The Murderer's Daughter

June 29, 2015
Many readers will struggle to sympathize with Grace Blades, the protagonist of this standalone with an improbable plot from bestseller Kellerman (Motive), after a flashback opening that shows five-year-old Grace living in a trailer park, neglected by her parents, and forced at a young age to forage. Grace overcame those horrific circumstances and is now, at 34, a highly regarded psychotherapist in L.A. Even though she’s independently wealthy, Grace doesn’t accept insurance or allow her patients to pay on a sliding scale. She has a reckless side, which she indulges in one-night flings with strangers. To her shock, one of those hookups becomes a new patient, Andrew Toner, who traveled from out of state to see her. Soon afterward, he’s found murdered, and Grace turns sleuth after figuring out that he was using an alias. Readers should be prepared for some florid prose (“the ocean to the west a series of gray-cresting waves on black satin, the mountains to the east an endless chocolate bar”).

August 1, 2015
In his latest, Kellerman introduces psychologist Grace Blades. A former student of series shrink Alex Delaware, Grace specializes in helping people who are struggling to move beyond a tragic loss. Grace knows a lot about lossshe saw her father kill her mother when she was five years old, and spent much of her young life shuttling between foster homes. The past comes back to visit her when a recently murdered patient turns out to be one of the boys who shared her final foster home. Chapters from Grace's troubled childhood and eventual rescue by a psychologist who recognized her incredible intellect complement the chapters describing her dogged and dangerous search for the killer. Kellerman doesn't let off-the-charts genius Grace become one-dimensional. Her backstory and challenge to fit in, even into adulthood, are an engaging part of this satisfying mystery, which, though billed as a stand-alone, could certainly make a spin-off series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2014

Kellerman's latest is a stand-alone, but don't worry, Alex Delaware fans; he makes a cameo appearance. Grace Blades is a supremely cool and competent psychologist by day and a thriller seeker by night who relieves the stress of her job and some awful childhood memories by doing crazy things like picking up men in bars. It's bad news when a one-night stand appears at her office and subsequently ends up dead.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.