FAYE KELLERMAN'S GUN GAMES: A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
GUN GAMES

A Decker/Lazarus Novel

BY FAYE KELLERMAN

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus are back in this gripping mystery involving a secret cabal of some of Los Angeles’ most wealthy—and vicious—teens. 

LAPD lieutenant detective Decker and his wife, Rina, have willingly welcomed fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman, the son of a troubled former friend, into their home. While the enigmatic teen seems to be adapting easily, Decker knows only too well the secrets adolescents keep—witnessed by the tragic suicide of another teen, Gregory Hesse, a student at Bell and Wakefield, one of the city’s most exclusive prep schools.

Gregory’s mother, Wendy, refuses to believe her son shot himself and convinces Decker to look deeper. What he finds disturbs him. The gun used in the tragedy was stolen—evidence that propels him to launch a full investigation with his trusted team, Sergeant Marge Dunn and Detective Scott Oliver. But the case becomes darkly complicated by the suicide of another Bell and Wakefield student—a death that leads them to uncover an especially nasty group of rich and privileged students with a predilection for guns and violence. Decker thought he understood kids, yet the closer he and his team get to the truth, the clearer it becomes that he knows very little about them, including his own charge, Gabe. The son of a gangster and an absent parent, the boy has had a life filled with too much free time, too many unexplained absences, and too little adult supervision.

Before it’s over, the case and all its terrifying ramifications will take Decker and his detectives down a dark alley of twisted allegiances and unholy alliances, culminating at a heart-stopping point of no return.

PRAISE FOR GUN GAMES:

“[Kellerman] does for the American cop what P. D. James has done for the British mystery, lifting it beyond its genre.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch 

“No one working in the crime genre is better.”
—Baltimore Sun

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Faye Kellerman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Sherman Oaks, California. She earned a BA in mathematics and a doctorate in dentistry at UCLA, and conducted research in oral biology.

Kellerman's groundbreaking first novel, The Ritual Bath, was published in 1986 to wide critical and commercial acclaim. The winner of the Macavity Award for the Best First Novel from the Mystery Readers of America, The Ritual Bath introduced readers to Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, who People magazine called: "Hands down, the most refreshing mystery couple around." The New York Times enthused, "This couple's domestic affairs have the haimish warmth of reality, unlike the formulaic lives of so many other genre detectives."

There are more than twenty million copies of Faye Kellerman's novels in print internationally. The Decker/Lazarus thrillers include Sacred and Profane; Milk and Honey; Day of Atonement; False Prophet; Grievous Sin; Sanctuary; Prayers for the Dead, which was listed by the LA Times as one of the best crime novels of 2001; Serpent's Tooth; Jupiter's Bones; The Forgotten, and Stone Kiss. The novels Stalker and Street Dreams introduced Kellerman's newest protagonist, Police Officer Cindy Decker. In addition to her crime series, Kellerman is also the author of New York Times bestseller Moon Music, a suspense horror novel set in Las Vegas featuring Detective Romulus Poe, as well as an historical novel of intrigue set in Elizabethan England, The Quality of Mercy. She has also coauthored the New York Times bestseller Double Homicide, with her husband and partner in crime, Jonathan Kellerman.

Because of her status as a bestselling international novelist and acclaimed public speaker, Kellerman was invited to Germany for a major media book promotion tour in 2001. After her initial visit to that country, she recorded her impressions in An American Jew in…Not Quite Paris, an original essay for mightywords.com. During the process of researching and penning that piece, she rediscovered her father's experiences as a Jewish G.I. stationed in Germany during World War II. Three more trips to Munich and two and half years of extensive research led her to produce her latest novel, Straight into Darkness, an historical crime thriller set in 1930s Munich, featuring Homicide Inspector Axel Berg.

Faye Kellerman's highly praised short stories and reviews have been anthologized in numerous collections, including two volumes of the notable Sisters in Crime series, Sara Paretsky's A Woman's Eye, The First Annual Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories, The Third Annual Best Mystery Stories of the Year; Women of Mystery, and Deadly Allies 11. Her personally annotated collection of her award-winning stories, The Garden of Eden and Other Criminal Delights, was published in 2007.

Active in community affairs, Kellerman has served on the board of the Southern California Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and has been a judge for The Scriptor Awards. She plays mandolin and guitar and is often heard making music with her husband. Her other hobbies include gardening, sewing, and fencing—if her back doesn't give out. She is the proud mother of four children, and her eldest son, Jesse, is also a published author. She lives in Los Angeles and Santa Fe with her husband, Jonathan, their youngest child, and a Papillon called Dreamy.

Be sure and read more about Faye Kellerman and her work at her website HERE.

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
Faye Kellerman is back again with everyone’s favorite husband and wife crime fighters, LAPD’s Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, in her newly released GUN GAMES.  With a story line that is hardly a “game“, Kellerman gives reader a smart mystery that weaves teen suicides/murders along with an unlikely teen love story. The teen in this case is 15-year-old Gabe who was introduced in Faye Kellerman’s recent book, HANGMAN, and is the son of criminal Chris Donatti. Just when Peter and Rina thought the empty nest was finally theirs to enjoy, Gabe comes to live with them. Gabe’s mother has disappeared suddenly and Donatti is a mobster and certainly not the right influence for a child of any age.

Gabe, of course, makes up the teenage part of the story and I really enjoyed this different direction of a Kellerman theme. Gabe is a good student and excellent pianist who meets Yasmine, a Persian Jew, and the two fall quickly for each other. However, due to Yasmine’s strict Orthodox parents who would never approve, they must keep their romantic life a secret. Then there is Dylan, a bully, who likes to push Gabe around, but when his girlfriend, Cameron, comes on to Gabe, real trouble starts. You see, Gabe loves Yasmine and turns Cameron down. Not one to be ignored, Cameron seeks revenge against Gabe with false accusations of rape and even kidnapping! This is an especially important turning point as it is where Decker comes in to the teen story more actively. It leads Decker to connect Dylan to his current case surrounding the teen deaths at the school. How he does this is cleverly brought about by Kellerman to end in the two storylines combining neatly into one.

The apparent suicide of Gregory Hesse at the elite prep school is Decker and his team’s major mystery. Hesse’s mother sought out Decker as she does not believe her son would have ever shot himself and wants the investigation to go forward. Things get even more complicated when a second supposed suicide occurs at the same school, so Peter Decker and his partners become more involved than ever.  When they find out the guns the supposed suicide victims used were stolen, the investigators realize they are dealing with more than some spoiled, bratty kids! 

Where this leads Decker is what keeps the story going, the pages turning, and the desire to find out who and how grows stronger. Understanding the forbidden teenage love and making your way through young people’s minds is easier said than done.  Through Kellerman’s finely developed characters, however, teen angst combines with danger, to bring GUN GAMES to a thrilling, action filled conclusion that you may or may not figure out along the way. I know I didn’t and thank Faye Kellerman for yet another exciting mystery!

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO CHELSEY AND THE GOOD
FOLKS AT HARPER COLLINS AND
MORROW, I HAVE ONE COPY OF THIS
EXCITING THRILLER TO GIVE 
AWAY TO ONE LUCKY READER

 
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