BOOKS: Gun Games is one of thriller writer Faye Kellerman’s best
Talk about surprises! Just when I thought Faye Kellerman’s novels couldn’t get any better, she comes out with Gun Games, a riveting mystery/thriller featuring Rina Lazarus’ and Peter Decker’s foster son Gabriel Whitman.
Gabe is 15, good looking, smart and a piano virtuoso. But when he’s “crowded” one day in a coffee shop by a bunch of nasty teens, one of whom is packing a gun, his life takes a turn. Lucky for Gabe his absentee father is a gangster, because if he only ever taught Gabe one thing, it’s how to extricate himself from a tight spot. So the novel begins.
Not long after, Lieutenant Peter Decker learns of a teen suicide, and the mother of the teen wants him to investigate because she’s sure it couldn’t have been a suicide. Decker digs deeper into the teen’s life at his fancy school Bell and Wakefield, and discovers some unsavoury characters. Not long after Gregory Hesse’s suicide, another Bell and Wakefield student kills herself. The plot thickens.
Meanwhile Gabe meets an adorable 14-year old Persian girl named Yasmine, and falls head over heels for her. Trouble is, Yasmine is Jewish and Gabe isn’t. Yasmine’s family is very strict and old fashioned and if they knew she was sneaking around to meet Gabe several times a week, the fur would fly. Despite this, they manage to sustain their puppy love for quite some time, until something heinous happens, and that’s when the novel soars into high gear.
Unlike Kellerman’s other novels, Gun Games is a bit raunchier—the language is pretty graphic, as is the sex, but it all works within the context of the storyline. The plot is one of Kellerman’s best yet, and hints that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Gabe or Yasmine. If you’re a Kellerman fan, don’t miss Gun Games.
While my favourite Kellerman novel is Ritual Bath, this is definitely my second favourite. And talk about totally different settings! Ritual Bath is the very first Decker and Lazarus novel and is set in the Jewish world of the ultra-religious. It’s a fascinating look at the traditions and rituals that define that community.
Shelley Civkin is communications officer with Richmond Public Library. For other popular reading suggestions check out Richmond Public Library's web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/goodbooks.
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