Kellerman, Jonathan

(US, 1949– )

Jonathan Kellerman is a former child psychologist. Dr Alex Delaware, the hero of his crime novels, is an academic and psychologist who assists the police, in particular his friend Milo Sturgis, with cases using his skills as a psychological profiler. Gripping and intelligent, the stories expose the disturbance and sickness of contemporary American society. When the Bough Breaks (or Shrunken Heads; 1985) has an emotionally burnt-out Delaware asked to help find out whether a young girl, who can't or won't talk to the police, has witnessed a double murder. Self Defence (1994) tells the story of a woman juror who has served at a harrowing trial and has since been tormented by a recurrent nightmare that might be a repressed memory of childhood horror. A different hero, Chief Inspector Daniel Shalom Sharavi, features in his serial-killer thriller The Butcher's Theatre (1988), set in Jerusalem.

Patricia Cornwell, Robin Cook  CS