“Truly chilling.”
—Chicago Tribune
“A suspenseful thriller whose solution lies in the darker recesses of the human soul.”
—The Wall Street Journal
SILENT PARTNER
The apparent suicide of a former lover leaves Alex determined to find out what went wrong for this brilliant and privileged woman. The answer will lie in childhood terrors of the past—and secrets that still hold the power to destroy.
“Complex and haunting . . . hits the reader right between the eyes.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review
“The first page is a shocker, and the pace never falters. . . . A terrific read.”
—The Plain Dealer, Cleveland
TIME BOMB
By the time Alex Delaware reached the school, the sniper had opened fire on a crowded playground, but was gunned down before any children were hurt. Then the sniper’s identity is revealed, and Alex wonders: a would-be killer, or a victim in a deadly plot?
“Though a time bomb is ticking away at the heart of this novel, readers will forget to watch the clock once they begin it.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Virtually impossible to put aside until the final horrifying showdown.”
—People
PRIVATE EYES
Eleven years ago a seven-year-old child dialed a hospital help line for comfort—and found it in therapy with Alex Delaware. Now the young heiress is calling for Alex’s help again, because her mother, a recluse for 20 years, has disappeared—presumed dead.
“A gut-wrenching scenario.”
—Booklist
“A page-turner from beginning to end.”
—Los Angeles Times
DEVIL’S WALTZ
The doctors call it Munchausen by proxy, the terrifying disorder that causes parents to induce illness in their own children. Now Alex Delaware may have to prove a child’s own mother or father is making her sick.
“Reads like wildfire . . . harrowing suspense.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“The great strengths of this novel stem from Kellerman’s use of his own professional background in child psychology.”
—Cosmopolitan
BAD LOVE
It comes in a plain brown wrapper—an audiocassette recording of a soul-lacerating scream, followed by a childlike chanting: “Bad love, bad love. Don’t give me the bad love. . . .” And for Alex it is the first intimation that he is the target of a carefully orchestrated campaign of terror by a stalker who won’t be satisfied until he is dead.
“Will have you looking over your shoulder before you turn out the lights.”
—Detroit Free Press
“By the end I was fairly racing through the pages.”
—Los Angeles Times
THE BUTCHER’S THEATER
Jerusalem has fallen prey to a serial killer. His violent specialty: the ritual murder of young Arab women. Now veteran police inspector Daniel Sharavi and his crack team must scour a city simmering with religious and political passions to find a killer whose insatiable tastes could destroy the delicate balance on which Jerusalem’s very survival depends.
“Spellbinding . . . a vivid, fascinating tale.”
—Time
“Hair-raising.”
—Chicago Tribune
Turn the page for an excerpt from
Jonathan Kellerman’s
new Alex Delaware novel
A COLD HEART
Available in hardcover
from Ballantine Books
CHAPTER
1
The witness remembers it like this: Shortly after two A.M., Baby Boy Lee exits The Snake Pit through the rear alley fire door. The light fixture above the door is set up for two bulbs, but one is missing, and the illumination that trickles down onto the garbage-flecked asphalt is feeble and oblique, casting a grimy mustard-colored disc, perhaps three feet in diameter. Whether or not the missing bulb is intentional will remain conjecture.
It is Baby Boy’s second and final break of the evening. His contract with the club calls for a pair of one-hour sets. Lee and the band have run over their first set by twenty-two minutes because of Baby Boy’s extended guitar and harmonica solos. The audience, a nearly full house of 124, is thrilled. The Pit is a far cry from the venues Baby Boy played in his heyday, but he appears to be happy, too.
It has been a while since Baby Boy has taken the stage anywhere and played coherent blues. Audience members questioned later are unanimous: Never has the big man sounded better.
Baby Boy is said to have finally broken free of a host of addictions, but one habit remains: nicotine. He smokes three packs of Kools a day, taking deep-in-the-lung drags while on stage, and his guitars are notable for the black, lozenge-shaped burn marks that scar their lacquered wood finishes.