Friday, August 8, 2014

The Beast by Faye Kellerman

The Beast by Faye Kellerman

Peter Decker and his detectives are called to investigate the strange noises coming from the apartment of an elderly man.  After arriving they realize that the noises are roars and that the reclusive elderly owner of the apartment, Hobart Penny, hasn’t been seen in a while and is not answering the door.  After much work on the behalf of Animal Control the apartment is safely opened and the resident Siberian Tiger is taken away.  Penny is found dead, not because of the tiger, he was murdered.  There are signs of blunt force trauma to the forehead as well as a bullet in his back.

This is my first Faye Kellerman book and I did enjoy the half of the book involving the investigation into Penny’s death.  Nothing is as it seems and following each revelation to the next was interesting.  The other half of the book was dedicated to family drama about Decker’s foster son.  The voice actor on the audiobook did his best to make every voice distinctive and compelling but he couldn’t even make that subplot interesting for me.  Maybe it’s because I’m not a long time fan so I didn’t have time and energy invested in the family drama, but I read over some reviews and apparently even big fans shared my opinion.  While the narrator was excellent I recommend reading this one so you can skim the family drama parts and get back to the crime solving.