THE BURNT HOUSE: A Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus Novel
Faye Kellerman
Harper
Thriller
Hardcover: 0061227323
Paperback: 9780061227363

• Read an Excerpt

After a plane crashes in a residential Los Angeles neighborhood, Lieutenant Peter Decker is quick on the scene. As the smoke clears, it seems there is little for him left to do but be thankful that his daughter's nearby school wasn't affected by the crash, and the scene becomes one of search and investigation. But Decker soon receives a phone call. An irate man insists that his stepdaughter, although listed as a casualty, was not on the plane at all. In fact, the caller says, she was murdered by her husband. And so Decker faces the wreckage once more as he tries to find out what really happened to Roseanne Dresden.

In Faye Kellerman's latest effort, earthy Peter Decker is back to solve another crime along with colleagues Marge Dunn and Scott Oliver, and his clever and beautiful wife, Rina Lazarus. Like all past Decker/Lazarus novels, THE BURNT HOUSE combines compelling police work with engaging domestic scenes and adds Kellerman's trademark touch of religious interest. What other literary cop out there is a practicing Orthodox Jew?

Even though Roseanne's family has no evidence to prove foul play, Decker follows up on their hunch. It pays off. It turns out that hers is the only body not recovered from the crash site, and her husband may have had motive to kill her. Decker, Dunn and Oliver begin to investigate in earnest and find that while Roseanne's body is missing, another, unidentified body has turned up. Now they have two murders to investigate. Decker and his team work hard to uncover the truth not only about Dresden but also about the mysterious corpse found in the building the plane crashed into. Their work takes them from Los Angeles to Santa Fe where they meet a family who has been in mourning for 30 years. They track down members of a defunct church and Roseanne's lover, and visit an elderly man in prison. What can all these leads tell them, and what might they have in common?

As always, Kellerman makes a point to illustrate both the uniqueness and normalcy of being an observant Jew in America. Decker negotiating meals, which most people take for granted, is interesting; it is easier for him to say he is a vegetarian than to say he keeps kosher. Rina's religious ideas and spirituality are thought provoking, giving the reader --- through her conversations with her husband and others --- new ways to think about guilt, innocence, sin and the importance of family.

THE BURNT HOUSE is a great read with the right number of twists and turns and the always reliable character of Peter Decker. Some coincidences may be a bit of a stretch, and there is less Rina Lazarus than some fans might want. But Kellerman's pace and dialogue are as good as ever. This is a recommendable novel to transition readers from light summer reads to darker, more thoughtful winter tomes.

   --- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.