Victims.

Title/Author: Victims (Alex Delaware #27) by JonathanKellerman.

Narrator: John Rubenstein.

Genre:  Thriller

Publisher: Random House Audio.

Source: Library.

Synopsis: Not since Jack the Ripper terrorized the London slums has there been such a gruesome crime scene. By all accounts, acid-tongued Vita Berlin hadn’t a friend in the world, but whom did she cross so badly as to end up arranged in such a grotesque tableau? One look at her apartment–turned–charnel house prompts hard-bitten LAPD detective Milo Sturgis to summon his go-to expert in hunting homicidal maniacs, Alex Delaware. But despite his finely honed skills, even Alex is stymied when more slayings occur in the same ghastly fashion . . . yet with no apparent connection among the victims. And the only clue left behind—a blank page bearing a question mark—seems to be both a menacing taunt and a cry for help from a killer baffled by his own lethal urges.

Under pressure to end the bloody spree and prevent a citywide panic, Milo redoubles his efforts to discover a link between the disparate victims. Meanwhile, Alex navigates the secretive world of mental health treatment, from the sleek office of a Beverly Hills therapist to a shuttered mental institution where he once honed his craft—and where an unholy alliance between the mad and the monstrous may have been sealed in blood. As each jagged piece of the puzzle fits into place, an ever more horrific portrait emerges of a sinister mind at its most unimaginable—and an evil soul at its most unspeakable. “This one was different,” Alex observes at the start of the case. This one will haunt his waking life, and his darkest dreams, long after its end. ~Goodreads.com

Midnyte Musings:  I used to love Jonathan Kellerman.  I started with When the Bough Breaks and tried to continue on with the Alex Delaware adventures.  There are many of them (as you can see from the title above) and it was difficult to keep up with all the books for me.  But whenever I did pick one up, I was thrilled with psychiatrist Alex and his sidekick cop pal, Milo Sturgis.  The crimes were scandalous, sometimes horrifying and at times even a bit titillating.  Also, while events occur in Alex's life, if I happened to read one out of order, I may have wondered what happened with some things in his personal life, but it never hindered the mystery. 

The particulars behind solving the case came across very realistic.  There is a lot of hard work portrayed.  Phone calls, going back over the case, files and "pounding the pavement."  I did appreciate this attention to details.  There was no wondering how they got from point A to point B. 

However, Victims is not one of my favorites.  In fact, when going into Goodreads to update my reading list, I almost forgot about it.  When I read Kellerman's books in the past, I was always fascinated by the human behavior of the characters and the reasoning behind their crimes.  I don't know if I am now jaded or if it just this book.  The plot kind of fell flat for me and while the crimes were gruesome the mystery behind them, including the criminals themselves were a bit anti-climactic.  Alex's involvement is important but he wasn't an important character for me. 

Although Victims was not that entertaining for me, I would keep trying Kellerman's books on audio.  I'm not sure I would continue with the printed books.

Narration:  My favorite character that Rubenstein portrays is Milo.  He sounds exactly like the grizzled, sarcastic, jaded cop that I had in my head.  A little gravelly and a lot of attitude.  There were many characters in this book and I was impressed that the narrator was able to distinguish all of them without going over the top. 

Starstruck over: The portrayal of Milo Sturgis is stellar. 

The Devil All The Time

Title/Author: The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock.

Nominated: Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel, 2011.

Genre: Horror/Thriller.

Publisher: Doubleday.

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Favorite character: Arvin.

Favorite quote:  "It's hard to live a good life.  It seems like the Devil don't ever let up." ~Roy Lafferty.

All in all:  Dark but compelling. 

Synopsis: 
Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his “prayer log.” There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.

Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain. ~Goodreads.com

My Thoughts:
This book was chosen for the Horror Aficionados Group on Goodreads for the month of May.  I really have to thank them, because I don't think I ever would have come across this title on my own.

Reading this book made me uncomfortable.  It made me squirm.  At times the images were nails on a chalkboard and it just made my teeth ache.   It wasn't the gore or even the death, it was the way the characters thought and behaved.  It was the physical and mental festering.  However, I couldn't put it down.  I was sucked into the characters and the story.   The words flowed and the chapters flew by.

It is a mesmerizing read and the author conveys characters with such ease I feel as if I know them intimately, their dreams, how their mind works and their inner demons. It is dark, gritty, and dismal.  What I think is brilliant is that every description is grim so as a reader, I never felt like I could escape this world.  Even sunshine is not bright and cheery, but muted and oppressive.  The entire world is sad.  

It is a book filled with killers, corruption, people making poor choices and how their stories intersect.  Everyone is interesting to me even as I peer into their hopeless lives.  I think one thing that draws me to these people is their tenacity.  They just keep going, muddling through their days looking for satisfaction.

The characters I like are Arvin, his uncle Earskell and his grandmother Emma.  Emma and Earskell are good people who don't ask for much and have taken Arvin and another orphan into their home.  Arvin has gone through a tough time in his life, traumatic actually, but throughout I feel he still keeps a quality of innocence and is endearing.  I was drawn to him and cared about him even when he didn't always make the best choices. 

There is a some debate on the Goodreads thread whether The Devil All The Time fits into the horror genre.  It is also described as Southern Gothic.  Some think it's more a psychological thriller and one person even said that it "...defies genres."  I have to agree with all of these descriptions.  While I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone, I do recommend it as an undeniable powerful story with gripping characters.