Gone

Gone by Jonathan Kellerman

Alex Delaware Series #20

Mass Market Paperback, 456 pages

Ballantine Books, 2006

ISBN-13: 9780345452627

recommended

Synopsis from cover:

Missing acting students Dylan Meserve and Michaela Brand are found in the remote mountains of Malibu battered and terrified after a harrowing ordeal at the hands of a sadistic abductor. But forensic evidence soon exposes the abduction as a hoax and the kids are charged as criminals themselves. After examining Michaela, psychologist Alex Delaware is certain that there is more to this sordid psychodrama and his instincts prove dead-on when she is savagely murdered. Casting their dragnet into the murkiest corners of L.A., Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis unearth more questions than answers – and a host of eerily identical killings. What bizarre and brutal epidemic is infecting the city with terror, madness, and sudden, twisted death?

My Thoughts:

Although this was a satisfactory procedural novel, I will admit to becoming bored by the investigation and feeling bogged down during the majority of the novel. The conclusion of the investigation was gruesome, but it was pretty easy to figure out who was the final suspect early on in Gone. Still, Kellerman is a good writer and his fans will likely enjoy this addition to the Alex Delaware series. I have two more Kellerman novels waiting that do not feature Alex Delaware. Recommended

Quotes:

She nearly killed an innocent man. opening

The naked girl jumped out at him a lot faster than any deer.
Eyes full of terror, mouth stretched so wide Charley swore he could see her tonsils.
She ran across the road, straight in the path of his truck, hair blowing wild, waving her arms.
Stomping the brake pedal hard, Charley felt the pickup lurch, wobble, and sway. Then the sharp skid to the left, straight at the battered guardrail that separated him from a thousand foot of nothing. pg. 2

She was a kid, young enough to be his daughter. Granddaughter.
Those marks on her wrists and ankles, around her neck.
She screamed again.
"Ohgodohgoohgod.”
She was right up to him, now, yellow hair whipping his face. He could smell the fear on her. See the goose bumps on her pretty tan shoulders.
“Help me!”
Poor kid was shivering. pg. 4

When Michaela Brand and Dylan Meserve went missing, no one seemed to notice. pg. 6

Couple abducted at gunpoint, found naked and dehydrated in the hills of Malibu. I played with the remote but no other broadcast added details. pg. 9

When the abduction became something else, the media started using names.

Michaela Brand, 23. Dylan Meserve, 24.

Mug shots do nothing for your looks but even with numbers around their necks and that trapped-animal brightness in their eyes, these two were soap-opera fodder. They'd produced a reality show episode that backfired. pg. 11

Faced with the evidence, the couple broke down, admitted the hoax, and were charged with obstructing officers and filing a false police report. pg. 12