I've read all Jesse Kellerman's earlier crime novels and enjoyed them very much. I gather some people have been disappointed in this one but I wasn't at all. It's very different -- in fact in one sense hardly a crime novel at all, or it doesn't seem to be until about two thirds in when it suddenly and quite briefly explodes. So I guess if you are looking for the standard stuff this is not for you.
But -- I thought it was really good and really interesting. It's the story of a man who is trying and failing to complete a PhD in philosophy -- he's been chucked out of his girlfriend's flat and is looking for a job -- and he finds an extraordinary opportunity when an elderly woman takes him on as a "conversaltionalist" and soon invites him t live in her wonderful Victorian antique-filled mansion. A close friendship develops between them, but following her death by suicide, matters take a very different turn....
I suppose this is really best described as a psychological study -- with a strong dash of philosophical argument -- and very fascinating it is. It's intelligent and very thought-provoking and never predictable. Good stuff.
