Twisted

A Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: Lindsay Crouse

Hollywood homicide detective Petra Connor has helped psychologist Alex Delaware crack tough cases in the past. And in Jonathan Kellerman’s New York Times bestseller Billy Straight she took the lead in the desperate hunt for a teenage runaway stalked by a vengeful murderer. Now the complex and wryly compassionate Petra is once again at the center of the action, in a novel of cunning twists and page-turning suspense.

Lifeless bodies sprawl in a dance-club parking lot after a brutal L.A. drive-by. Of the four seemingly random victims, one stands out: a girl with pink shoes who cannot be identified–and who, days later, remains a Jane Doe. With zero leads and no apparent motive, it’s another case destined for the cold file–until Petra decides to follow her instincts and descends into a world of traveling grifters and bloodthirsty killers, pursuing a possible eyewitness whose life is in mortal danger.

Finding her elusive quarry–alive–isn’t all Petra has on her plate: departmental politics threatens to sabotage her case, and her personal life isn’t doing much better. If all that wasn’t enough, Isaac Gomez, a whiz-kid grad student researching homicide statistics at the station house, is convinced he’s stumbled upon a bizarre connection between several unsolved murders. The victims had nothing in common, yet each died by the same method, on the same date–a date that’s rapidly approaching again. And that leaves Petra with little time to unravel the twisted logic of a cunning predator who’s evaded detection for years–and whose terrible hour is once more at hand.

“Why is it so hard to put down a Kellerman thriller?” asks Publishers Weekly. “It’s simple: the nonstop action leaves you breathless; the plot twists keep you guessing; the themes . . . are provocative.” Those in need of still further proof that “Kellerman has shaped the psychological mystery novel into an art form” (Los Angeles Times Book Review) need look no further than Twisted.©2004 Jonathan Kellerman; (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a divison of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

Praise for Jonathan Kellerman and The Conspiracy Club

“AN UNNERVING, HIGHLY CINEMATIC PLOT . . . [Kellerman has] headed off into different terrain . . . with striking success in this latest quick-witted outing.”
–JANET MASLIN, The New York Times

“Grabs the reader's attention and never lets go.”
–Associated Press

“[Kellerman] keeps the creepiness coming until the big-twist finish.”
–People

“Turn the page and you're hooked.”
–The New York Times Book Review

“Eerie...tantalizing.”
–Entertainment Weekly

Not thrilled

Love Jonathan Kellerman! This might have been better, but the narrator was boring as heck. Love John Rubenstein!

Twisted

I was disappointed in this Kellerman book. I could empathies with the victims nor the characters. Kellerman never made me care for the heroine or her lover or anything else for that matter. The young genius in the story has some potential as a charter, outside of him I will have to skip this series.

He must have been under a deadline. After a little rest, he will do us proud.