Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel

Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus are back in this gripping mystery involving a secret cabal of some of Los Angeles most wealthy—and vicious—teens

LAPD lieutenant detective Decker and his wife, Rina, have willingly welcomed fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman, the son of a troubled former friend, into their home. While the enigmatic teen seems to be adapting easily, Decker knows only too well the secrets adolescents keep—witnessed by the tragic suicide of another teen, Gregory Hesse, a student at Bell and Wakefield, one of the citys most exclusive prep schools.

Gregorys mother, Wendy, refuses to believe her son shot himself and convinces Decker to look deeper. What he finds disturbs him. The gun used in the tragedy was stolen—evidence that propels him to launch a full investigation with his trusted team, Sergeant Marge Dunn and Detective Scott Oliver. But the case becomes darkly complicated by the suicide of another Bell and Wakefield student—a death that leads them to uncover an especially nasty group of rich and privileged students with a predilection for guns and violence. Decker thought he understood kids, yet the closer he and his team get to the truth, the clearer it becomes that he knows very little about them, including his own charge, Gabe. The son of a gangster and an absent parent, the boy has had a life filled with too much free time, too many unexplained absences, and too little adult supervision.

Before its over, the case and all its terrifying ramifications will take Decker and his detectives down a dark alley of twisted allegiances and unholy alliances, culminating at a heart-stopping point of no return.

"A teenage romance dominates bestseller Kellerman's subpar 20th novel featuring LAPD Lt. Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus (after 2010's Hangman). Decker's search for the truth in the wake of the inexplicable suicide of high school student Gregory Hesse competes with the story of Decker's latest rescue, 15-year-old Gabe Whitman, a brilliant musical prodigy whose father earns his living as a pimp. Gabe's hormones run out-of-control after he meets 14-year-old Yasmine Nourmand, a Persian Jew from a very traditional family. The vicissitudes of the budding relationship between Gabe, who lives with the Deckers, and Yasmine hit on pretty much all the usual clichés, and this focus diminishes the impact of the truth behind Gregory's death. Kellerman's portrayal of Rina as the Jewish mother of all Jewish mothers may leave some readers wishing the author had cast Rina more as an individual than a type." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

“[Kellerman] does for the American cop what P. D. James has done for the British mystery, lifting it beyond its genre.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“No one working in the crime genre is better.”
—Baltimore Sun

In Gun Games, the sensational Faye Kellerman once again showcases Peter Decker of the LAPD and Rina Lazarus, arguably the most popular husband and wife team in contemporary crime fiction. A rash of shocking adolescent suicides at an elite Los Angeles private school is at the heart of this gripping thriller that also focuses on the troubled teen Decker and Lazarus have brought into their home: Gabriel Whitman, the son of a psychopath. Herself one-half of one of noir fictions true “power couples”—along with her husband, acclaimed mystery writer Jonathan Kellerman—Faye Kellerman once again demonstrates how American police procedural writing is done to perfection with Gun Games.

Faye Kellerman is the author of twenty-seven novels, including twenty New York Times bestselling mysteries that feature the husband-and-wife team of Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus. She has also penned two bestselling short novels with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, and recently teamed up with her daughter Aliza to cowrite a young adult novel, Prism—the story of four teens in an alternate universe. She lives with her husband in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.