Dr. Alex Delaware and Lieutenant Milo Sturgis--forty and fabulous in the Jonathan Kellerman psychologically twisted way! Open Season is the 40th book in the Alex Delaware series and Milo and Alex are working together to solve the case of a young woman who had been drugged and her body dropped outside of a run-down medical facility. As they begin to piece together her case, their suspect is gunned down in an assassination style rifle shooting. The death of their suspect then leads to additional assassination style rifle shooting cases where they must determine if and how the victims are linked. Alex once again comes through with his ability to piece together fragments that tell the full story, no matter how disturbing. This was a page turner and I devoured it within 24 hours! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Rating: 5 stars Expected Publication Date: February 4, 2025

This is the 40th installment in the Alex Delaware series, and Alex and Milo, now old friends of mine, are still at the top of their game! The 40th book fully embraces the location of these thrillers — mostly Hollywood this time in a thriller that follows an assassin possibly taking out unpunished bad guys. But how is a mom in a rowboat with her two year old a bad guy?

Kellerman is so very skilled at the detailed police procedural — his stories sort of “bloom” as we start with minimal knowledge about a victim and then branch out to investigating backgrounds, questioning friends and neighbors, building timelines, and searching social histories to finally get to the “a-ha!” moment that ties everything together. Dr. Delaware is more sidekick this time to Milo and Googler-in-chief, but his psychological takes have Milo and his whole familiar crew looking outside the box. Bravo for including all the detectives!

Kellerman (and now his son, Jesse) are automatic reads for me. Has it really been 40 years? The stories are never stale (I do believe they started in pre-cellphone days) and Kellerman has adapted modern day technology into his crime-solving. But that Cadillac Seville is now ancient — the last model year was 2004… Really, Doc, you deserve something new and snazzy. 5 stars!

Oh, minor irritation: “Clean-jawed”? What kind of adjective is that when describing a woman? Both Petra and Alicia get that description this time; Alicia in a previous book (which is why it re-irritated me now and why I googled it again as urban slang to make sure I wasn’t being petty). Of course they don’t have beards. ???

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Always! Milo has green eyes!
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Very impressively, Kellerman knows what kind of landscaping was typical in 1950s California.

Thank you to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

You can never go wrong with an Alex Delaware mystery. Lots of Milo and Alex together in this one with just a teeny bit of most of the other usual. A great story this time, and I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Love Alex Delaware and Milo. I always enjoy reading books in this series. Thanks for allowing me to enjoy this book prior to publication. It's a typical book in the series with murder and police procedure. You won't be disappointed

The initial portion of the book felt somewhat sluggish and occasionally perplexing, possibly due to an excess of dialogue that lacked sufficient contextual information. However, the latter half significantly improved, aligning more closely with the engaging style found in Kellerman’s police procedural novels that I have previously enjoyed. I am a fan of his Alex Delaware series. Overall, I rated this work 3.5 stars, which I rounded up to 4.

Thank you to Net Galley and Ballantine books for the ARC to read and review.

I can’t believe it’s the 40th Alex Delaware book! I’ve been reading them for probably the past 25 years and my excitement when a new one comes out never diminishes. This was another strong book that I flew through. I love the character interaction. While the mystery is always good, is the relationship between Alex and Milo that always brings me back!

The most beloved and enduring duo in American crime fiction is back. Psychologist Alex Delaware and Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis race against time to find a twisted killer!! Good book! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, a great who done it and a few twists and turns. The story was interesting! I do recommend reading this book it wasn’t one of my all time favorite, it was confusing at times but still worth reading! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

Nice story with Alex and Milo. It's refreshing that Deleware keeps his novels timely and readable after 40 years. Nice story with Alex and Milo. It's refreshing that Deleware keeps his novels timely and readable after 40 years.

Is there anything better than a new Jonathan Kellerman book?? I don’t think so! Open Season is his latest and it was fantastic!

This was a good entry in the Delaware/Sturgis series. Delaware’s knowledge of the human psyche allows him to pull some pretty impressive rabbits out of hats!

I love Alex and Milo. You always know it's going to end well for them and not the bad guys. This has a great ending Everything else is really very formulaic. Good summer read. It's like getting together with old friends!