Time Bomb by Jonathan Kellerman
Alex Delaware Series #5
mass market paperback, 468 pages
Random House, 1990
ISBN-13: 9780345517807
Alex Delaware Series #5
mass market paperback, 468 pages
Random House, 1990
ISBN-13: 9780345517807
mystery
highly recommended
Synopsis
By the time psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware reached the school the damage was done: A sniper had opened fire on a crowded playground, but was gunned down before any children were hurt.
While the TV news crews feasted on the scene and Alex began his therapy sessions with the traumatized children, he couldn’t escape the image of a slight teenager clutching an oversized rifle. What was the identity behind the name and face: a would-be assassin, or just another victim beneath an indifferent California sky? Intrigued by a request from the sniper’s father to conduct a “psychological autopsy” of his child, Alex begins to uncover a strange pattern–it is a trail of blood. In the dead sniper’s past was a dark and vicious plot. And in Alex Delaware’s future is the stuff of grown-up nightmares: the face of real human evil.
My Thoughts:
This is book 5 in Kellerman's Alex Delaware series. Fans will know that Kellerman combines good writing with intricate plots involving some psychoanalytical analysis. Time Bomb is no exception. Originally published in 1990, Time Bomb is showing it's age in some of the details and there were parts of the novel that seemed to move a bit slowly, but all in all it was a satisfying mystery.
highly recommended
(I'm going to be reading through all the Kellerman books thaqt were given to me several years ago.)
Quotes:
Back to school.
It evokes memories of the tests we've passed, or the ones we've failed. opening.
"...Recapping then, Nathan Hale Elementary School in the West Side community of Ocean Heights was the scene of a sniping that took place approximately forty minutes ago. No death or injuries are reported, except for that of the sniper, who is reported dead and remains unidentified...." pg. 2
"All these kids - it's a real mess. We could use you. I'll give you directions. Use your name with the uniform at the command post..." pg. 3
"But the view from the bluffs is often hazy. Fog, like complacency, seems to settle in and stay. pg. 4
She said, "That someone would do that to them. After all they've been through. But maybe that's why they're handling it okay. They're used to being hated."
"The busing thing?"
"The busing thing. And all the garbage that resulted from it. It was a match made in hell."
"Because of Massengil?"
More anger.
"He hasn't helped. But no doubt he speaks for his constituents. Ocean Heights considers itself the last bastion of Anglo-Saxon respectability. Till recently, the local's idea of educational controversy was chocolate-chip or oatmeal cookies at the bake sale. Which is fine, but sometimes reality just has to rear its ugly head." pg. 12
"I said, "The key is for them to make some kind of sense out of a crazy situation. In order to do that they'll need as much accurate information as possible. Facts. About the bad guy - presented at their level, as soon as possible. The mind abhors a vacuum. Without facts, they'll fill their heads with fantasies of him that could be much worse than the reality." pg. 17
Quotes:
Back to school.
It evokes memories of the tests we've passed, or the ones we've failed. opening.
"...Recapping then, Nathan Hale Elementary School in the West Side community of Ocean Heights was the scene of a sniping that took place approximately forty minutes ago. No death or injuries are reported, except for that of the sniper, who is reported dead and remains unidentified...." pg. 2
"All these kids - it's a real mess. We could use you. I'll give you directions. Use your name with the uniform at the command post..." pg. 3
"But the view from the bluffs is often hazy. Fog, like complacency, seems to settle in and stay. pg. 4
She said, "That someone would do that to them. After all they've been through. But maybe that's why they're handling it okay. They're used to being hated."
"The busing thing?"
"The busing thing. And all the garbage that resulted from it. It was a match made in hell."
"Because of Massengil?"
More anger.
"He hasn't helped. But no doubt he speaks for his constituents. Ocean Heights considers itself the last bastion of Anglo-Saxon respectability. Till recently, the local's idea of educational controversy was chocolate-chip or oatmeal cookies at the bake sale. Which is fine, but sometimes reality just has to rear its ugly head." pg. 12
"I said, "The key is for them to make some kind of sense out of a crazy situation. In order to do that they'll need as much accurate information as possible. Facts. About the bad guy - presented at their level, as soon as possible. The mind abhors a vacuum. Without facts, they'll fill their heads with fantasies of him that could be much worse than the reality." pg. 17
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