Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me. It’s not bad, and if you’re intrigued by Serpentine, then I’d say give it a go. The parts that didn’t work for me were all quite personal, and very much to do with my own tastes.

I found it really difficult to get into. I’ve not read any novels in this series before – nor any of Kellerman’s other novels – and I have to say that I found it difficult to get to grips with Alex and Milo. There’s clearly a lot of history there, and little background for me to go on. I’m sure that if you’re familiar with the series that this won’t be an issue.

I also found the dialogue to a little unusual. It’s short and snappy and often lacking in pronouns and while there’s clarity from the context, it just didn’t work for me personally. There are also a lot of descriptions of the female form which I found a little tiresome.

That said, it’s an intriguing case. I find cold cases fascinating due to the added complexity in achieving a result, and Serpentine does present an interesting mystery.

Sure to please Kellerman’s fans, but not one for me.

Another great Milo and Alex mystery. This was a well woven mystery with interesting twists and turns. As always, the partnership is my favorite part of the story. A good read to start the year.

In Serpentine, book thirty-six in the Alex Delaware series, when Milo Sturgis is handed a case as cold as ashes in an unclaimed funeral urn, he turns to long-time friend and psychologist, Alex Delaware, to help navigate the murky past of a long-dead woman. A woman who died with a bullet in her head before being burned to a crisp in a Cadillac off Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills. With top brass and an uber-wealthy woman who wants her mother’s murder solved watching Milo’s every move, the case is a political minefield—a case where sensitivity is paramount, a case that requires Alex Delaware. With Alex’s insights and Milo’s detective skills, the team of Delaware and Sturgis is at their best in Serpentine.

Serpentine is number 36 in the Alex Delaware series and here Alex and LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis are working on a cold case from 25 years ago. As ever I loved the relationship between Alex and Milo, the characterisation and the LA setting. There are twists in the plot that I really did not see coming and this was a gripping read which filled 24 hours for me over the Christmas period. Although this could definitely be read as a stand alone I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series. Although this isn't one of the best in the series I hugely enjoyed it and this is one of my favourite US crime series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

Another great book in the series! I enjoy the banter between Alex and Milo and story was intriguing. I read this as soon as I got it and was not disappointed.

Serpentine by Jonathan Kellerman is aa very interesting book. i was immediately involved in the plot and found the book hard to put down. The story is complicated. with many different people involved in the seaarch for truth. The main chaaracter Ellis Barker is trying to learn what happened to her mother many years ago.. Naturally Milo Sturgis along with Dr. Alex Delaware help her.

I was pleasantly surprised that I had already read one of Jonathan Kellerman's books.. This story is certainly not a disappointment!

Milo, a cop, is working on a 36 year old case. He talks his friend, Alex, into joining him on this case. Alex is a psychologist.

Dorothy Swoboda had died in this case after her car fell off a cliff and went on fire. It is now Ellie Barker (almost 40 years old) who wants to have the case opened by the police. Ellie was only 3 when she lost her mother,

After the visit, Alex and Milo mull over the information they had obtained from Ellie and the possible scenarios .that lead to 24 year old Dorothy's death...

I read this one in a single sitting. Twists and turns all the way through !

HIGHLY Recommend!

Many Thanks to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for a superb read.

I was not overly impressed by this book. The story was interesting and the ending was unexpected, but I was expecting more action. Nothing really happened until way into the story, and I found myself bored halfway through. However it picked up towards the end and I enjoyed the last 30% of the book.

Detective Milo and his psychologist Buddy, Alex, are once again facing a very difficult crime to solve...this time the crime occurred decades ago. Join the team as they question many people from the past, making some people uncomfortable. I love the friendship of these two. While the book can be read as a stand-alone book, you’ll want to read more than one!

Mr. Kellerman is a true artist. His word postures of scenery, houses, cars, the environment, and more provide the canvas on which he places his special characters, Alex and Milo, The story is almost secondary to the relationship between the psychologist and the detective, nevertheless the author has created another good one. The twists and turns in this decades-old cold case are greater than those on Mulholland Drive where the victim was found. A great addition to the series.

Johnathan Kellerman is a favourite author of mine, reading everything he's written to date, literally growing up reading about all the adventures of Psychologist Alex Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis. They are a dynamic, witty duo and the mystery of this novel had me quickly turning the pages from page one. The graphic descriptions of the landscapes and hotspots painted a picture of the nitty gritty, not so glamourous glamour of the LA and I felt fully engrossed in the characters lives. The words flow so easily like the friendship/working relationship of Alex and Milo and the plot is unpredictable and satisfying to the very end. If it's written by Jonathan Kellerman its a winner.


Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Ballantine Books for this great arc

Unfortunately I was unable to read this book because of the pdf format. The font was too small to read on my e-reader.

Even if you haven’t read any of the (many) other books in this series, you will love this clever mystery which leads you down one path only to switch you to another. milo is an incredible character - somehow vulnerable despite his hard boiled exterior. The introduction of a seemingly unsolvable cold case tests the pair and makes for a satisfying conclusion.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House UK for the eARC.
This was my first Jonathan Kellerman book and I enjoyed it a lot. I thought it easy to read, even though I had not read any of the previous in this series.
Psychiatrist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgiss investigate the decades old case of the woman killed on Mulholland Drive, shot in a burned Cadillac. Many detectives in the past could not solve the case. The mega rich daughter of the woman, who never knew her mother, wants to find answers and has all the right connections to put pressure on the police department.
As Alex and Milo start to slowly unravel the mystery, danger lurks.
Their relationship is very appealing, both as co-investigators and friends. The mystery is fascinating, I couldn't put the book down and will definitely be reading others in the series. I was very impressed. Definitely recommended.

Yet another brilliant page-turner in the Alex Delaware series...!!!

In the 36th book of the series, Detective Milo Sturgis has been coerced into taking up a cold case by his superiors and as expected, he turns to his trusty bestie, psychologist Alex Delaware for help. With a shoddy case file in hand and no evidence, no suspects and no witnesses, Alex and Milo set out to find answers for Ellie Barker whose mother's murder 36 years ago has remained an unsolved mystery. What ensues is a brilliant and meticulous investigation that uncovers a trail of lies and murders left behind by a devious mind.

Though the plot begins at a slow pace, with every page, the suspense builds up, keeping the reader completely engrossed till the very end. The witty remarks between the two friends and the occasional peeks into their personal lives, kept the main characters relatable.

Overall, an enjoyable and engaging read.
My rating : 5 stars

A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It wasn't exactly the case Lt Milo Sturgis had been dreaming about: a death from thirty-six years ago and the daughter of the woman who died wanted some answers. She had money and money translated into clout and so the problem was dropped onto Milo's toes. Dorothy Swoboda was twenty-four years old when she died in a car which went off a cliff on Mulholland Drive and burst into flames. It turned out that she wasn't actually married to the man with whom she'd left her daughter but Dr Stanley R Barker, optometrist, was a good man and he took out adoption papers for Ellie - and she took his name. Ellie was three when her mother left her with Dr Barker and she has nothing of her but one photograph of her mother and father and a necklace made of serpentine.

It seemed like an impossible case: thirty-nine-year-old Ellie Barker has no clues to offer and Dorothy Swoboda's life is impossible to track down. Her death had been written off as an accident: the fact that she'd been shot before the car went off the cliff seemed not to have impacted. Worst of all, there's no file and the detectives who investigated the case have, with one exception, died. The only remaining detective is Du Galloway, who's keen to help. He put his failure to get anywhere with the case down to the attitude of his superior officer. It seemed that someone might have wanted this case buried.

This is the thirty-sixth outing for LA psychologist Dr Alex Delaware but don't be worried about getting to the party late: Serpentine would read perfectly well as a stand-alone and whilst there is a progression to the stories I wouldn't go as far as to say that there's an over-arching narrative. Delaware is still married to Robin and Milo Sturgis is still with his partner who's a doctor. The book is only incidentally about Alex and Milo: they're there to solve the case, not to star in the book.

As always the characterisation is brilliant: self-made millionaires don't often come like Ellie Barker but a disturbed childhood can leave even the most well-adjusted people with a sense of guilt and of worthlessness. You want her to get some closure about her mother's fate but you wonder if she's setting herself up to fail. Milo Sturgis's solve rate is near perfect but even he is going to struggle to come up with anything when the case is decades old and there are no witnesses and no evidence. But by teasing little bits of information here and there he begins to get a grip on the case. And what a case it is.

I've read earlier books in the Alex Delaware series but never before appreciated quite what a brilliant picture you get of the city of Los Angeles. Thanks to Google maps I could follow a lot of the activity: somehow it made everything more real. Did I guess how everything worked out: I was nowhere near and I was still being surprised a few pages before the end. It was an exceptionally-good read and I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.

The publisher has provided a free online copy for the purposes of review.

Serpentine in Jonathan Kellerman's new novel could refer to the twists and turns Mullholland Drive makes in the hills above Los Angeles, where decades ago a woman's body was found with a gunshot wound and burned. Or it could refer to the necklace that woman's daughter sometimes wears as a talisman.

Usually in their cases together, detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware have to fight the police establishment to allow them to investigate past crimes.

This time Milo's superiors are pressuring him to find out what happened to the woman found dead off Mullholland Drive. There's a lot of suspicious behavior on the part of several investigators, past and present.

Milo always gives Alex credit for his contributions, but in this case Milo seems to be leaning on his friend more than usual. And Alex and his girlfriend Robin are worried about their friend. But Alex and Robin are also worried about their lives together.

The best with this book, and the whole series, is the characters and the dialogue. The plot and the story are also very good, but you will really get to know the fantastic characters through their dialogue.

I was so excited to get this as a "Read Now" on Netgalley that I sat down last night and read every last page. I've been a fan of Alex and Milo for almost 30 years and each book just gets better and better.

This one starts with a cold case, a case so cold, it's frozen shut. Thanks to his stellar solve rate and some politics, Milo is put on the case to help a wealthy young woman find out how her mother ended up dead in a burning car pushed off a cliff. But with next to nothing in the archives, no clues and only a faded picture of the woman, Milo and Alex are forced to start from scratch, weaving together a story of evil that spanned decades.

Very few things make me happier than cracking into a fresh new Kellerman book and this one was no exception. Watching Milo and Alex work is always a pleasure and the intricately woven plot of this nearly-impossible-to-solve case kept me guessing til the end. There were more highs and lows and twists and turns than an alpine race course! And oh man, did I love that ending! Vindication and pure, unadulterated poetic justice. Is there anything better? Nope.

There's so much more I want to say about this one but I'm afraid I'd give too much away, so I'll just say this: if you're looking for a great mystery series, Kellerman's Alex Delaware series is the top of the heap.

I enjoyed this book very much and finished it in two days. As a newbie to the popular series I found that I could quickly catch on to the two main characters and their backstories. Twists and turns with the right amount of suspense and mystery made me wanting to read more and find out what happens next. It’s an extremely well written novel with lots of depth and attention to detail. I highly recommend to readers who are looking for a good solid novel!