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adzpark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Homophobia
emp1234's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Listened to this one. I know I'm WAY late coming to this series but with so many books and fans, I'll try the next one. Series is 35 years old and some of it didn't age well. Definitely not PC by today's standards but was probably progressive when written. The story is paced well and I'm hoping the Alex Delaware character grows on me a bit more. He's a little douchey but it was the 80's.
yetilibrary's review against another edition
2.0
Read this for my mystery book club. Child abuse is a major plot point, which is Not Cool With Me (I never would've read this on my own). Also, the narrator goes from being "a brilliant, wealthy child psychologist" at the beginning to "a super action-hero karate-chopping brilliant wealthy psychologist" by the end of the book. Imagine Magnum PI crossed with Jack Bauer crossed with Brad Pitt and you get the idea. I went "NOPE WITH EXTRA NOPE" for the entire last third of this book.
tuomosuominen's review against another edition
4.0
I borrowed the paperback of Jonathan Kellerman's first Alex Delaware novel, When the Bough Breaks, from my brother-in-law sometime in the late 1980's. This Kindle edition was an impulse buy a few years ago, when I thought it would be fun to start this series over again from the beginning. I didn't get around to reading it until now that I got a Paperwhite for Christmas. Jonathan Kellerman has averaged one Alex Delaware book a year. This book was published just about 30 years ago, in 1985. The 30th novel in the series will be released tomorrow. I've read all 29 of them up to now and can't wait to start the new one, once it lands on my Kindle. There seems to be a repeating format to the Alex Delaware stories, which surprisingly starts already in this first one. Scenes of the child psychologist's private and professional life in wonderfully depicted LA, a crime is committed, there's a child involved, the child psychologist engaged to help out the LAPD, pieces of a larger and even more sinister plot are gradually revealed, the psychologist and detective duo eventually figure it all out, the criminals are caught in a big action climax, and then return to normal. But the format doesn't disturb me any more than watching Law & Order. There's 1985 all over this book, no computers or cell phones, people smoking cigarettes all over, and so on. And Alex Delaware is seriously training karate. Can't remember that from any of the later novels. The plot is deliciously complicated, but the details are horrible. Altogether an enjoyable return to the beginning of the series.
tiernanhunter's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol
iffer's review against another edition
3.0
The beginning of this book levered me out of a bit of a book slump, but it started to feel a little bit long toward the end. I also started to doubt Alex's ability to investigate, because multiple characters in the book just seem to cave to his supposedly psychologically adept manipulations to reveal protected patient information. That said, I enjoyed this, and I'll probably snack on the many books in this series in the future.
eserafina42's review against another edition
5.0
This one held up really well over 30 years. While I may not have given it 5 stars if I were reading it for the first time, I'll let sentiment push it up from 4.5.
books_and_tea_with_me's review against another edition
2.0
It was nice to read the first in the series. Pi wanted to know when Alex met Milo.