Street Dreams

Rating:
Summary: Street Dreams
Review: What happened to Faye Kellerman? I have been hooked on her books. This one is clearly not up to par! It's choppy, all over the place, the story line doesn't flow.... Other than the fact that the same characters were used, it almost seems like the book was written by someone else. Very disappointing!

Rating:
Summary: You'd Think I'd Learn
Review: With each Faye Kellerman novel I think, well, I enjoyed a couple -- maybe the next one will be better. No such luck. Her characters have two settings: passionate and angry. The players seethe and boil over at the slightest provocation; that is, when they're not having sex. At this point it has grown tedious. Cindy's bi-racial relationship devolves into cliche: "the South shall rise again" (p.443)....what year is it again? Honey, have you ever been to Atlanta?

This, however, pales next to the anvil-like subtlety of Kellerman's Jewish subtext. Don't misunderstand, this flavor in her writing has produced some of the most enjoyable and informative pieces of text previously, but the whole Israeli = good, Palestinian/Arabic = terrorist thug bit is black and white thinking on a pathological level.

Another reviewer suggested that this would inspire novelist wannabes to go ahead and write. I say: have at it; you probably couldn't do worse.

Rating:
Summary: Putting some spark back into it.
Review: With Stalker, Kellerman introduced Cindy as the next generation of detective in the Decker family. While that book did not reach its full potential, Street Dreams does a lot better. This is the first book in a while from this once fascinating series which does justice to both the characters and the writer.

Cindy is a lot less contrived and more interesting than she was in Stalker. Kellerman has let her be less driven and somehow more human. Koby is a really nice character addition and he gives the book a little extra sparkle. The story is interesting and the relationship between the character generations is well written.

Unfortunately, the story of the German murder which Rina investigates is a bit of an off note in an otherwise sharp book. While it had the potential to be interesting, it is never really developed and in the end serves only to distract from the main event.

Long time fans of the series should take heart and enjoy. Newcomers probably should not begin here-- the backstory is a little dense if you haven't met the characters already.