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Gone

Jonathan Kellerman

First published 2006 · 592 pages

A chilling descent into the winding corridors of psychopathology where nothing is as it seems and the truth is deadlier than the lie.

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What it feels like

This psychological thriller plunges the reader into a dread-soaked atmosphere where truth and deception blur into a sordid psychodrama. The narrative moves at a propulsive pace, pulling you through the dark, winding corridors of criminal behavior and hidden trauma. The prose is sharp and observant, balancing the clinical perspective of a psychologist with the visceral tension of a homicide investigation. As the layers of a shocking deception are peeled back, the mood shifts from unsettling suspicion to outright terror, culminating in brutal, nightmarish violence. It is a chilling, suspenseful experience designed for readers who love to untangle complex webs of lies and explore the darkest, most dangerous corners of the human mind.

Mood
  • dread-soaked
  • tense
  • nightmarish
  • shadowy
Tone
  • chilling
  • clinical
  • suspenseful
  • dark
Pace
propulsive
Themes
the psychology of deception · hidden layers of trauma · the darkness of human behavior · manipulation and truth
The writing
The writing is sharp and psychologically observant, blending clinical detachment with visceral suspense.
The arc
The reader moves from initial shock and sympathy to creeping suspicion, culminating in a chilling realization of brutal truths.
Who it's for
Readers who crave dark, twisty psychological thrillers that peel back the layers of criminal pathology and deception.
Content notes
  • kidnapping
  • murder
  • assault
  • starvation
  • psychological manipulation
  • graphic violence

About the book

No one conducts a more chilling, suspenseful, thoroughly engrossing tour through the winding corridors of criminal behavior and the secret chambers of psychopathology than Jonathan Kellerman, the bestselling "master of the psychological thriller" (People). Now the incomparable team of psychologist Alex Delaware and homicide cop Milo Sturgis embark on their most dangerous excursion yet, into the dark places where risk runs high and blood runs cold.It's a story tailor-made for the nightly news: Dylan Meserve and Michaela Brand, young lovers and fellow acting students, vanish on the way home from a rehearsal. Three days later, the two of them are found in the remote mountains of Malibu -battered and terrified after a harrowing ordeal at the hands of a sadistic abductor. The details of the nightmarish event are shocking and brutal: The couple was carjacked at gunpoint by a masked assailant and subjected to a horrific regimen of confinement, starvation and assault. But before long, doubts arise about the couple's story, and as forensic details unfold, the abduction is exposed as a hoax. Charged as criminals themselves, the aspiring actors claim emotional problems, and the court orders psychological evaluation for both. Michaela is examined by Alex Delaware, who finds that her claims of depression and stress ring true enough. But they don't explain her lies, and Alex is certain that there are hidden layers in this sordid psychodrama that even he hasn't been able to penetrate.Nevertheless, the case is closed--only to be violently reopened when Michaela is savagely murdered. When the police look for Dylan, they find that he's gone. Is he the killer or a victim himself? Casting their dragnet into the murkiest corners of L.A., Delaware and Sturgis unearth more questions than answers--including a host of eerily identical killings. What really happened to the couple who cried wolf? And what bizarre and brutal epidemic is infecting the city with terror, madness, and sudden, twisted death?From the Hardcover edition.

Description from Open Library.

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