The Clinic - An Alex Delaware Novel

Zusatztext “Kellerman doesn’t just write psychological thrillers—he owns the genre.”— Detroit Free Press   “Quite possibly the best of the series—and that’s saying quite a lot.”— Chicago Tribune Informationen zum Autor Jonathan Kellerman Klappentext NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Professor Hope Devane's male-bashing pop-psych bestseller created a storm of controversy on the talk-show circuit. Now she is dead, brutally slashed on a quiet street in one of L.A.'s safest neighborhoods. The LAPD's investigation has gone cold, and homicide detective Milo Sturgis turns to his friend Dr. Alex Delaware for a psychological profile of the victim-and a portrait of a killer. "Engrossing . . . mines new realms of psychological terror . . . holds the reader riveted."-Playboy Hope Devane had very different public and private faces. The killer could be any one of the millions who read her book, or someone from the personal life she kept so carefully separate. As Alex and Milo dig deeper into her shadowy past, they will set an elaborate trap for her killer . . . and reveal the unspeakable act that triggered a dark chain of violence.CHAPTER 1 Few murder streets are lovely. This one was. Elm-shaded, a softly curving stroll to the University, lined with generous haciendas and California colonials above lawns as unblemished as fresh billiard felt. Giant elms. Hope Devane had bled to death under one of them, a block from her home, on the southwest corner. I looked at the spot again, barely exposed by a reluctant moon. The night-quiet was broken only by crickets and the occasional late-model well-tuned car. Locals returning home. Months past the curious-onlooker stage. Milo lit up a cigarillo and blew smoke out the window. Cranking my window down, I continued to stare at the elm. A twisting trunk as thick as a freeway pylon supported sixty feet of opaque foliage. Stout, grasping branches appeared frosted in the moonlight, some so laden they brushed the ground. Five years since the city had last pruned street trees. Property-tax shortfall. The theory was that the killer had hidden under the canopy, though no hint of presence other than bicycle tracks, a few feet away, was ever found. Three months later, theory was all that remained and not much of that. Milo’s unmarked Ford shared the block with two other cars, both Mercedeses, both with parking permits on their windshields. After the murder, the city had promised to trim the elms. No follow-through yet. Milo had told me about it with some bitterness, cursing politicians but really damning the cold case. “A couple of news stories, then nada.” “Current events as fast food,” I’d said. “Quick, greasy, forgettable.” “Aren’t we the cynic.” “Professional training: aiming for rapport with the patient.” That had gotten a laugh out of him. Now he frowned, brushed hair off his forehead, and blew wobbly smoke rings. Edging the car up the block, he parked again. “That’s her house.” He pointed to one of the colonials, smallish, but well-kept. White board front, four columns, dark shutters, shiny fittings on a shiny door. Three steps up from the sidewalk a flagstone path cut through the lawn. A picket gate blocked the driveway. Two upstairs windows were amber behind pale curtains. “Someone home?” I said. “That’s his Volvo in the driveway.” Light-colored station wagon. “He’s always home,” said Milo. “Once he gets in he never leaves.” “Still mourning?” He shrugged. “She drove a little red Mustang. She was a lot younger than him.” “How much younger?” “Fifteen years.” “What about him interests you?” “The way he acts when I talk to him.” “Nervous?” “Unhelpful. Paz and Fellows thought so, too. For what that’s wo...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Jonathan Kellerman
• Editore: Ballantine
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 26.03.2013
• EAN: 9780345540195
• ISBN: 978-0-345-54019-5
• Pagine: 464
• Dimensioni: 108 mm x 187 mm x 25 mm
• Serie: Alex Delaware; Alex Delaware Novels; Alex Delaware
• Categoria: Narrativa > Gialli