Killing Season Part 1

Just a silly book about kids in high school. Thin thin thin —- not much about a murder. Lots and lots about puppy love and lying to parents. Triple yawn! This is only part one too!

16-year-old Ellen Vicksburg was abducted from her hometown in New Mexico. Before her remains were found, another young woman from New Mexico was also abducted. When the story begins, her remains have not been found.Ellen’s younger brother Ben swore he would find her murderer. While the police had worked to solve her case, they had been unsuccessful. They had a potential suspect, but his family had moved out of state and Ben was convinced he was not the murderer. A math genius, Ben has withdrawn from his friends and school activities as he analytically pursued the killer. Now in his senior year, a new student, Ro Majors, has moved to the district determined to be the queen bee. With her beautiful looks, personality, and cheerleading ability, she quickly achieves that goal. While she is dating the good-looking football hero, she also developed a friendship with Ben. Eventually she learns how much effort he has put into the hunt and convinces him to let her help him.Detective Sam Shanks has been working on the case and kept in touch with family. He knows of Ben's determination in solving the case but Ben has not told Shanks what he has learned. Ben discovered a pattern linking the two murders ane connected to the seasons of the year. Later, he will find two others. He eventually does tell Shanks about some of his conclusions. Had he told the police earlier, they may have been able to catch the killer.The book climaxes around the time of the high school graduation. She states the summer solstice is only a few days away, June 21. Graduations in New Mexico take place in May.Faye Kellerman can write a good story. I've read all of the Lazarus-Decker books. In THE KILLING SEASON, she brings in a new, younger cast of characters, and a new location. It doesn't quite work. Neither Ben nor Ro seem realistic. For a newcomer, Ro is too successful and too controlling. I can't picture high school boys, especially those who do not have jobs, giving her diamond jewelry. There is too much emphasis on high school cliques, partying, sex, drugs, and alcohol. Kellerman keeps referring to Ben's younger sister Haley and her friend Lilly as "little girls." They are young teenagers, not little girls.The only beverage anyone seems to drink is coffee and an occasional glass of orange juice. What happened to milk, milkshakes, and pop?Her landscape descriptions are repetitive. She names the same trees several times.Ben thinks the killer is after him but doesn't know why. Since there have been multiple murders in different locations, there's no reason for him to think that..A few times Ro states that she's upset because her parents moved to New York to New Mexico after the death of her sister. She wanted to finish her senior year with her friends in New York. But another point he says the family moved because they wanted to get away.The book should have been marketed for young adults.

Good but needs tweaking. Some dialogue between Ben and Ro was awkward, as though forced. Too much teen drama for me. Shouldn't Vicksburg family continue to get counseling especially Ben? Why does he feel solely responsible? Because he feels his parents and Shanks aren't doing what he thinks they should? While he is obviously genius material isn't he almost too perfect?I like the very American mixture of Ben's family history, some of New Mexico's history and native crafts, and terrain and hiking trails. With fine tuning I could see Ben becoming a continuing character as he grows up perhaps as a high-level investigator for police department, FBI, specifically in missing persons cases, cold cases, or serial murders.

I have read and enjoyed a number of books by this author, especially the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series. This book was different. The story itself was interesting but the focus on teenage emotional challenges and outbursts was over the top.I was surprised how parts of the story felt quite contrived, something I have not associated with the author in the past.It also seemed unnecessarily long, with little new material added and the story dragged on. On several occasions I thought about leaving it unfinished but in the end did complete it. I think will stick with her Decker/Lazarus books, if indeed there are ones that I have not yet read.

Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of most of Faye Kellerman's work, so I'm surprised at this unfortunate review, but you seem to want an honest opinion, so. I sent this opinion to the publisher in hopes that significant changes occur before actual publication.

This book is a slog -- I read it in digital format, so it's hard to tell how long it is, but boy could it use some editing. Slow paced, which I initially thought was for the purpose of Kellerman's usually fantastic character development, but the characters in this book are just flat.

Is it because they are teens? Is it because so much of the development is through dialogue? Not sure. However, the dialogue is also... lacking -- there are some clever moments, but then there are the painful attempts to add some teen lingo in -- and yes, I am using that word in the most awkward way possible so that you can get an idea of how dreadful the add-ins are. Killer dope! Ugh. I read YA lit and work with teens all the time. This dialogue is painful. The sex is even more so -- between the implied anal from our "smoking hot" cheerleader main character to the boy's fistfight that just got real because "she was cherry" and one boy had her first, this book has tipped into offensive and revolting, and I'm not talking about the serial killer. It's entirely possible that this is a realistic depiction of boys objectifying girls in our current culture. My problem with it is that these are the good guys, and that is appalling.

Most of this book is set in the senior year of the main characters and if the point is to make the audience feel trapped in a pointless, drama filled exercise, then this book is a total success. If you are looking for the next fast-paced, hard to put down thriller, then I can't recommend it.

Finally, having read through to the end, what is up with the extended fantasy of future romance between our overprotective main character and his new life-obsession? She's a young teen with a crush on a guy and a terrible attack in her life. Don't further disenfranchise her personality by making a prediction that her future holds neither surprises nor triumphs.

What a bummer.

Advanced reader's copy provided by edelweiss.

This book is a departure for Faye Kellerman, who usually writes about Detective Peter Decker, and in this suspense novel the main characters are teenagers. Vicks, a brilliant senior in high school, is obsessed with finding out who raped and murdered his older sister several years earlier. Since her death he has withdrawn from socializing and devoted his time and mind to trying to outwit and locate the killer in order to get revenge. He sees the detective on the case as his only friend, although he remains close to his sister Haley and her best friend Lilly. When a new girl, Ro, joins the senior class, they become friends, partly because of their common bond of both having a sister die. With the background of high school social interactions complicating Vicks's pursuit of the killer, the reader gets occasional glimpses into the perpetrator's stream of consciousness, and the suspense builds with a sense of pending doom. Kellerman's description of teen dialog is sometimes spot on, yet sometimes seems to come from an adult's point of view. The book seems quite long, and I believe some of the interplay among the teens could have been left out without detracting from the plot.

After Ben's sister is murdered, he becomes obsessed with finding her killer. His research leads him to believe that a serial killer is the culprit. He and his girlfriend work on locating the killer.