True Detectives

by: Jonathan Kellerman

Published by: Ballantine Books

Reviewed by C. L. Rossman

Sometimes while writing a book about his favorite characters, an author develops secondary characters that are so interesting he wants to tell their story as well. This is the case with Aaron Fox and Moses Reed, two brothers, one black, one white, who appeared in Kellerman’s earlier bestselling book, Bones.

Kellerman has kept his readers enthralled with the crime-solving talents of psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis, but the two brothers interested him enough to make them the central characters in this book, True Detectives.

Aaron and Moses have the same mother, but different fathers, one black, one white, cops who were partners until Darwin Fox was killed at a routine traffic stop, and his partner Jack Reed blamed himself for the rest of his life. He married Darwin’s wife and raised his son Aaron, but had a son of his own with her, Moses Reed.

The two brothers get along about as well as Cain and Abel, and avoid each other as much as possible. Moses works as a cop, like his father Jack did, but Aaron has become a high-priced private investigator, whose “Superfly” lifestyle grates on Moses’ nerves. But Fate intervenes and both brothers find themselves working on the same case, the disappearance of a young woman named Caitlin Frostig. Moses has opened a cold case in the police department, and Aaron was hired by the girl’s father’s employer to find her after she has been missing for years.

And when the case leads the brothers on a descent into the city’s dark side, they have to come to grips with the knowledge that the only way they can solve this is–by working together.

While this isn’t an Alex Delaware novel (he and Sturgis make cameo appearances), Kellerman still brings his considerable skills with character and dialogue to bear to make it as hot and exciting a thriller as his other books.

Armchair Interviews says: Delaware fans owe it to themselves to check this one out.

Author’s Web site: http://www.JonathanKellerman.com