Book Review-Older Books 9

The Conspiracy Club, by Jonathan Kellerman. Published by Ballantine Books, December 2003, 376 pages.

Do pathology and psychology intersect, shall these twains ever meet?

Well in this new book by Jonathan Kellerman, the path begins.

Jeremy Carrier is a psychologist at City Central Hospital, who some time ago, suffered a loss that has left him a loner and apathetic to most situations around him. His girl friend, Jocelyn, was brutally murdered. This also led the local police to keep him under close scrutiny, especially as in the coming months, there are more murders resembling Jocelyn’s.

Arthur Chess, City Central’s venerated pathologist, has befriended Jeremy in an elusive fashion, sometimes warm and receptive, other times cool and enigmatic. Jeremy is invited to a dinner with Arthur and several other septuagenarians, where violence and its origins and such are eventually discussed, even though no reason for this dinner was ever revealed to him.

Arthur then takes an extended trip and strange postcards and interoffice mailings begin to be delivered to Jeremy. Through these postings, clues seem to be emerging, somehow related to the more recent brutal murders. And now Jeremy is on the hunt of a killer.

During his search, Jeremy has become involved with Dr. Angela Rios, and this adds to his returning to life after horror. Even though he frequently fights getting emotionally involved, he is inevitably drawn to seek this relationship with growing fervor and an almost-obsession to connect the clues and find the psychopath at large. He also pursues the connection between the group he dined with and whether or not they are behind the clues being left on his desk.

This is a new character for Jonathan Kellerman, author of so many Alex Delaware novels, and it comes together in an intriguing and satisfying ending.

Maybe the next Club novel will give us more insight into those septuagenarians along with a new thriller to solve.

T. S. Stanton