Reviews for Down a dark street

The average rating for Down a dark street based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-07-05 00:00:00 Michael Johnston Short novellas disappoint -- we wanted Decker & Alex !! We were so excited to learn that two of our favorite authors -- Faye and Jonathan Kellerman (husband and wife as well) -- had teamed up to write "a novel" entitled Double Homicide. We were all set for a sparkling Alex Delaware (on one murder) meeting Peter Decker (on the other), and the twain happily and merrily collaborating to nail the bad guys. Alas, we and the publishers and authors were not seeing eye to eye; instead, we got two rather short novellas, one set in Boston, the other in Santa Fe, in which respective murders we generally could have cared less about are more or less solved by two new detective pairs in each location. Santa Fe is about an obnoxious art dealer who gets bumped off; the ending is so placid that it defies belief. Boston is about a college basketball player that dies in a shooting at a nightclub after a vicious game. The actual cause of death creates what little mystery is on hand. Admittedly, the physical packaging was clever, with the two stories upside down so that both book faces look like front covers. Some reviewers mistook the alternating author bylines to presume Faye wrote one story and Jon the other; rather, we suspect they drafted both and took turns writing chapters as the spirit moved. Unfortunately, neither of the stories do justice to the fine writing skills each displays in their longer novels. "Double" looks suspiciously like something due on contract for holiday sales fodder -- but if you must read it, wait for the paperback; and even that you might want to wait for a hand-me-down. We doubt we'll see any more of these joint efforts or these characters, and frankly, it's just as well if this is the best they can do. Now, what about Decker meets Delaware ?!?!

Review # 2 was written on 2012-04-29 00:00:00 Joshua Baumgardner In my mind, I'm not sure the Boston story qualifies as a murder mystery. Plus, the motivations of the victim's mother felt way too forced. That a mother always protects her child felt way too simple. I just kept thinking to myself - no one's really talked to the mother. And the police officers' judgment of the father went in the other extreme. Mother-good. Father-bad. I was expecting some cross over between Boston and Santa Fe. Nothing - just people dying in separate cities. In the Santa Fe story, there's a lot of back story that has nothing to do with the murder. Since it's so short, you feel like you get an awful lot of potential leads before the murder is solved. It eventually comes around, but it feels like a lot of chase more than anything.