Member Review
Review by
Aravind R, Reviewer
Jonathan Kellerman’s long-running Alex Delaware series is a whopping thirty-five books old and, for readers who are familiar with the series, reading the latest one is like meeting a set of good, old friends. I am grateful to the author and the publisher, and NetGalley for the digital ARC of The Museum of Desire in exchange for my unbiased review.
The Museum of Desire starts off with the discovery of four dead bodies inside a luxury car at a Beverly Hills party venue by a cleaner. Homicide Lieutenant Milo Sturgis wastes no time in summoning his friend, psychologist and police consultant Alex Delaware, as the theatrical display of the bodies appears to be a sick psychopath’s idea of an art installation. The victims appear totally unconnected to each other, and there is no reasonable motive for any one of them to be killed. Milo and his team of hardworking detectives—with the help of Alex and a few others—plod through the investigation chasing non-existent leads, adding and discarding potential suspects and motives as new facts—and more bodies—continue to emerge. After a lot of perseverance, the investigators catch some lucky breaks and the complete story comes to light in all its complexity.
Milo and Alex are great characters and it is always a pleasure to get together with them. They share a fabulous rapport, both with each other and with others working alongside. The Museum of Desire also has a few interesting secondary characters that I enjoyed. The plot of this novel starts with a bang and races along pretty nicely as it gets more and more convoluted. It is a gripping tale with many unpredictable twists and a shocking, unexpected ending.
As much as I liked reading it, I was disappointed with the role Alex has to play in this novel. Unlike the early novels in the series, he does not get to practice his trade—the one which made his character unique and famous—much. There are just a few instances in this book where the author has tried to make his expertise useful, but those feel like only half-hearted efforts. Without his ‘psychologist’ hat on, Alex is like any other amateur detective, and that diminishes the fun by a good measure. Also, the case itself is a bit too complex, with the motivations of the killer(s) unclear and unconvincing. The denouement is quite abrupt without much in the way of confirming the assumptions made by the investigators about the killer(s). The overload of information about peoples’ appearances and food tends to annoy the reader at times.
As a thriller and police procedural, The Museum of Desire, is an engaging read with a fine plot and some entertaining characters. However, it would have been a lot better if Alex had been given a meatier role apropos of his specialty. I would rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars rounded up to 4.
The Museum of Desire starts off with the discovery of four dead bodies inside a luxury car at a Beverly Hills party venue by a cleaner. Homicide Lieutenant Milo Sturgis wastes no time in summoning his friend, psychologist and police consultant Alex Delaware, as the theatrical display of the bodies appears to be a sick psychopath’s idea of an art installation. The victims appear totally unconnected to each other, and there is no reasonable motive for any one of them to be killed. Milo and his team of hardworking detectives—with the help of Alex and a few others—plod through the investigation chasing non-existent leads, adding and discarding potential suspects and motives as new facts—and more bodies—continue to emerge. After a lot of perseverance, the investigators catch some lucky breaks and the complete story comes to light in all its complexity.
Milo and Alex are great characters and it is always a pleasure to get together with them. They share a fabulous rapport, both with each other and with others working alongside. The Museum of Desire also has a few interesting secondary characters that I enjoyed. The plot of this novel starts with a bang and races along pretty nicely as it gets more and more convoluted. It is a gripping tale with many unpredictable twists and a shocking, unexpected ending.
As much as I liked reading it, I was disappointed with the role Alex has to play in this novel. Unlike the early novels in the series, he does not get to practice his trade—the one which made his character unique and famous—much. There are just a few instances in this book where the author has tried to make his expertise useful, but those feel like only half-hearted efforts. Without his ‘psychologist’ hat on, Alex is like any other amateur detective, and that diminishes the fun by a good measure. Also, the case itself is a bit too complex, with the motivations of the killer(s) unclear and unconvincing. The denouement is quite abrupt without much in the way of confirming the assumptions made by the investigators about the killer(s). The overload of information about peoples’ appearances and food tends to annoy the reader at times.
As a thriller and police procedural, The Museum of Desire, is an engaging read with a fine plot and some entertaining characters. However, it would have been a lot better if Alex had been given a meatier role apropos of his specialty. I would rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars rounded up to 4.
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