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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Absolutely loved this! Definitely one of her best! The story line was much more about Gabe Whitman, who came to live with Rina & Peter in the last book. The twists were fabulous, and very much in touch with teenagers and school life today.
I don't know why I keep reading books I know I won't like.
Most of the story was really good but the sections delaing with the Decker's foster son, Gabe and his girlfriend were pretty boring. I have to admit I skipped a lot of pages because I had no interest in reading conversations between 2 horny, sappy teenagers.
More 2.5
A lot of the dialogue was way too formal and stilted. And I could have done without the pages and pages of teenage romance.
A lot of the dialogue was way too formal and stilted. And I could have done without the pages and pages of teenage romance.
If I’ve read any of this Peter Decker Rina Lazarus series in the past, I can’t remember doing so. Again, I’ve rather callously fallen into it somewhere in the middle, but you don’t really need to have read anything prior to this to feel fully involved in it. In fact, this is book 20 in the series, in the event that someone keeps track of such things.
Gabe Whitman has moved in with Peter and Rina in order to finish high school. He’s the gifted son of a troubled friend of Decker and Lazarus, and at 15, he has a lot of free time and maybe not as much supervision as he should have. That said, he’s basically a good kid with an eye firmly set on either Harvard or Julliard in the fall. He practices that piano for hours and hours in preparation for acceptance into one of those schools.
One day, while he’s having an after-school drink at a Starbucks, he is menaced by several students from a nearby private high school. The leader of the group insists that Gabe has taken his seat. But Gabe turns the tables on the leader and avoids getting shot. But from that day on, he chooses to drink his coffee at another establishment, and he goes there early rather than later when the crowds are larger. And that’s where he meets her!
Yasmine is 14 and the daughter of super-strict Iranian Jews. If she even glances twice at Gabe, she runs the risk of dishonoring herself in the eyes of her family. But she can’t help it. She has heard him play, and she sings beautifully. So the two have music as their common bond. Their first meeting blossoms secretly into a forbidden-fruit teen romance that will touch the most jaded and hardened of hearts. In fact, to be truthful, that subplot was my favorite part of the book. That said, I’d have been more comfortable with this if the sex had been toned way, way down and if Yasmine had been older than 14. It felt like soft-core child porn, especially one scene where their first-time efforts at intercourse leaves her crying in pain and tremulously agreeing to allow it to happen again if it won’t hurt so much. Yuck. I stand by my assertion that the teen romance was intriguing in so many ways. The two grow together nicely, and the fact that they must meet secretly ads just a bit of spice to what would otherwise have been just another teen romance.
While Gabe and Yasmine are secretly carving out time for one another, a male student at a high-brow private school takes his life. But his mother refuses to believe his death was self inflicted, and she begs Peter Decker to look into it more deeply. When he does, he finds that the gun used in the apparent suicide was a stolen one. Suddenly, the death looks more like a homicide, and when another student dies in a similar way, the investigation ramps up. What Decker ultimately learns will chill and sicken you. You’ll wonder whatever happened to the days of relative innocence in school replete with cheesy prom decorations in a gym where the basketball hoops have been covered with crepe paper cheap décor. Not so with these rich brat private school kids. Theirs is a life of psychopathic violence that is both stunning and vividly memorable.
And through it all is this wonderful youthful romance of forbidden but unquenchable love between the gifted pianist and the strictly raised Jewish girl who is prepared to put it all on the line to keep the romance alive if at all possible. And, as you may have guessed, there is a heart-stopping point at which the private school violence and the young romantics intersect.
Gabe Whitman has moved in with Peter and Rina in order to finish high school. He’s the gifted son of a troubled friend of Decker and Lazarus, and at 15, he has a lot of free time and maybe not as much supervision as he should have. That said, he’s basically a good kid with an eye firmly set on either Harvard or Julliard in the fall. He practices that piano for hours and hours in preparation for acceptance into one of those schools.
One day, while he’s having an after-school drink at a Starbucks, he is menaced by several students from a nearby private high school. The leader of the group insists that Gabe has taken his seat. But Gabe turns the tables on the leader and avoids getting shot. But from that day on, he chooses to drink his coffee at another establishment, and he goes there early rather than later when the crowds are larger. And that’s where he meets her!
Yasmine is 14 and the daughter of super-strict Iranian Jews. If she even glances twice at Gabe, she runs the risk of dishonoring herself in the eyes of her family. But she can’t help it. She has heard him play, and she sings beautifully. So the two have music as their common bond. Their first meeting blossoms secretly into a forbidden-fruit teen romance that will touch the most jaded and hardened of hearts. In fact, to be truthful, that subplot was my favorite part of the book. That said, I’d have been more comfortable with this if the sex had been toned way, way down and if Yasmine had been older than 14. It felt like soft-core child porn, especially one scene where their first-time efforts at intercourse leaves her crying in pain and tremulously agreeing to allow it to happen again if it won’t hurt so much. Yuck. I stand by my assertion that the teen romance was intriguing in so many ways. The two grow together nicely, and the fact that they must meet secretly ads just a bit of spice to what would otherwise have been just another teen romance.
While Gabe and Yasmine are secretly carving out time for one another, a male student at a high-brow private school takes his life. But his mother refuses to believe his death was self inflicted, and she begs Peter Decker to look into it more deeply. When he does, he finds that the gun used in the apparent suicide was a stolen one. Suddenly, the death looks more like a homicide, and when another student dies in a similar way, the investigation ramps up. What Decker ultimately learns will chill and sicken you. You’ll wonder whatever happened to the days of relative innocence in school replete with cheesy prom decorations in a gym where the basketball hoops have been covered with crepe paper cheap décor. Not so with these rich brat private school kids. Theirs is a life of psychopathic violence that is both stunning and vividly memorable.
And through it all is this wonderful youthful romance of forbidden but unquenchable love between the gifted pianist and the strictly raised Jewish girl who is prepared to put it all on the line to keep the romance alive if at all possible. And, as you may have guessed, there is a heart-stopping point at which the private school violence and the young romantics intersect.
everything about the cover and synopsis on the back points to crime and thriller. nowhere is this advertised as containing soft core porn and teenage romance and yet every other chapter is abt a 14yo boy getting boners over a girl who he often points out looks like a child (the boners r very descriptive. kellerman makes sure to let us know his dick is big bc god forbid the hot 14yo orphan with high standards and mysterious piano talents has a small pp). ma'am i am a lesbian. i would not have read this book if i knew it included straight teen porn. i do not care about their story in the slightest. if it were just a side plot i wouldn't mind but for most of the story, the detectives take a step back and really let the light shine on icky anorexia jokes and unrealistic texting (shit like 'g8' and 'enuf' which no real teen has used unironically since the 80s). also the way yasmine talks about sex just highlights how YOUNG she is and imo why she shouldn't be doing it
I admire the stamina of authors like Ms. Kellerman who can sustain a series across twenty books. GUN GAMES is indeed the twentieth book in Ms. Kellerman's Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series and it's a good one. As with all long-running series some books are better than others and there is often a point where everything lags or is slashed and burned (I'm looking at you Patricia Cornwell and Laurell K. Hamilton). To be honest the last few books in this series have been okay, but just okay and I'm accustomed to these books being much better than okay so I've worried a bit that she might be running out of steam. GUN GAMES proves that there's a lot more life left in the series.
Kellerman writes what I suppose you would call police procedurals, but there are many things about her books that make her series so appealing. It's nice to see a police officer in a stable marriage with a huge sprawling religion and a faith (Judaism) that defines so much of how they live. Peter Decker's a good cop and a good family man - definitely not par for the course in the way we tend to think of cops. Rina Lazarus provides a nice grounding point - smart, sensible, intuitive, and a great cook. Best of all, theirs is not a perfect marriage or family - they have ups and downs just like the rest of us.
GUN GAMES focuses on a duo of prep school suicides that may or may not be actual suicides. Interlaced throughout the story is Gabriel Donatti, the Decker's foster kid - a piano prodigy and the son of a mob boss. Kellerman brings out the intoxicating moment of first love and even more accurately the decision that young, talented players in the classical world must make - play and perform or don't. It's hard to give up a life at 15 on your way to start attending Julliard at 16. Even when music is your world, everyone knows how much they'll have to sacrifice - scary decisions at young ages. Kellerman brings the two stories full circle in a lovely bit of plotting.
I thoroughly enjoyed GUN GAMES as a great thrill ride and absolutely perfect mind candy. Highly recommended for anyone who likes crime fiction and needs a good escape.
Kellerman writes what I suppose you would call police procedurals, but there are many things about her books that make her series so appealing. It's nice to see a police officer in a stable marriage with a huge sprawling religion and a faith (Judaism) that defines so much of how they live. Peter Decker's a good cop and a good family man - definitely not par for the course in the way we tend to think of cops. Rina Lazarus provides a nice grounding point - smart, sensible, intuitive, and a great cook. Best of all, theirs is not a perfect marriage or family - they have ups and downs just like the rest of us.
GUN GAMES focuses on a duo of prep school suicides that may or may not be actual suicides. Interlaced throughout the story is Gabriel Donatti, the Decker's foster kid - a piano prodigy and the son of a mob boss. Kellerman brings out the intoxicating moment of first love and even more accurately the decision that young, talented players in the classical world must make - play and perform or don't. It's hard to give up a life at 15 on your way to start attending Julliard at 16. Even when music is your world, everyone knows how much they'll have to sacrifice - scary decisions at young ages. Kellerman brings the two stories full circle in a lovely bit of plotting.
I thoroughly enjoyed GUN GAMES as a great thrill ride and absolutely perfect mind candy. Highly recommended for anyone who likes crime fiction and needs a good escape.
Meh. Ik weet eigenlijk niet waarom ik dit überhaupt heb uitgelezen. Het duurde een eeuwigheid voor weer wat schot in kwam, een de eindeloze hoofdstukken met tienerdrama en sms-gesprekken waren stomvervelend.
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not
This book was not about Decker/Lazarus. It was a verging on soft porn teenage romance. Although I am not a teenager, I have one living in my house, and I don't think this had an authentic teenage voice. I felt that profanity was tossed around in this book for shock value and overall I thought the story was lackluster. Having followed this series for a long time, I am disappointed.