Sunstroke

Jesse Kellerman delivers a debut as close to flawless as I've seen in a long time -- perhaps not since the first Lisa Scottoline, Everywhere that Mary Went. Three-dimensional characters. Plot twists that actually take you by surprise but that seem logical and connected. Clues for the reader as well as the characters (he plays fair). Scenes vividly described . No loose ends left hanging Smooth writing that keeps pages turning A chronology that's easy to follow What more do we want? The supporting characters -- Gloria's best friend, Gloria's ex-husband and the LA detectives -- were somewhat sketchy. But that's okay: they're in background. I had no trouble believing the characters or the plot. And I wish I'd had this novel last week, for a long plane ride. It's been awhile since I could get so caught up in a story. So...what's next from this author? I'm waiting.

Whenever an offspring of a popular author gets published I approach with a great deal of caution, nepotism being what it is and knowing from personal experience how extremely difficult it is to get an agent, find a publisher or even get a manuscript read in the money oriented publishing industry that thrives mainly on "commercial value" over artistic works of literary merit, where "mid-list" is a death knell. "Sunstroke" is a huge surprise. It may even, in some ways out do his well known parents work - a high compliment I assure you since I am, and have been for a long time a Kellerman fan. Sunstroke is a well written, well plotted and strongly character driven "Mystery/thriller" genre book that is also literary. A great read! Trust me, you'll like it. Kellermans are a triple threat now!

Jesse Kellerman stands on his own feet. This book is written with a turn of phrase that makes each next sentence something to look forward to. And if that were not enough, his characters are real, rich and well-conveyed so that one feels like one has a stake in their journey. And if that were not enough, he weaves a story that keeps the reader wondering as to its eventual resolution. This is the start of a great career.

It is a blessing and a curse to be the offspring of famous parents. Accordingly, let's get the issue out of the way right now: yes indeed, Jesse Kellerman is the son of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman. Jesse already has made his own mark, being better known at this point as a playwright than as an author. That may change, however, given the strength of his debut novel. SUNSTROKE is one of those books that defies proper characterization. Does it have elements of mystery and suspense? Yes, it does. Yet it meanders and slips and slides in and out of those genres, providing an episodic character study set against the background of Mexico, in an unsettling village where there are two rules: 1) there are no rules; and 2) the rules keep changing. The novel is told from the viewpoint of Gloria Mendez, a thirty-something secretary who is quietly and hopelessly in love with Carl Perreira, her boss of a decade or so. Perreira, a pleasant but enigmatic loner, has never given her cause to hope; Mendez's desire for something other than an unrequited love comes to an end when Perreira disappears while on vacation in Mexico. His last contact with her was a cryptic, garbled cell phone message about an accident. Unable to elicit much interest in Perreira's disappearance, Mendez goes to Mexico with the intent of finding him at best, or determining his fate at worst; she finds much more than she expected. The man she has come to love from afar has a surprising past, one that collides with the present and will affect the lives of people beyond the missing Perreira. The reader though ultimately learns more about Mendez than her missing boyfriend. Kellerman doesn't exhibit sympathy here so much as a remarkable and touching empathy for Mendez, a Hispanic woman. He also displays a quiet descriptive brilliance, particularly in his accounts of those last few miles of U.S. Highway that one encounters when leaving San Diego for Mexico, as well as for the ironically named Aguas Vivas, a small, all-but-deserted town in Mexico where the dead find their final resting place. It might be argued though that Kellerman's pacing is flawed in spots; but upon reading the novel in its entirety, one cannot help but conclude that there is a method to Kellerman's occasional meandering. His apparent sidetracks ultimately deal with Mendez, an intriguing character in her own right. With SUNSTROKE Kellerman establishes that he is going to be very much his own man from a topical standpoint. At the same time, however, SUNSTROKE demonstrates that the apple not only doesn't fall far from the tree, but also quickly seeds and grows roots of its own. This is an impressive, memorable debut. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Thirty-six years old Los Angeles secretary Gloria Mendez has been in love with her boss, novelty import business mogul, Carl Perreira, for years though she accepts it is unrequited so she hides her deep regard from him as he has not shown any sexual interest in her. Carl goes on vacation in Mexico. Following a relatively minor earthquake, Gloria listens to a strange jumbled message that Carl left on her answering machine. She tries to follow-up as Carl apparently has disappeared somewhere in Mexico's backcountry. Gloria tries LAPD, who dispatch her to the Tijuana cops, but neither departments show the slightest interest in the case. Not soon afterward, Gloria learns that Carl allegedly died in a car crash inferno. Devastated by her loss, Gloria travels to Mexico to bring Carl's remains home for burial. However, even that simple kind gesture proves difficult and dangerous starting with when she meets a young man claiming to be Carlos Perreira, son of her Carl and others who assume she is either a partner or lover with insider information on the activities of a man she thought she knew. Gloria is the center of this fine cerebral mystery in which much of the action is inferred until near the end. Though not a particularly courageous individual, the heroine shows her mettle when she tries to do what she believes is the right thing for Carl and subsequently begins an amateurish sleuthing into what happened to him and why. Proving DNA matters, Jesse Kellerman debuts with a delightful character driven who-done-it. Harriet Klausner