Sacred and Profane

i really enjoyed the book as i had read the first in the series and needed some answers to questions about their llives before they were together. i like faye kellermans type of writing- it adds some historyas well as a good story line.

"Sacred and Profane," the second Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus novel, proves to be even a better read than "The Ritual Bath," Faye Kellerman's first book in this outstanding mystery/sleuth series. This is a stand-alone novel, and one can easily get to know the cast of characters and their history without having read prior books. Ms. Kellerman provides a terrific change of pace from my usual fiction fare. Although these mysteries have their share of violence, gruesomeness and unsavory individuals, the ethnic/cultural aspect of the stories and the sheer humanity of the characters are refreshing. LAPD Detective Sergeant Peter Decker met Rina Lazarus, a young and very beautiful widow, while investigating a rape at a yeshiva in Deep Canyon, CA, where she lives and works. Rina is an Orthodox Jewess and the mother of two small sons, Samuel and Jacob. Attracted to each other from their first meeting, Rina and Peter, feel their relationship is "bashert," meant to be or predestined. Raised a Baptist, Peter is studying with Rabbi Aaron Schulman to become an observant Jew, both for his own spiritual needs and in order to marry Rina. At times, however, he has doubts about the course he has chosen, although he never doubts his feelings for Rina. The couple are very much in love. Besides her beauty, outside and in, Decker is drawn to her total lack of guile. Decker has become very close to Rina's sons and takes them on a camping trip where one of the boys discovers the charred remains of two corpses. Peter, who works in juvenile crime, is temporarily assigned to homicide to investigate this case. The skeletons, two women in their teens or early twenties, are identified through complex dental work and their murders are found to be connected to a grisly pornography ring which deals in "snuff" films." The case forces Decker to deal with the dregs of humanity, and although he is a hardened combat vet who served in Vietnam, and for years with the police, he becomes increasingly agitated and depressed. The fact that he is the father of a teen-age daughter, from a prior marriage, only increases his despair and anger. Seriously questioning the existence of God and the purpose of religion in his life, he becomes ambivalent about continuing his religious studies and practices. As he delves more deeply into the complex, macabre case, Peter becomes more and more isolated from Rina. And Rina, who in no way wants to pressure him, needs to find out how committed her finance is to their relationship and to becoming an observant religious man. The author deftly handles the workings of the intense personal relationships between Peter, Rina and their children plus crime solving with apparent ease. As with the other Kellerman books I have read, her characters are her strength. They are truly three-dimensional and their dialogue is extremely realistic. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery, the humanity of the characters, and details of the Orthodox Jewish customs and lifestyle.

Much grittier than the first novel in the Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series, this novel addresses personal depravity and personal spirituality, both of which actively concern the murders at the center of the novel, and the relationship between Decker and Lazarus. Taking place months after the events in `The Ritual Bath', the opening of the novel finds Decker camping with Lazarus' two boys, one of whom stumbles upon two dead bodies. Reluctantly, Decker takes on the case, and what follows is depressing for him and for the reader: teenage prostitution, snuff films, and pyromania, just to name some of the elements. These subjects take a toll on Decker, and threaten both his relationship with Lazarus and his embrace of Judaism. As in the first novel, the characters are well-drawn and realistic; you feel for Decker and Lazarus, especially when Decker becomes self-destructive, hurting everyone around him. The multi-layered plot is much more complex and satisfying than `The Ritual Bath', although the ending will not please romance fans. You'll be left wanting more...which is presumably where the next book will take you.

What can I say? I'm a fan. You won't be disappointed in this one. I can't say you'd be disappointed in any of them.

Excellent! Second book in series. Peter is studying the Jewish faith with a rabi because Reni will not consider a relationship with him unless he is a practicing Jew. He takes her two sons on a camping trip and one of the boys discovers two skeletons. They find out one of the skeletons is a teenage girl who has disappeared. Peter's search for the killer takes him into the porn world and he finds it hard to balance his work with his religious studies. Very good. One day read. Since I gave Ritual Bath 5 stars, I wanted to give this one 6 because it is better.