SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
By Jonathan Kellerman
Bantam, $24.95
Serial killers don’t stand a chance with shrinks like Dr. Alex Delaware tracking them down. Over the course of 13 titles, Delaware has been beaten up, had his house burned down and been the object of threats by every kind of maniac imaginable. In this outing, Delaware is called in as a consultant by his buddy, L.A. Police Detective Milo Sturgis, who is investigating the slaying of an Israeli diplomat’s daughter. The young girl, who was slightly retarded, was murdered during a field trip to the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s not long before another young girl, also slightly retarded, is found hanging by a noose in a schoolyard, and Delaware and Sturgis begin to suspect a murderer intent on ridding the world of the “genetically inferior.” At the request of the diplomat, the two begin to work closely with Inspector Daniel Sharavi, the Israeli police detective first introduced to readers in Jonathan Kellerman’s “The Butcher’s Theater.” But it’s the mysterious suicide of a young scientist that eventually leads Delaware and company into a near-fatal trap, sprung by a sexually voracious member of a right-wing sect. At this stage in a series as long as this one, most authors would be on cruise control, but Kellerman has fashioned an original and gripping tale that is one of his best.
THE LAST DAY
By Glenn Kleier
Warner, $24
Between now and the end of the century there are sure to be dozens of millennial thrillers trying to grab our attention and dollars, but few are likely to be as entertaining as this debut novel. On Christmas Eve 1999, a giant meteor crashes into a top-secret Israeli lab conducting experiments in bioengineering. Out of the ruins crawls a naked woman who staggers into the desert, where she is taken care of by a tribe of nomads. A week later, minutes before the new millennium begins, a violent earthquake rocks Jerusalem, beginning a religious panic that quickly spreads around the world. But out of the ashes appears a young woman who calls herself Jeza and claims to be the new messiah. Covering the story for an American broadcast network is Jon Feldman, a skeptical but open-minded journalist who begins to believe the young woman’s prophecies that world devastation is at hand unless everyone turns to God. In a nifty bit of plotting, Jeza attacks organized religions around the world through a series of parables broadcast by Feldman’s network. The Roman Catholic Church takes the worst beating through Jeza’s preachings, and in a wild scene she confronts the pope and his cardinals in Rome. The pace is furious and the plotting is handled with style and wit. The only downside is that we may have to wait another thousand years for a sequel.
IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE
By Robert K. Tanenbaum
Dutton, $23.95
Sometimes there is more suspense in a couple’s domestic life than in their professional work. That seems to be the case with Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi, the popular New York partners in this long-running series. As this one opens, Marlene is juggling motherhood with a newly opened detective agency devoted to helping women threatened by violent men. Butch is working for the New York City district attorney and is preparing to prosecute a young white man for the slayings of a number of elderly black women. Crosscutting between these two stories, Robert K. Tanenbaum aims for both suspense and a glimpse of the stress-laden lives of professionals living in the city. Unfortunately, neither story builds up much momentum (although Marlene does get to dress up as a dominatrix and visit an S/M club), so what we’re left with is a bickering married couple on the verge of emotional crisis. Long-time fans of the series will want to keep up with the proceedings, but new readers may want to take a look at some of Tanenbaum’s earlier titles.
COLD BLOOD
By Lynda La Plante
Random House, $23
When the young daughter of a fading movie star disappears in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, her parents hire Lorraine Page, an ex-cop, ex-hooker and barely recovered alcoholic to find her. For Page, who runs a failing private-eye agency in Los Angeles, there is not only the chance of collecting the $1 million reward if she finds the girl, but also the opportunity to repair her self-esteem. It doesn’t take long for the arrow of guilt to point towards the girl’s father, Robert Caley, a nearly bankrupt player in real estate who has gotten in way over his head on a casino deal in New Orleans. Complicating matters is the fact that the girl’s mother is not only a drug addict but is also mixed up with voodoo practitioners. As the action moves from L.A. to New Orleans, Page commits the cardinal sin of private investigating: She gets involved sexually with the main suspect. By the time it all ends, Page collects her million, but her self-esteem is left battered. Written by the writer and creator of the TV series “Prime Suspect,” this one features some complex plotting and a merciless eye toward human nature.
THE DEFENSE
By D.W. Buffa
Holt, $20
Legal thrillers have become about as plentiful as dead leaves in November, but this debut novel, set in Portland, Ore., rises above the crowd. The main character is Joseph Antonelli, a defense lawyer so good that his guilty clients are nearly always acquitted. Five years after getting Johnny Morel, a petty criminal, off for raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Antonelli is pulled back into the case when the girl’s mother, Denise, kills Morel. In a shocking twist, Denise later turns up dead in the home of Antonelli’s mentor, the brilliant but eccentric Judge Leopold Rifkin. It appears that Antonelli has finally found somebody innocent to defend, but a few nasty surprises lay ahead for lawyer and client. D.W. Buffa has a strong prose style and is unafraid to use the ideas of Plato and Nietzsche as underpinnings to his story. This doesn’t slow the action down but gives it more depth and substance.
