©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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With Faye Kellerman, you may be sure that the good doctor's veneer of professional respectability and religious fervor doesn't last long. Kellerman's latest novel, Prayers for the Dead, showcases a master of suspense in top form -- a complex and involving new case for Los Angeles homicide lieutenant Peter Decker.
Decker's investigation uncovers another side of Dr. Sparks: weekend escapes riding with a wild biker gang, support for an extremist political cause, a deeply disturbing secret, and bitter fissures in the seemingly idyllic Sparks family.
At the time of his death, Dr. Sparks was spearheading research on a promising new drug to enhance the body's reception of organ transplants. The doctor received a substantial price for his drug as well as an assured royalty on its future sales. Not surprisingly, this prospect draws the envy of his associates and a grudging acknowledgment by the drug company's management.
With each cast of his net, Decker adds to the pile of suspects: the doctor's resentful, debt-laden children and jealous subordinates, unscrupulous pharmaceutical executives, and vicious bikers. The family's tangled past involves Decker's wife, Rina Lazarus.
Shortly after Decker reminds his team that major cases are either solved within the first 48 hours or become the object of long-term investigations, the case explodes and pressure mounts as two prime suspects are murdered with the same violence and bloodshed. As if to prove that she never disappoints, Kellerman delivers a stunning conclusion to her best book yet.
John Messer is a freelance reviewer in Ludington, Michigan.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.