Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I’ve spent the time since my last post reading The Plot Against America (which I didn’t bother to do an entire post on, instead commenting on DJ Cayenne’s post), and then reading The Conspiracy Club, which I knew nothing about but got as a present from the wife.

conspiracy club cover

Apparently this Jonathan Kellerman fella fancies himself a mystery and suspense writer, and according to the book jacket, he’s written lots of best sellers. Being the clueless reader that I am, that was news to me. Also according the book jacket, he uses a lot of hair products (webmaster — insert photo here). [editor’s note: I’m not your monkey.]

This book centers on a young psychiatrist named Jeremy Carrier who works at City Central Hospital. His girlfriend has been brutally murdered, and the police seem to consider him a suspect. When other similar murders take place, the 5-0’s seem to be keeping a watchful eye on him. While this is going on, Carrier is approached by an elderly pathologist at the hospital, Dr. Arthur Chess, who invites Carrier to a dinner with a group of old eccentrics. They all seem to have something in common, but Carrier can’t figure out what it is. And he begins to receive packages of materials in his hospital mailbox that he suspects come from Chess but can’t confirm, and which may or may not have something to do with the murders that have taken place. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that someone knows something about the murders and is providing Carrier with clues and information to let him figure it out for himself. Oh yeah, and Carrier gets a new girlfriend — an attractive young resident named Angela. The story goes on to follow Carrier as he uses his psychiatric skills to try to figure out who the killer is.

I won’t divulge any more about the plot, but I will say that I like Kellerman’s writing style for two reasons: (1) he doesn’t use too many big words, and (2) many chapters in the book are only a couple of pages long (thus leaving the bedtime reader with plenty of easy exit points to put the book down and go to sleep). I’ll confess that I was a bit disappointed in the story itself, though, because I felt a little cheated. The twists and turns in the story were not things that the reader could have suspected were coming and could have gone back later and said “Oh, yeah — I remember when x happened, so if I were smart like a detective, I should have suspected that y would happen later.” Instead, the revelations that take place are things that the reader had no reason to know or to suspect. This doesn’t necessarily make it a bad book, and it’s a fairly entertaining and enjoyable read, but don’t go into it thinking that if you pay close enough attention you’ll be able to pick up clues and figure out who’s behind the murders.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 25th, 2005 at 10:33 am and is filed under