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judythereader's review against another edition
3.0
Just as Tyler McAdams arrives in Greenbury to stay with his friend and mentor, Pete Decker, while he studies for his law school finals, the small town's usual quiet is broken up by the report of a dead body in the woods. Tyler is on leave from the Greenbury force to complete his law degree, but he is eager to help out with with the investigation. It seems an open and shut suicide, but while trying to identify the body, they visit one of the local colleges. After determining their body was once Elijah Wolfe, a young math genius, they find a spiraling pattern of chaos. But is it criminal or is it just academic jealousy?
I know this is late in the series, but it is my first Decker/Lazarus (and apparently McAdams now) book. I enjoyed it very much. It's a very character driven book. Who the people are is more important than the the action. The added sub-plot of a potential suspect who shares a history with McAdams and hopes to have a future puts even more weight on the Novel side of Mystery Novel, but there is a real mystery.
This is not a classic whodunnit. Methodical police work takes you through to the conclusion. I suspect it's what real life is like. There are clues, but not the kind that Sherlock Holmes likes and lets him announce the killer. There is speculation and calculation with various theories and some red herrings. This is very good read.
I know this is late in the series, but it is my first Decker/Lazarus (and apparently McAdams now) book. I enjoyed it very much. It's a very character driven book. Who the people are is more important than the the action. The added sub-plot of a potential suspect who shares a history with McAdams and hopes to have a future puts even more weight on the Novel side of Mystery Novel, but there is a real mystery.
This is not a classic whodunnit. Methodical police work takes you through to the conclusion. I suspect it's what real life is like. There are clues, but not the kind that Sherlock Holmes likes and lets him announce the killer. There is speculation and calculation with various theories and some red herrings. This is very good read.
kittylitterbreath's review against another edition
2.0
The Decker/Lazarus series is usually decent mystery fiction. This was the first real snooze fest in the series. Blah.
booksmy's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5 Good, solid, not my favorite. I like McAdams, hope we see more of him.
gregread's review against another edition
4.0
Another solid story by Faye Kellerman. I like Decker's new partner. I like hearing about Peter and Rina's family. And the mystery was good and intriguing enough.
nickertz's review against another edition
3.0
One of the better Decker/Lazarus books in recent times. Now that the action is on the East coast there are more areas and feelings to explore. This mystery is solidly investigated and offers plenty of interaction between the characters. Decker's new partner is entertaining and their banter displays a good father-son dynamic. I was getting tired of this series, but this book has put the series back in my good column.
essentiallymeagan's review against another edition
Yikes. This is by far the worst book in this series. It felt sloppy, and some of the things the characters say are just ridiculous.
skinnypenguin's review against another edition
4.0
Another good mystery starring the married couple Peter and Rina. In this story there is a lot of talk about higher mathematics and some physics. Most of that was over my head but it was a bit part of the story. Must have taken a lot of research by the author to be able to write that in depth about the subject.
The story starts of with the suspected suicide of a college student. Peter starts looking into it and as his investigation progresses one the professors is murdered. It is staged to look like a suicide but it actually murder. The young detective that works with Peter, Tyler McAdams, is taking a break from his law school studies and helps in the investigation. He is supposed to be studying for his exams and Peter keeps reminding him of that. Lots of suspects including some college students, professors, and others. Rina helps Peter work some things out as she is a good sounding board for him. They visit their grown children in New York City and take Tyler along on some of the other trips that are involved in the case.
Enjoy this series. It is nice to see the progression of the main characters over the years. Some series start to grow old and stale after awhile but this is not one of them. The author always finds some new characters to add into the series and interesting situations.
The story starts of with the suspected suicide of a college student. Peter starts looking into it and as his investigation progresses one the professors is murdered. It is staged to look like a suicide but it actually murder. The young detective that works with Peter, Tyler McAdams, is taking a break from his law school studies and helps in the investigation. He is supposed to be studying for his exams and Peter keeps reminding him of that. Lots of suspects including some college students, professors, and others. Rina helps Peter work some things out as she is a good sounding board for him. They visit their grown children in New York City and take Tyler along on some of the other trips that are involved in the case.
Enjoy this series. It is nice to see the progression of the main characters over the years. Some series start to grow old and stale after awhile but this is not one of them. The author always finds some new characters to add into the series and interesting situations.
northstar's review against another edition
4.0
I've always liked this series and this one kept me turning pages. Once again, Get A Copyeditor. It's Phillips Exeter, not Philips, and I noticed several other typographical and consistency errors.
brettt's review against another edition
4.0
Peter Decker and his wife Rina are settling in to their lives in an upstate New York college town, where Peter works for a small town police department and Rina teaches part-time. The longtime Angelenos aren't sure about the winters in their new home, but the closeness to their adult children and distance from LA's hectic pace make up for it.
The discovery of a body in the woods near the end of the fall semester challenges the small department, but it seems to be a pretty clear-cut suicide. As Peter and his sometime partner, Tyler McAdams, probe the insular world of the math department where the young man was a star, they find plenty going on beneath the surface but no reason to discount the coroner's ruling of a suicide. Until a second body is found, and then it turns out that the world of higher math can have just as many devious twists and turns as any other when people start dying, in Faye Kellerman's 23rd Decker-Lazarus novel, The Theory of Death.
As is often the case with long-running series, Kellerman has found a comfortable groove with her characters. Her relocation of them to upstate New York offers some new ways to consider them and the move to a small-town setting provides several new stages on which they can perform. Rather than direct a team of detectives to investigate a crime, Peter works his own shoe leather. Used to quick responses from large nearby forensic facilities, he chafes at the delays his current bucolic locale offers. Rina herself -- Rina Lazarus when the series began but Rina Decker since entry #4, Day of Atonement -- finds herself with enough time on her hands she can accompany Peter on some of his official business. Her presence proves a great help, as does that of McAdams, in town to study before his first semester law school finals.
Much of the first half of the series turned on Peter's study of and assimilation into Judaism, Rina's faith and that of his biological parents. The second half so far has turned on the couple's seemingly irresistible urge to parent and mentor teens and young adults. Peter and Rina welcome Tyler's presence and Peter is grateful for his help, but they both are firm in their direction that he study for his law school exams. Peter also continues to guide Tyler in his work as a detective, even though the younger man may not stay with the force, and the couple also play the yenta a little for him and an eligible young woman.
Theory revolves around a lot of somewhat esoteric math, but Kellerman uses her detectives -- who have no idea what the students and professors are talking about -- as a stand-in for those readers who have no idea what the students and professors are talking about so the mathematicians can explain their fields in more lay terms. Theory manages to take its new locations, situations and cast members and put an excellent shine on a well-known series.
Original available here.
The discovery of a body in the woods near the end of the fall semester challenges the small department, but it seems to be a pretty clear-cut suicide. As Peter and his sometime partner, Tyler McAdams, probe the insular world of the math department where the young man was a star, they find plenty going on beneath the surface but no reason to discount the coroner's ruling of a suicide. Until a second body is found, and then it turns out that the world of higher math can have just as many devious twists and turns as any other when people start dying, in Faye Kellerman's 23rd Decker-Lazarus novel, The Theory of Death.
As is often the case with long-running series, Kellerman has found a comfortable groove with her characters. Her relocation of them to upstate New York offers some new ways to consider them and the move to a small-town setting provides several new stages on which they can perform. Rather than direct a team of detectives to investigate a crime, Peter works his own shoe leather. Used to quick responses from large nearby forensic facilities, he chafes at the delays his current bucolic locale offers. Rina herself -- Rina Lazarus when the series began but Rina Decker since entry #4, Day of Atonement -- finds herself with enough time on her hands she can accompany Peter on some of his official business. Her presence proves a great help, as does that of McAdams, in town to study before his first semester law school finals.
Much of the first half of the series turned on Peter's study of and assimilation into Judaism, Rina's faith and that of his biological parents. The second half so far has turned on the couple's seemingly irresistible urge to parent and mentor teens and young adults. Peter and Rina welcome Tyler's presence and Peter is grateful for his help, but they both are firm in their direction that he study for his law school exams. Peter also continues to guide Tyler in his work as a detective, even though the younger man may not stay with the force, and the couple also play the yenta a little for him and an eligible young woman.
Theory revolves around a lot of somewhat esoteric math, but Kellerman uses her detectives -- who have no idea what the students and professors are talking about -- as a stand-in for those readers who have no idea what the students and professors are talking about so the mathematicians can explain their fields in more lay terms. Theory manages to take its new locations, situations and cast members and put an excellent shine on a well-known series.
Original available here.