Finished Fr 5/29/26
This is a paperback that I borrowed from Janny. I didn't want to waste my time with a book written by Kellerman, but I loved the book. Not a lot of character development, but the plot was fascinating. However, I expected more at the end. When the book ended I actually turned the page and thought that there would be more to the story.
The novel is about a couple with a three year old girl. The little girl is suffering from many hard to explain illnesses. Alex Delaware (he's a child psychologist) is called in because they thought it might be a 'mental' problem. Not the girl, but her parents might be involved: 'Munchausen by proxy'.
In the end, it's dad that was administering the drugs to make the child sick. Mom was a liar and had many illicit sexual partners, but she wasn't involved with her daughter's problems. I thought the mother would somehow be connected, but that was not the case.
From Publishersweekly.com:
" Kellerman's psychologist/sleuth Alex Delaware nimbly executes tricky steps of his own when called in to consult on the mysterious ailments afflicting a baby being seen at his training hospital in Los Angeles. In his seventh appearance (after Private Eyes ), Delaware is in top form, carefully pursuing the possibility that 21-month-old Cassie Jones may be the victim of Munchausen's Disease by Proxy, a complex syndrome in which a parent, usually the mother, secretly causes the symptoms that endanger the child. That Cassie is the only grandchild of the hospital's new CEO, a corporate hotshot who has demoralized the staff with cutbacks and a new administration of ``paramilitary types,'' adds political twists to the case's knotty psychological aspects. After a doctor involved in computer research is murdered in the hospital parking lot, Delaware calls on his friend Milo, a gay LAPD homicide cop currently serving as an input clerk. They link an earlier murder to the hospital and then key into a secret federal investigation, all the while trying to keep Cassie safe. With familiar characters, including Delaware's woodworking girlfriend Robin, and some well-developed new ones, notably the hospital's thuggish security head and an uptight pediatric nurse, Kellerman steadily turns up the suspense, reserving some surprises to spring near the end of this intricate tale, the best of recent Alex Delaware stories."
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