Trouble
Non-series
Jesse
Kellerman
Putnam
(Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-399-15403-5 (0399154035)
ISBN-13: 978-0-399-15403-4 (9780399154034)
Publication Date: January 2007
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Young, idealistic, and overworked, Jonah is living the
lonely life of a medical student in New York City when he accidentally
stumbles across a murder in progress: a woman, being stabbed to death
in the middle of the sidewalk. Without thinking, he rushes in to
protect her-inadvertently killing her attacker in the process.
Thrust into the media spotlight, crushed by guilt, Jonah quickly learns
that heroism isn't all it's cracked up to be. He receives a shower of
unwanted attention-and hostility-from his superiors. The district
attorney wants to "interview" him. The family of the dead man wants
revenge.
Everything is further upended when the woman whose life he saved shows
up at his apartment. What begins as a thank-you drink turns into a
wildly passionate love affair. As their relationship deepens, however,
Jonah realizes that she isn't quite the woman she appears to be. His
nightmare has only begun, and the price of kindness will turn out to be
higher than he could have imagined.
Review:
Trouble
is Jesse Kellerman's second published book, a thriller that is at best
an achievement of style over substance.
Jonah Stem is a medical student in upper Manhattan who, returning home
after a particularly grueling day in surgery, encounters a man holding
a knife over a woman who has been repeatedly stabbed. Realizing she may
die without immediate medical attention, he fends off her attacker who
is accidentally stabbed with the knife and dies. Though the woman
recovers, Jonah soon finds he's being sued by the dead man's family. To
deal with the stress of his medical studies and the pending lawsuit, he
turns to Eve Gones, the woman whose life he saved, who has suddenly and
unexpectedly turned up in his life. But as he learns more about this
mysterious woman, he realizes that she can only complicate his life.
When he tries to end their relationship, he finds she will do anything
to prevent him from doing so.
Kellerman is an accomplished writer who brings his own style to the
narrative. He credibly evokes the strain and stress students of medical
school face, the long hours, the lack of respect and indifference from
superiors. He's created a complex character with Jonah Stem, and allows
the reader to experience the various frustrations in his life: his
former fiancée and her father, the endless hours of medical
school, his roommate, the lawsuit, and finally, his relationship with
Eve Gones. The use of sentence fragments, interfused dialog, even
spacing between words on the page, all combine to create the sense of
confusion and vexation that Jonah is experiencing. Stylistically, it's
exceptionally well done.
Trouble,
however, is anything but original. It's not even a good derivative.
Kellerman has done virtually nothing to inject anything different or
unique into this plot outline, which has been used as the basis for any
number of books and screenplays for years. A movie in particular
immediately comes to mind. One knows absolutely where this story is
heading, and once a scene opens can accurately predict how it will end.
Even with the denouement, where the author had a final chance to
introduce a twist or something novel, he played it safe and went with
the standard ending. It's disappointing that someone with so obvious a
talent for composition couldn't trouble himself to come up with
something original to write about.
Special thanks to Penguin Group for providing an ARC of Trouble for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Trouble? How would you rate it?
Novels by this author …
Sunstroke
Putnam (Hardcover), January 2006
ISBN-10: 0-399-15330-6 (0399153306)
ISBN-13: 978-0-399-15330-3 (9780399153303)
Trouble
Putnam (Hardcover), January 2007
ISBN-10: 0-399-15403-5 (0399154035)
ISBN-13: 978-0-399-15403-4 (9780399154034)
The
Genius
Putnam (Hardcover), April 2008
ISBN-10: 0-399-15459-0 (0399154590)
ISBN-13: 978-0-399-15459-1 (9780399154591)
Omnimystery
keywords for Trouble
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Location(s) referenced: New York City.
