When would-be actress Michaela Brand's 'kidnapping' with boyfriend (and aspirant actor) Dylan Meserve turned out to be a publicity stunt, her public defender asked Alex Delaware to assess her mental state. A week after the case was plead out (leaving Alex out of pocket), her body was found in an area of wasteland.
The resulting investigation, led by Delaware's detective friend Milo Sturgess, runs the usual gamut of intriguing side-streets, dead ends and (to abandon the roadway metaphor) red herrings, before landing on a monstrous individual with some truly twisted psychopathology.
Intertwined with the mystery is the continuing story of Alex's tumultuous love life; whether or not Alex and guitar-maker Robin get back together, and the fate of aging pug Spike, is something you'll need to read the book to discover.
It's been quite a while since I read a Delaware novel, and I found Gone a little irritating. I readily acknowledge that this may be the result of insufficient sleep or some other extrinsic factor, but I suspect it's a combination of Kellerman's less interesting style over time. I've always preferred Kellerman's wife Faye's writing anyway, but I suspect that in this case it also suffers from comparison with the recently read Stephen White novel Warning Signs - it's also a series with a clinical psychologist, one whom I relate to much better. I've borrowed the next Kellerman novel, Rage, but think I'll return it unread for now and try again a little later. - Alex
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