When the Bough Breaks

An Alex Delaware Novel

By: Jonathan Kellerman

Narrated by: Alexander Adams

In the first Alex Delaware novel, Dr. Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.

It's psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Melody's memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past.

This connection is only the beginning, a single link in a 40-year-old conspiracy. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim: Melody Quinn.

©2003 Jonathan Kellerman (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"An engrossing thriller.... this knockout of an entertainment is the kind of book which establishes a career in one stroke." ( New York Newsday)
"Suspenseful, neatly spun, fascinating." ( Philadelphia Daily News)
"Grab yourself a copy soon." ( Los Angeles Times)

When the bough breaks

Wonderful start to this series and now I can't wait for the next book in the series.

very disturbing

the profanity was difficult to hear and the details of the violation against children was very disturbing. the story line and plot was excellent but a lot of the details of the child molestation could have been left out. also some of the detailed descriptions could have been abbreviated.

my favorite author!

So happy to have all of these books to hear! I love the twists and turns so you can try to guess the ending... but you will probably be wrong!!

great listen

twists and turns at every chapter. I can't wait for the next book to listen to.

Not Too Sure

The narrator was great and he weaved intrigue but the story line about children being molested made my stomach turn. Hopefully Kellemans' Alex Delaware books will be better.

A good start to the series

The Alex Delaware series started in 1985 and Kellerman, the author, is still writing in this series. It is clearly a popular suspense and mystery series. It is also obvious reading the book why this series was popular and why a TV movie starring Ted Danson was made.

Overall a good story with an interesting plotline. Alex Delaware as a psychologist is skilled at interviewing people and finding information and the entire series is built around the man traveling to locations and talking to people and fitting together the details and information they have to see the bigger picture. He has an excellent sense of people and the book makes clear he has a mind that can think up very troubling perspectives giving him an insight into the disturbed crimes he investigates.

This is a good start to the series and a good adventure plot but its clear as his first novel that Kellerman was on a learning curve and dealing with how to figure out what was extraneous details. There is, as others have pointed out, a very poorly written sex scene that does not serve the plot and honestly makes Alex Delaware look like a bit of a cad since he's in a serious long term relationship at the start of the novel with another woman. I also seriously question the "fist fight with a dog" bit.

So a fun novel but be prepared for some odd choices.

great

I guess it's easy to give it a five, when your a fan of the characters!

Great read n

This was recommended by a friend and it was a very good read. kept my interest and was entertaining.

Needs John Rubinstein!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware books are terrific!

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Been John Rubinstein. He's so much better. It would be great if somehow these could be re-released with him doing the narration. He's just so much better.

excellent story excellent

this book was very well read, and the story quality was excellent. would recommend it.