RAGE
by Jonathan Kellerman
Ballentine Books
Random House Inc.
New York, NY
www.ballentinebooks.com
ISBN: 0-345-46706-X
365 pages, Hardback, $26.96
Genre: Mystery

Psychologist Alex Delaware receives an unsettling phone call from Rand Duchay, a mentally challenged young man he evaluated several years before. At that time, Rand and his friend Troy Turner kidnapped and murdered a young girl, and Alex was asked by the court to determine whether the two young teenagers could be tried as adults. Rand, recently released from his imprisonment in a youth facility, asks Alex to meet him, but when Alex arrives, Rand is nowhere to be found. Very soon after that, his body is found with a bullet wound to the head. Alex manages to garner the interest of his friend, Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, and together the two try to track Rand's last moments and determine who killed him. Their investigation reveals several murders within the past years, all persons connected to the murder and kidnapping several years before.

As a reader who has followed this series, I have found the last several to be dull and apathetic. Kellerman seems to be on a better track with his latest, although there seems to be an underlying depressive element that remains. There are very few likable characters, and that includes Alex and Milo. Both are cynical and jaded and a bit supercilious. The book presents LA in the worst light, filled with illiterates and egomaniacs. Some of the characters seem to be a copy of others in prior books. The majority of scenes involving Milo and Alex have Milo stuffing his face. What? Is Kellerman on a diet? There's a hint Robin will be back in the future, but I'm not sure that will help a series that is struggling hard to remain fresh.