“Night Moves” is the most recent Alex Delaware novel written by Jonathan Kellerman. A family goes out to dinner and returns home to find a mutilated corpse dropped in the den. Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis enlists the assistance of psychologist Alex Delaware for his insight.
Kellerman is still an intriguing author, however there is not much I found terribly unique here. Some of the side characters seemed to be somewhat caricatured. The family at the center of the story were quite dysfunctional, which is nothing unusual for a Kellerman novel. Certainly nothing unusual for a thriller, however I was not finding the Corvin family all that compelling. It was another family with bratty kids, an overbearing, obnoxious husband who doesn’t take much of what is going on all that seriously, and the panicky, overprotective mother. It just all seems familiar, particularly in a Kellerman novel.
There also seemed to be a lot hinging on some pretty far-fetched coincidences. I guess most of Kellerman’s works is pretty far out there, but this one just hit me more noticeably.
I am still a fan of this particular series, and this did have some scenes which I appreciate. I often say that I really enjoy the scenes when Delaware and Milo get together and discuss their case over a sandwich or something. I am not sure why I like those moments so much, but I look forward to those scenes when I read a Delaware thriller.
It appears that Kellerman seems to really try to outdo himself when it comes to bizarre murders, and he often seems to try a little too hard.
This novel is fine. It’s not bad, but there was not much to make it stand out for me.
Next up, will be a literary journey into the final frontier with an anthology of adapted stories from the original “Star Trek” series. “Day of the Dove” was first published in 1973 and has a small collection of episodes adapted to prose form by James Blish.
Reviews, Musings, and Other Things... 