Crime Scene
A Novel
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- USD 7.99
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- USD 7.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A former star athlete turned deputy coroner is drawn into a brutal, complicated murder in this psychological thriller from a father-son writing team that delivers “brilliant, page-turning fiction” (Stephen King).
Natural causes or foul play? That’s the question Clay Edison must answer each time he examines a body. Figuring out motives and chasing down suspects aren’t part of his beat—not until a seemingly open-and-shut case proves to be more than meets his highly trained eye.
Eccentric, reclusive Walter Rennert lies cold at the bottom of his stairs. At first glance the scene looks straightforward: a once-respected psychology professor, done in by booze and a bad heart. But his daughter Tatiana insists that her father has been murdered, and she persuades Clay to take a closer look at the grim facts of Rennert’s life.
What emerges is a history of scandal and violence, and an experiment gone horribly wrong that ended in the brutal murder of a coed. Walter Rennert, it appears, was a broken man—and maybe a marked one. And when Clay learns that a colleague of Rennert’s died in a nearly identical manner, he begins to question everything in the official record.
All the while, his relationship with Tatiana is evolving into something forbidden. The closer they grow, the more determined he becomes to catch her father’s killer—even if he has to overstep his bounds to do it.
The twisting trail Clay follows will lead him into the darkest corners of the human soul. It’s his job to listen to the tales the dead tell. But this time, he’s part of a story that makes his blood run cold.
Praise for Crime Scene
“You could drive yourself crazy trying to figure out who wrote what. . . . But whoever came up with the fine line, ‘When I meet new people, they’re usually dead,’ should pat himself on the back.”—The New York Times Book Review
“A terrific book . . . Put Crime Scene at the top of your reading pile.”—Bookreporter
“A character-driven, intricately plotted whodunit . . . Mystery readers will devour the book and look forward to the next father and son collaboration.”—Press Republican
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Like the most engaging psychological thrillers, Crime Scene—the third collaboration from father-son writing team Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman—draws you into a complex narrative puzzle riddled with murder, intrigue, and historical scandal. Clay Edison, former star basketball player and current deputy coroner, is investigating the death of a reclusive psychology professor whose body is found crumpled at the bottom of his staircase. What follows is a suspenseful, multilayered drama that weaves together insightful characterisation (Edison is beautifully sketched, character flaws and all), compelling procedure, and pacey plotting in a way that got us suspecting nearly everyone.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clay Edison, the hero of this disappointing series launch from bestseller Kellerman and son Jesse (The Golem of Paris), was a promising college basketball player until a devastating injury ended any hopes of a professional sports career. Years later, Clay works as a deputy for the Alameda County, Calif., coroner's bureau. A routine call ends up involving him in a complicated investigation. Walter Rennert, a retired psychology professor, apparently died from falling down the stairs at his Berkeley home, but his daughter, Tatiana Rennert-Delavigne, suspects murder. Tatiana's father and a graduate student, Nicholas Linstad, ran a study that ended violently when one of their subjects murdered a girl. That subject, a minor, was released from prison about a decade earlier, shortly before Linstad took a similar fatal tumble. Clay's attraction to Tatiana sways him to dig deeper into her father's death. The familiar story line isn't enhanced by pretentious prose. When Clay shoots a basketball, he "felt the weightless instant, when gravity releases its stranglehold, and you float, and the ball becomes vapor, pebbled breath rolling back against the tips of your fingers." Fans of the senior Kellerman's long-running Alex Delaware series will enjoy seeing Alex make a cameo appearance.)
