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| The Genius | 
 enlarge | Author: Jesse Kellerman
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $7.25
You Save: $17.70 (71%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $4.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  (16 reviews)
Sales Rank: 17692
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0399154590
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399154591
ASIN: 0399154590
Publication Date: April 10, 2008
Release Date: April 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Flawed But Terrific Grabber May 10, 2008
There is no doubt in my mind this is a five-star book, a fascinating, ingenious and very original novel, but I question if Kellerman made the right narrative decisions in the way he tells his gripping story. Could he have achieved an even greater wallop with the fantastic story he invented? The way he drops or minimizes or deemphasizes a character or a plot element made me scratch my head as I was reading. Where is he taking me? Couldn't we have gone down this more direct narrative path rather than the one chosen? At times the book gets becalmed with the narrator's affair with Marilyn as well as the long sections about the Muller family. But this book is a real choker that makes you holler "I give up!" because it is so intense.
The narrator, Ethan Muller, has been estranged from his father for years, and when he discovers the treasure trove of thousands of masterful drawings by the reclusive Victor Cracke, he seems to adopt the artist almost as an esthetic father figure. (But what a creepy nutcase to, even unconsciously, embrace as a surrogate parent.) The serial killing of boys draws readers into the story because Cracke has included the victims' likenesses in his drawings. McGrath, the dying homicide detective Ethan befriends, is a fine character creation that the reader and Ethan become attached to.
This book is so good it is craven for a critic to quibble with it. Readers will come under the spell of the book, and each one will have a different reaction. A brilliant writer with a dynamite story to tell!
Nine Lives Too Many
The Daemon in Our Dreams
The Rice Queen Spy
Clawed Back from the Dead
 Ambitious effort: More family saga than thriller though May 7, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have mixed feelings about this novel. I wasn't terribly impressed by Kellerman's debut novel Sunburn and I really disliked his sophomore effort Trouble. Kellerman's third novel is ambitious. I especially appreciate that it deviates from conventional crime novel formulas. In fact, the solving of a series of 40 year old child murders is secondary. The Genius, first and foremost, is a family saga. At its heart, it's the story of a cold and distant father trying to reconnect with his estranged son.
The catch is that readers who expect action, suspense, and page turning thrills may be disappointed. I admire the fact that Kellerman doesn't make criminal investigation exciting. It's tedious work. There is no `big shoot out' or car chase to pump up the reader's adrenaline. Instead, evidence is collected, an arrest is made. It's pretty routine stuff - just like real life.
Kellerman does a good job with character development. As mentioned before, this is really a character driven family saga, not a plot driven thriller. I admire that Kellerman doesn't feel compelled to make his characters especially likeable. Ethan, our hero, is actually a pretentious self absorbed (insert your own expletive here); certainly not the type of character that an author can build a franchise around. I didn't hate Ethan, but he did grate on my nerves from time to time (notably when he makes a rather whiny phone call to an Assistant DA). The characters in this novel are fully realized imperfect human beings. Unfortunately, they can be a little annoying at times.
Kellerman sets up an intriguing premise (a collection of drawings are discovered in a vacant apartment and when some of the drawings are displayed in a gallery, it is discovered that the drawings include the faces of five murdered children) but by its mid point, the novel starts to lose some of its momentum. From a suspense novel perspective, the novel plods along rather predictably and then resolves itself in rather anticlimactic fashion. While on some level this is admirable, it isn't fully satisfying as entertainment. The family saga portions of the novel (the so-called interludes) are moderately compelling, but not strong enough to raise the novel above a sturdy 3 star rating from me.
I appreciate the effort Kellerman has made with this novel. I suspect that the author may transition soon out of genre fiction as he seems much more interested in exploring characters than building suspense. Definitely his best novel to date. I'd like to see him create a character that doesn't irritate me though.
A touch "ramblesome". May 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The premise is okay, but this book needs a lot of tightening. Rambling conversations that go nowhere, excessive uninteresting philosophizing and self-centered rather boring characters lead to a dry read without really connecting with anyone in this story. I didn't like anyone in this book. Maybe that was the author's point, but I need to feel some empathy for someone in a book to feel a need to read on. This writing style is a little light. Maybe avant-garde is the new look but I really want something meatier. It's overly long but not too bad. I can't say it is too good, either. I'll declare this book cooked medium.
Not his best.... April 30, 2008
I am nearing the end of this book so I feel as though I can review it; it takes some time to get into this one. There is alot of info you need to put away and remember at later times in the book. I definitely think his first two were better, but I will say, this is getting better as I near the end. A good read, but had I never heard of the author or never read his previous books I'm not sure I would have continued with it. The only reason I did is the simple fact that I know he's good, he's proven that.
A good read-satisfying to the last word! April 25, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I attended a book signing with Kellerman when this book was introduced. I had not read his prior books
so it was only by chance that I stopped into the bookstore and Jesse Kellerman was there. He was speaking
to the assembled customers about how he was inspired by the Henry Darger case, so I do not think he makes any apologies for that inspiration, but his take on the story is totally different.
Unlike the works of Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman, who have common characters re-appearing in subsequent novels, Jess Kellerman's main character is more or less the common man who has a very strange experience - then goes back to being a common man, all the wiser.
Not that Ethan Mueller is actually all that common, being the son of a very wealthy man, but he isn't a detective or had any experience with solving a crime.
The story almost reads like a script. Lots of dialog and it drew me into the story immediately. There is so much going on that as I approached the end, I was afraid all the loose ends would not be tied up in the remaining pages. Don't you just hate reading a great book and then it bombs at the end?
"The Genius" doesn't let you down. To the last word, I enjoyed not only the story and the pace but the word selections like getting up from a taxi seat as "pulling away from sticky vinyl" The pace is good, the story is very interesting and I finished reading feeling like it was a very good read.
I am not sure I will read Kellerman's earlier books, since this one was very satisfying and I do think he is probably getting better and better. He mentioned that his publisher wants a book every 12 months, so I will wait for the next one.
Fascinating to hear about how Jesse Kellerman approaches his work. A very bright, disciplined young man - very approachable, and not at all a self-important person. A lot like the humble character in his book.
I am giving this my highest rating because I liked this book...
..and so many best sellers deserve less.
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