Synopses & Reviews
An extraordinary work of detection, suspense, and supernatural mystery. I spent three days totally lost in the world Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman have created. This is brilliant, page-turning fiction with mythic underpinnings that give it a special resonance; a rare collaboration where the sum is truly greater than the parts. The book is like nothing Ive ever read before. It sort of took my breath away.”Stephen King
From Jonathan Kellerman, the #1 New York Timesbestselling author and master of psychological suspense, and Jesse Kellerman, the international #1 bestselling author of The Genius, comes one of the most remarkable novels of the year.
A burned-out L.A. detective . . . a woman of mystery who is far more than she seems . . . a grotesque, ancient monster bent on a mission of retribution. When these three collide, a new standard of suspense is born.
The legend of the Golem of Prague has endured through the ages, a creature fashioned by a sixteenth-century rabbi to protect his congregation, now lying dormant in the garret of a synagogue. But the Golem is dormant no longer.
Detective Jacob Lev wakes one morning, dazed and confused: He seems to have picked up a beautiful woman in a bar the night before, but he cant remember anything about the encounter, and before he knows it, she has gone. But this mystery pales in comparison to the one hes about to be called on to solve. Newly reassigned to a Special Projects squad he didnt even know existed, hes sent to a murder scene far up in the hills of Hollywood Division. There is no body, only an unidentified head lying on the floor of a house. Seared into a kitchen counter nearby is a single word: the Hebrew for justice.
Detective Lev is about to embark on an odysseythrough Los Angeles, through many parts of the United States, through London and Prague, but most of all, through himself. All that he has believed to be true will be upendedand not only his world, but the world itself, will be changed.
Review
Praise for The Golem of Hollywood
“An extraordinary work of detection, suspense, and supernatural mystery. I spent three days totally lost in the world Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman have created. This is brilliant, page-turning fiction with mythic underpinnings that give it a special resonance; a rare collaboration where the sum is truly greater than the parts. The book is like nothing Ive ever read before. It sort of took my breath away.”—Stephen King
“One of the craziest, wildest, and most compelling works of popular fiction in years. . . It traverses genres, blasts them wide open, and moves on to explode yet another cliche. Its a pretty remarkable thing, this Golem of Hollywood. Give it a go.”—Commentary Magazine
“I had very high and, yes, unrealistic expectations for THE GOLEM OF HOLLYWOOD . . . [and] the Kellermans met my expectations and blew the roof off of them. . . THE GOLEM OF HOLLYWOOD transcends genre. Its a whole that exceeds the sum of its very considerable parts, creative and otherwise. Its a religious tale that doubters and non-believers will love, a mystery that literary snobs will appreciate, and a story so wonderfully told that your bookshelf must have it.”—bookreporter.com
“Two masters of psychological suspense weave a sprawling contemporary whodunit steeped in religious mythology, gruesome violence and the supernatural. . . . [This] is a witty, propulsive and frequently chilling read; its phantasmagorical elements are blended seamlessly enough with its up-to-the-minute crime-genre trappings to give its imaginative speculations some eerie plausibility.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Combining the procedural structure of Jonathan Kellermans Alex Delaware novels with the character-driven plotting of son Jesses fiction, the novel is a solidly plotted thriller that takes its compelling lead character, Detective Lev, deep into some Old World mysteries. Very nicely done.”—Booklist
“Jonathan Kellerman and his son Jesse Kellerman have already distinguished themselves as ace storytellers, but theyve outdone themselves with this genre-bending, impossible-to-put-down epic. . . . a rare and original novel, one that upsets and transcends expectations and manages to surprise more often than one has the right to reasonably expect in a work of fiction. And it never disappoints. The story moves along with an urgency and intelligence that marks it as a work that is superior to most and worthy of the legacy that both authors have already established for themselves. For a work of its scope and length, it probes as many questions and beliefs and hopes and fears as it raises, and thus reveals itself as a work in which not one word is wasted.”—popmatters.com
“They have a way of scaring you, of chasing sleep away, these psychological thrillers that send your heart thumping. Imagine, then, what you are in for when two masters of the genre decide to collaborate. The result is The Golem of Hollywood. . . . [a] a complicated, often chilling journey of discovery.”—Huffington Post
"Shaped by biblical and historical mythology as well as the supernatural, The Golem of Hollywood is essentially a story of love, of the bonds between father and son, of family secrets and mysteries. Rich in detail, originality and depth, the book is a pleasure to read.”—Hadassah Magazine
Review
“
The Golem of Hollywood transcends genre. Its a whole that exceeds the sum of its very considerable parts, creative and otherwise . . . a story so wonderfully told that your bookshelf must have it.” —Bookreporter.com
“One of the craziest, wildest, and most compelling works of popular fiction in years.”
—Commentary
“A witty, propulsive, and frequently chilling read . . . as ambitious as it is entertaining.” —Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
From two #1 bestselling masters of crime fiction comes an extraordinary thriller about family, murder, and the secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Its been more than a year since LAPD detective Jacob Lev learned the remarkable truth about his family, and hes not coping well. Hes back to drinking, hes not talking to his father, the LAPD Special Projects Department continues to shadow him, and the memory of a woman named Mai haunts him day and night.
And while Jacob has tried to build a bridge to his mother, she remains a stranger to him, imprisoned inside her own tattered mind.
Then he comes across the file for a gruesome unsolved murder that brings the two halves of his life into startling collision. Finding the killer will take him halfway around the world, to Paristhe city of romance, but also of gritty streets, behind the lights. Its a dangerous search for truth that plunges him into the past.
And for Jacob Lev, there is no place more frightening.
Jonathan Kellerman has long been known for his mastery of criminal psychology and his ability to create thrilling novels of nuanced drama and suspense. But in The Golem of Paris, he and Jesse Kellerman raise that suspense to a whole new level.
About the Author
Jonathan Kellerman is one of the worlds most popular authors, with more than three dozen
New York Timesbestselling crime novels, most recently
Motive and
The Murderers Daughter. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony Awards, and has been nominated for the Shamus Award. Jonathan and his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, live in California, New Mexico, and New York.
Jesse Kellerman won the Princess Grace Award for best young American playwright and is the author of Sunstroke, Trouble, The Genius (for which he won the 2010 Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle), The Executor, and Potboiler (for which he was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel). He lives in California.