The Murderer's Daughter: A Novel

Another bad a$$ psychologist not only becoming her own personal private investigator but kicking total a$$ while doing it!

Totally loved seeing Alex Delaware’s name popping up in the novel.

This novel has so many layers and Jonathan Kellerman does an amazing job peeling back each one. I read the prequel first which really gave me great insight into Grace’s character.

I adore Jonathan Kellerman's writings--he may be my favorite writer; he is definitely up there at the top. His Alex Delaware novels are consistently excellent and I have read every one of them. When I saw this book was being published and it wasn't an Alex Delaware novel, I wasn't sure what to expect but, of course, I had to order it. I was not disappointed. With his usual precise character development, Dr. Kellerman has brought forth a complex personality in Grace Blades that defies description. Is she a victim (still) or is she a hero? The book surely makes one think about what horrors some children must go through who are not fortunate enough to be born into or grow up in a nurturing environment and end up becoming wards of the state and ultimately ending up fending for themselves. Can you truly escape that life even with a superior intelligence? Truly Dr. Kellerman's personal experience with child psychology has played a strong role in his writing of this novel. I was captivated from the first page and enjoyed it immensely, even when at some points I disliked Grace and/or her actions. Once again Jonathan Kellerman did not let me down; the novel is one I will undoubtedly re-read in the future. Well done, Doctor.

If you're looking for another Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis story it's not this one. I picked it up to read because I am a faithful devotee of Jonathan Kellerman. In fact I pre-ordered it as soon as Amazon announced it. The main character, Grace Blades, is a top notch psychologist. Kellerman really creates an interesting character in her: a super brilliant person who has adapted as well as possible to her her horrendous childhood. Early in the book it mentions that Grace knows Alex Delaware from her training. So I awaited Alex's entry into the story. Even when I was almost finished with the book I was still looking for it. So I guess it's good to read reviews before tackling the entire book. That said, this story is super and Grace Blades is fascinating. She's a great character and I wouldn't mind reading another book about her. Due to her unusually high level of intelligence plus her psychological training she is able to tackle very difficult problems. Furthermore she's physically very fit and she's a sharpshooter. When she wants to do something she goes all out to achieve her goal. She's me in my fantasies. Kellerman, sharpshooter himself in the literary world, works very hard to make her believable and he achieves this. This story, the plot and the backstory were riveting and kept the pages turning. I'd rather not be a spoiler and give any more details than that but I expect you all will love this novel.

The Murderer's Daughter is not the usual J. Kellerman novel in which good-guy psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware and his policeman friend Milo analyze the clues and save the day. I like those characters and want to read about them again. Alex is mentioned in passing, but the main protagonist this time is Dr. Grace Blades, a new-to-Kellerman psychologist with a troubled past and a troubling life. Grace is a very intelligent psychopath with sociopath tendencies, according to my amateur analysis, who has tricked other intelligent psychologists into thinking she is "normal." Creepy. As the novel progresses, she moves from being a foster child and ward of the state to being a successful professional with high income and significant inherited financial assets. And, she's a killer. Grace is not a likable character, but I was eager to turn the pages and find out what she would do next. Murderer's Daughter contains graphic scenes of sex and violence. It is not for folks who wouldn't watch R-rated movies. The book is well-written, but my rating is 4 out of 5 because of the creep factor and the graphic nature of many scenes.

There were times when I was reading this book that I really didn't like it. It was slow, and I sometimes found Grace's insistence on "going it alone" annoying. I didn't understand why she didn't go talk to Alex Delaware about the murder of her almost client, why she didn't go to the police, why she insisted that she was the only one who could take care of the problem. Even as the book drew to a close, I found myself doubting the believability of the plot and whether Grace would really have been able to do everything as described.

But then I started thinking about Grace's character. She is one of Kellerman's more complex characters. She is a person who was forced to be self sufficient from a very early age, and who was smart enough to learn how to take care of herself. She keeps herself isolated, reluctant to get too close even to her mentors and eventual adoptive parents. She's skilled at hiding her emotions, with an instinctive insight into the minds of others. Once she's dealt with something, she puts it behind her.

In light of this, her actions in the book make perfect sense, as does the abrupt ending. I don't know that I would like to read another book with her as the main character, but I wouldn't mind seeing her crop up in Alex Delaware's books now and then. I also found the narrative about her life fascinating, more so than the mystery around which the book revolved.

If you go into this expecting something like the Alex Delaware novels, you will be disappointed. It is more of a character study in the guise of a mystery more than anything else. However, if you can pretend it was written by someone other than Jonathan Kellerman long enough to get rid of your expectations, you will probably enjoy this book a lot.

This book is a complicated, and ultimately quite interesting character study to which the mystery/thriller elements take a back seat.

It is true, as some reviewers have complained, that Grace is not the most likable protagonist. But even her name shouts at a deeper theme. There but by the grace of... God? ... she has escaped being the monstrous psychopath she battles. Why, given the fact that both of them have truly horrific backgrounds, are they different?

Kellerman, a child psychologist before he started writing best-sellers doesn't say. But the question looms over every page of this book, and as questions go, it's a truly fascinating one.

It's not a perfect book, ultimately offering more questions than answers. But it's a really good one, for those who want to think. If you just want mindless beach read, it's probably too low on plot, and probably too dark. Read this one when you want to seriously think about why people are the way they are, and why some of us came out of childhood less scarred than others.

Jonathan Kellerman has written several very successful standalones. My favorite is Billy Straight. Many loved The Butcher’s Theatre. I found The Golem of Hollywood interesting and ambitious. The Murderer’s Daughter is less successful. The problem, for me, has to do with genre.

The Murderer’s Daughter is named Grace Blades. Growing up with trailer trash Grace is eventually sent to a succession of foster homes. She is finally adopted by two psychologists who are loving and nurturing. Since Grace is a young genius whose intellectual abilities are as acute as her emotional impulses are numbed, she finds the perfect home with Malcolm and Sophia in Hancock Park. They give her all that she needs (books, solitude, a wholesome family life) and then let her alone. Grace goes to Harvard and then does a Ph.D. in clinical psych at USC. She becomes a very successful clinician, but a less successful adult human being. Seeking random encounters for impersonal sex she spends some brief but furtive time with a man who suddenly turns up dead. It is, she comes to realize, a man from her past, a man with siblings who had been part of a cult. As the evils of the past impinge on her present, Grace decides to take matters into her own hands and seek justice for both past and present victims.

The genre problem: with a tweak here or there this could be a mainstream novel rather than a novel of psychological suspense. Grace’s life is told in endless detail as the narrative shifts between time levels. The story is so detailed that it feels at least a third longer than it needed to be.

Grace’s investigation is protracted but very straightforward. There is no mystery here. She sees; she remembers; she checks the internet and newspaper morgues; and there it is—who did what to whom, where they are now and what Grace needs to do. The plot is ingenious and impressive in that Kellerman fills in every detail, producing a broad canvas with name-shifting characters, but basically this is an investigation without a mystery. At times it feels more like a biography than an ‘amateur detective’ story.

I’m sure that JK was going for quirky/unique with his heroine’s personality but ‘affect’ (as the psychologists say) is important for novelistic fiction and JK’s protagonist essentially lacks it.

I had no trouble getting through it. Though I felt its length it held my attention. The writing was smooth and at points very impressive. JK nailed Berkeley, he nailed Harvard and he nailed the academic ethos. Nevertheless, I missed Alex, Milo and the mystery/suspense structure that I expected, given the title and the jacket art.

"The Murderer's Daughter" does not meet the same standard as Kellerman's other novels. Grace comes from a terrible background of murder and abuse and certainly has little to no hope of developing normal relationships as an adult. However, the person she becomes and her decision to become a psychologist do not work. Her work with badly traumatized patients does not fit with the badly traumatized adult she has become. Her reactions to her predicament with the cult put her on the same level with them. The use of flashback explains how she becomes who she is and why she reacts to situations the way she does; however, it makes her character even more unbelievable and less competent as a working psychologist trying to undo traumatic damage done to them as was done to her. She cannot even have a normal relationship with her adoptive parents who love her unconditionally. The climactic chaos at the end gives Grace retribution for events that happened years ago and saves her. I assume she simply continues her empty life. I kept waiting for some sign that this one-dimensional character would grow and change. Rather, she remains flat--the same at the beginning and the end. As a longtime fan of Jonathan Kellerman, who has read all of his novels, I am terribly disappointed in this opus.

I have read several of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware stories and was looking forward to seeing what he could do next. Unfortunately, despite Kellerman's writing skills he disappointed me with this thriller about a psychologist that IMHO ran off the road in trying to put some distance from his previous books.

The main protagonist is Grace Blades, a successful and dedicated psychologist who has a troubled history that has never left her. Grace saw her drug and alcohol dependent parents always fighting and eventually one parent murdered the other and then committed suicide. Then followed years of terrible foster homes where some of the children were worse than the uncaring foster parents. At one of her last foster homes she comes into contact with 3 other children from a cult background. Something is strange and dangerous about these children, something that haunts her in later life.

At last a caring childcare person puts her in touch with a loving academic couple who recognise her outstanding mensa IQ and allows her to study to her capacity. Despite gaining her intellectual freedom Grace is still haunted by her childhood background and by a secret life she leads because she doesn't have the emotional maturity to follow a normal sexual relationship.

All of this comes to a head when her childhood background comes back to haunt her when she meets someone from her bleak past which brings her up close and personal in a homicide case which threatens to expose her double life.

As always Jonathan Kellerman's writing a plotting is excellent. However this time I couldn't connect with the major character and the plot was so far fetched as to run off the road. Kellerman says that this is a stand-alone novel - I hope it is because I would not be inclined to read any more in the series.

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book for review. 2.5 stars.

(SPOILER ALERT) Jonathan Kellerman can write a good novel. The early Alex Delaware novels are a good example of his talent. The last few have not been up to par. They have been formulaic and have pushed the boundaries of believability. As I began reading The Murderer’s Daughter, my first impression was that he was back to writing a good book.

The story flips from present day to the past as we learn about the main character, Grace Blades. The sections about Grace as a foster child witnessing the murder-suicide of her parents, are the best parts of the book. The sections about her present day role as an expert in counseling people who have lost a loved one, not as good.

Half way through, both stories become tedious to read and Kellerman becomes more of a fact-giver than a storyteller. It seems writers who set a story in Los Angeles feel compelled to give us GPS directions as their character goes from point A to point B. Michael Connelly is one of the worst and here, Kellerman falls into that trap.

Kellerman gets a little preachy about the psychiatric care at VA hospitals and for all of his insights about psychiatry, never really explains Grace’s motivation for a secret sex life.

By the end, which becomes unbelievable, I found myself not caring what happened. This is a story of revenge. It’s also about a character that is more of a sociopath than those she is after. Maybe in a future Alex Delaware, he and Milo will be trying to solve a case where Grace Blades is the antagonist.

This one gets two stars because it’s only half bad.