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A review by stefaniefrei
The Forgotten by Faye Kellerman
4.0
Troubled Past
"The call was from the police. Not from Rina's lieutenant husband, but from the police police." p 1 The shul, the makeshift synagogue Rina and her family are members with, has been vandalized. Makeshift? Well, the orthodox congregation have rent a former storefront. The place has been broken in, the books have been torn, there are spray painted insults, swastikas, photography with concentration camp victims. A silver wine cup was stolen, a kiddush cup. Rina's husband Peter Decker is sent to investigate - he has his team search hate groups along with local schools, as the last similar cases had been committed by teenagers from private high schools. But even when a very probable suspect is found, this case has come by no means to a conclusion, because in the end, there will be murder, runaways, over eager parents and parents who could not care less, drugs, and fraud. And the case will hit close to home for the Deckers.
The series is strictly police procedural, with lots of footwork, and only at the beginning of using the internet. It kept me glued to the story, I like the dry irony of the writing (sort of Philip Marlowe - style), there was some action scene in it, and lots of pages with Rina involved. The case seemed logical enough, although I kind of wonder how probable it would have been that everything would end up linked together - how many separate crimes were there in the end? Like, 5 or 6??
There has been a long break from my side between the last book in this series and now this number 13 (there are 24 books as of 2019) - I admit that I liked the first ones best and thus lost speed. Decker's wife Rina is orthodox Jew and he adapted his life along. Longer story, read books 1+2, but you might as well hop in with this one, there are enough explanations without being overly spoilers. The Deckers are a real patchwork family, with his grown daugther from his divorced ex-wife, Rina's two sons from her husband, who died of cancer, and one daughter together.The first books were rich in explaining orthodox live mostly via Peter's questions, discuss an issue and often relate this to the topical case. Then Rina sort of faded to the background - same as I faded as a reader. Since the last book, author Faye Kellerman got me back. Now this is a lot with Rina and the family - mostly Jake - and lots about genocide in general, with Treblinka in particular, plus some discussion about couples with mixed background, which in this context might even mean orthodox Jew and not Jewish enough, aka, not orthodox; or Spanish-speaking, but Cuban and Mexican. They could have taken that further, but okay.
Complaints? Hm, Rina. I do like Rina, but I sometimes wonder. I mean, some readers complain about her being "holier than holy", which I would not sign, but then, come on. She is by twelve years younger than Peter, all men who see her tend to fall in love with her or feel lust about her, and she does not care much about how she looks like, other then look modest. And sexy as she is, and bright, and educated, she only ever sees Peter, despite a detective's income, working long hours, being grumpy and patronizing, and being a tad, hm, bulky. So she just wants what every girl would want...?!
Else, pretty good. 4 solid stars
Characters
Again, like in number 12, Kellerman made no updates on the Deckers' ages. So, I am doing some maths from older books:
Peter Decker should be 49 (he was 42 on p 51 in False Prophet when his baby daughter was born who is now 7 - cf. p 79). LAPD Lieutenant, Homicide.Used to work Juvey. Used to be a lawyer. Had a farm with horses - Sold two years ago to move closer to the shul (synagogue). Tall, red-haired.
(Neither of the following featureing here:) Adopted like his younger brother by 6 years, Randy, their parents live in Gainesville, were they grew up. Divorced from Jan, one daugher Cynthia „Cindy“, should be like 26. Taking shifts as a young cop herself. Peter has half-siblings in New York from his biological mother.
• Rina Lazarus should be 37 now, (30 on p 51 in False Prophet -Pete is 12 years older) Was widowed, two young sons, Yaakov “Jake“, is nearly 17 now, p. 36 - now a little gap, because two years ago, he was almost 16 p 109; and Shmuel “Sammy“ should be 18. Baby Hannah with Peter, now 7.
Her parents, who are not showing up in this book, live more wordly and disapprove of some of her choices. Her late husband was a Torah student. Her parents, Mr. Stefan "Opah" and Mrs. Magda Elias, "Omah", are of Hungarian decent.
• Marge Dunn. Peter’s former partner at LAPD, now on his team, blonde
Cop Tom Webster and Bert Martinez
"The call was from the police. Not from Rina's lieutenant husband, but from the police police." p 1 The shul, the makeshift synagogue Rina and her family are members with, has been vandalized. Makeshift? Well, the orthodox congregation have rent a former storefront. The place has been broken in, the books have been torn, there are spray painted insults, swastikas, photography with concentration camp victims. A silver wine cup was stolen, a kiddush cup. Rina's husband Peter Decker is sent to investigate - he has his team search hate groups along with local schools, as the last similar cases had been committed by teenagers from private high schools. But even when a very probable suspect is found, this case has come by no means to a conclusion, because in the end, there will be murder, runaways, over eager parents and parents who could not care less, drugs, and fraud. And the case will hit close to home for the Deckers.
The series is strictly police procedural, with lots of footwork, and only at the beginning of using the internet. It kept me glued to the story, I like the dry irony of the writing (sort of Philip Marlowe - style), there was some action scene in it, and lots of pages with Rina involved. The case seemed logical enough, although I kind of wonder how probable it would have been that everything would end up linked together - how many separate crimes were there in the end? Like, 5 or 6??
There has been a long break from my side between the last book in this series and now this number 13 (there are 24 books as of 2019) - I admit that I liked the first ones best and thus lost speed. Decker's wife Rina is orthodox Jew and he adapted his life along. Longer story, read books 1+2, but you might as well hop in with this one, there are enough explanations without being overly spoilers. The Deckers are a real patchwork family, with his grown daugther from his divorced ex-wife, Rina's two sons from her husband, who died of cancer, and one daughter together.The first books were rich in explaining orthodox live mostly via Peter's questions, discuss an issue and often relate this to the topical case. Then Rina sort of faded to the background - same as I faded as a reader. Since the last book, author Faye Kellerman got me back. Now this is a lot with Rina and the family - mostly Jake - and lots about genocide in general, with Treblinka in particular, plus some discussion about couples with mixed background, which in this context might even mean orthodox Jew and not Jewish enough, aka, not orthodox; or Spanish-speaking, but Cuban and Mexican. They could have taken that further, but okay.
Complaints? Hm, Rina. I do like Rina, but I sometimes wonder. I mean, some readers complain about her being "holier than holy", which I would not sign, but then, come on. She is by twelve years younger than Peter, all men who see her tend to fall in love with her or feel lust about her, and she does not care much about how she looks like, other then look modest. And sexy as she is, and bright, and educated, she only ever sees Peter, despite a detective's income, working long hours, being grumpy and patronizing, and being a tad, hm, bulky. So she just wants what every girl would want...?!
Else, pretty good. 4 solid stars
Characters
Again, like in number 12, Kellerman made no updates on the Deckers' ages. So, I am doing some maths from older books:
Peter Decker should be 49 (he was 42 on p 51 in False Prophet when his baby daughter was born who is now 7 - cf. p 79). LAPD Lieutenant, Homicide.Used to work Juvey. Used to be a lawyer. Had a farm with horses - Sold two years ago to move closer to the shul (synagogue). Tall, red-haired.
(Neither of the following featureing here:) Adopted like his younger brother by 6 years, Randy, their parents live in Gainesville, were they grew up. Divorced from Jan, one daugher Cynthia „Cindy“, should be like 26. Taking shifts as a young cop herself. Peter has half-siblings in New York from his biological mother.
• Rina Lazarus should be 37 now, (30 on p 51 in False Prophet -Pete is 12 years older) Was widowed, two young sons, Yaakov “Jake“, is nearly 17 now, p. 36 - now a little gap, because two years ago, he was almost 16 p 109; and Shmuel “Sammy“ should be 18. Baby Hannah with Peter, now 7.
Her parents, who are not showing up in this book, live more wordly and disapprove of some of her choices. Her late husband was a Torah student. Her parents, Mr. Stefan "Opah" and Mrs. Magda Elias, "Omah", are of Hungarian decent.
• Marge Dunn. Peter’s former partner at LAPD, now on his team, blonde
Cop Tom Webster and Bert Martinez