The Clinic by Jonathan Kellerman is part of the Alex Delaware series. I tend to enjoy these books as the characters are very well developed, and the stories usually quite captivating. This book is pretty good, but it's not going to be remembered as my favorite.

Who is Alex Delaware? He's a semi-retired psychologist who occasionally is asked to work with the police department. Usually it's his buddy Lieutenant Milo Sturgis who comes knocking, with a particularly difficult or cold case.

In this case, Milo has been working on the Hope Devane murder. For more than three months the case has remained unsolved. Dr. Devane was a professor and an extreme feminist. She taught feminism, and had written a best selling book discussing gender roles. Between the book and the talk-show circuit, Hope had made potential enemies all over the place, with her "male-bashing" teachings. This is where Alex's ability to "read people" will come in handy. Studying the scant evidence in the case, Alex comes to believe that Hope's murderer is not some random stranger who disagrees with her philosophies. He feels her murderer is much closer to home. Thus we begin to delve into her personal life, and discover that her private life is quite different from the public persona the rest of the world saw. Full of surprises, her "extra curricular activities" will lead Alex (and us) straight to her murderer. Well, maybe not "straight" there, as there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way.

I enjoyed this book, for the most part. The many characters we meet along the way are very interesting, and provide a whole lot of mystery. Red herrings are everywhere in this book. As far as solving the mystery goes, this is one of those books where you're given few clues that will really lead you there. It's not like you should feel dumb if you don't figure it out - it's not that kind of book. Just read along, enjoying the story, until the very end, when all will be made crystal clear. In this case, the ultimate conclusion is fascinating, although somewhat gruesome. Still, it makes for interesting reading.

I also liked the fact that in this book, Alex's personal life is terrific! He and Robin are married, and enjoying their new home, along with Spike the pooch. When the same character appears in many novels, it's nice to see him happy. I hope he stays that way!!

So what didn't I like? This book was quite simply too long, with way too much extra "fluff" tossed in. There are too many long, drawn out narratives describing the scenery. And far too much time is spent on things that have absolutely nothing to do with the main story. Nothing that can really be called a "subplot" because none of it really goes anywhere. It just seems like they were trying to stretch this one out to 460+ pages, so they added extra paragraphs all over the place. If they would have tightened it up, and reduced the pages by 50 or so, I would have been much happier.

Still, this is a very interesting read, and should not be missed, especially if you're an Alex Delaware fan.


Deception
Double Homicide
Silent Partner

Recommended: Yes