Years ago I read a Faye Kellerman novel and hated it, which colored my expectations for this one (the two are married and both Faye and Jonathan write detective fiction). Despite my misgivings, this one was sitting on my shelf when I was looking for a Los Angeles setting, so into my reading rotation it went! (We had a fall trip to LA planned and I like to match my reading to the destination to build anticipation).
Verdict: this was a serviceable mystery that had great references to place (lots of specific locations that sent me googling, and hit the mark for destination-preparation reading). The detractors: it was a little long, required a some suspension of disbelief (no way would the police let the protagonist psychologist in as deep, or give him the investigative breadth, as he gets here) and the conclusion felt a little muddy.
Rage is the 19th in Kellerman’s long-running Alex Delaware series, so clearly some people give a rating higher than ‘serviceable, with some detractors’. Delaware is a psychologist who frequently assists the police and testifies as to accused’s mental capability in trials. In Rage he is paired with his good friend Milo Sturgis, an LAPD cop, to solve a recent murder that relates to a cold case they thought was solved. Rand Duchay was a developmentally-challenged adolescent who Delaware examined years ago in the context of a child’s murder trial. Rand was convicted along with the ‘brains’ of that murder, Rand’s friend Troy (who is probably a sociopath). When Rand is released after serving years in juvenile prison, he sets up a meeting with Delaware that he no-shows to, with his body turning up a day later. Delaware is intrigued and he and Sturgis dive back into the child murder as a potential motive. The two cover a lot of LA as they look for clues, and many a red herring is thrown their way.
Without spoiling it, I found the ending somewhat unsatisfying, in particular that Sturgis and Delaware were able to solve it based on their early start from pure conjecture (that part required some suspension of disbelief).
I would probably read another Kellerman if it fell into my lap, but for LA-based mysteries I prefer the Harry Bosch series.