Alex Delaware - 03 - Over the Edge

✍ Scribed by Jonathan Kellerman

• Book ID: 100149488
• Publisher: Books on Tape, [Distributed by] OneClick Digital
• Year: 1987;2012
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 280 KB
• Edition: Unabridged
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 0385360045

✦ Synopsis

When the phone rings in the middle of the night, child psychologist Alex Delaware does not hesitate. Driving through the dream-lit San Fernando Valley, Alex rushes to Jamey Cadmus, the patient he had failed five years beforeand who now calls with a bizarre cry for help. But by the time Alex reaches Canyon Oaks Psychiatric Hospital, Jamey is gone, surfacing a day later in the hands of the police, who believe Jamey is the infamous Lavender Slasher, a psychotic serial killer. Wooed by a high-powered attorney to build a defense, Alex will get a chance to do what he couldnt five years ago. And when he peers into a familys troubled history and Jameys brilliant, tormented mind, the psychologist puts himself at the heart of a high-profile case. Because Alex knows that in a realm of money, loss, and madness, something terrible pushed Jamey over the edgeor else someone is getting away with murder.

From Publishers Weekly

The third novel to feature child psychologist Alex Delaware begins with a desperate, garbled phone call from former patient Jamey Cadmus, genius of record and heir to a construction fortune. The next day, Jamey is accused of the Lavender Slashings, a series of grisly homosexual murders that have rocked Los Angeles. The teenager's lawyer asks Alex to examine Jamey's recent history with the hope that a plea of diminished capacity will protect Jamey from a prison sentence. Though soon fired, Alex continues his investigation, motivated by the compassion and intelligence previously demonstrated in When the Bough Breaks and Blood Test. Tracing the rocky road of Jamey's emotional development, Alex crisscrosses L.A., moving from Beverly Hills mansions to biker cabins, from the old Haight district to mountain canyons, with stops at the U.C.L.A. medical library, the high-security section of the L.A.P.D. jail and some exquisitely appointed legal offices. Aided by his friend, homicide detective Milo Sturgis, Alex ignores warnings to stay away from the case and begins to discern an ominous pattern in Jamey's family history, connecting esoteric South American hallucinogens, a massively irresponsible real-estate scam and the ageless human motivations of revenge and greed. The first two Alex Delaware books were very good indeed. This one, more complexly plotted, more richly psychological and filled with convincing financial and pharmacological details, is the best yet. Paperback rights to NAL; Mystery Guild main selection; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA Kellerman, a contemporary master of psychological thrillers, has created a story of building suspense about a psychotic teenage boy, Jamey Cadmus, who is accused of six murders. Dr. Delware, local psychologist, receives a late night phone call from Jamey, drawing upon him to help defend the teenager. The plot slowly unravels and the conspiracy of Jamey's family to create his madness is revealed. Readers will be drawn into this suspenseful drama by vivid descriptions of a psychotic, details of family greed, and the hope for the teenager's sanity. Susan Penny, Houston Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.