit tv show malcom in the middle