The Beast: A Decker/Lazarus Novel

By Faye Kellerman

The professional and the personal intersect in treacherous ways in this compelling and eerie installment in Faye Kellerman's thrilling New York Times bestselling Decker/Lazarus series

Throughout his years with the LAPD, Peter Decker has handled a number of tough cases and strange killers. But few of his previous assignments compare to his latest case—the most bizarre of his storied career.

When Hobart Penny is found dead in his apartment, the cops think that his pet cat—an adult female tiger—attacked the reclusive elderly billionaire. But it soon becomes clear that the beast that killed the eccentric inventor is all too human. Digging into the victim's life, Decker and his colleagues, Detectives Marge Dunn and Scott Oliver, discover that Penny was an exceptionally peculiar man with exotic tastes, including kinky sex with call girls.

Following a trail of clues that leads from a wildlife sanctuary in the San Bernardino Mountains to the wild nightlife of Las Vegas, the LAPD detectives are left juggling too many suspects and too few answers. To break open a case involving the two most primal instincts—sex and murder—Decker wrestles with a difficult choice. Should he turn to a man with expert knowledge of both, Chris Donatti, the dangerous man who also happens to be the father of Decker's foster son, Gabriel Whitman, a boy not without his own problems?

As their work and intimate worlds collide, Decker and his wife, Rina, find themselves facing tough questions. It just might be that family crises and work-related responsibilities prove too much for Decker's career. A confluence of ordeals can stress even the most intact of families. And when all these shocking truths comes out, exactly how well will Decker and Rina cope, and survive?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Aug 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9780062121776

Faye Kellerman

Faye Kellerman lives with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman, in Los Angeles, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reviews for The Beast

[chasidar_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read a Faye Kellerman book in a while and I found this one disappointing. The plot wasn't engaging, I didn't really care who killed the victim. And I'm not sure why the secondary storyline with Gabe was thrown in at all.

[judiex · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

THE BEAST begins with Gabe Whitman, the piano prodigy, seventeen-year-old foster son of Rina and LA Lieutenant Peter Decker completing a day of testifying for the prosecution in a rape case. It quickly moves on to investigating complaints of neighbors about the smell from an apartment where the police discover a full grown lion and a dead man. The investigation reveals that the victim, an eighty-nine-year-old billionaire recluse named Hobart Penny, was very strange, was willing to pay for whatever he wanted, especially kinky sex, and had no friends. He also had some very unusual collections, part of which lead to other potential victims.A subplot revolves around Gabe’s relationship with fifteen-year-old Yasmine Nourmand.LA Lieutenant Peter Decker and his partners, Marge and Oliver, are the central character in the latest of Faye Kellerman’s Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker series. When the series began, Rina Lazarus was the main character and the main story line involved her and her life. She and Peter didn’t know each other. Rina barely played a role in this book. She’s described as a stereotypical patient, devoted housewife who took care of the house and family, maintained their social life, prayed, exercised, and taught at a Jewish High School. The cover calls it “A Decker/Lazarus Novel with Rina in second place.”Kellerman also brings in Dr. Alex Delaware, the main character of some of Faye’s husband Jonathan’s novels.The end of the book suggests major changes for the family but seemed rushed.THE BEAST talks around the opening case but it seems that it is a continuation of a previous book. The particulars are omitted and left me wanting more information. In one location, the reader is spared having to reread information when Decker asks Marge and Oliver to fill him in about what they have learned but doesn’t go into detail. I wish that happened more often.While Faye Kellerman can tell a good story, several of the characters and situations were unrealistic. I’m not sure who her target audience is for this one. The subplot about Gabe and Yasmine seems more suited for a young adult audience. There is a lot of descriptive gore which would appeal to a different audience. I became interested in the series because of Rina and the Orthodox Jewish angle. It is missing from THE BEAST. And one character, in particular, fills a couple pages with profanity which seems to be unnecessary. I’ve really appreciated most of the books in the series. This one seems to have lost its uniqueness and was a disappointment.

[cats57_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have been away from this series for a few years now and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get into this book as I might have forgotten so much about the main characters. Well Ms Kellerman made it real easy for me to pop back in and take up where I had left off. Yes, if you are a first time reader you may want to start with the very first book, but I see no problem starting here if you want. Each of Ms. Kellerman’s book can be read as a stand-alone if you wish.This book opens with a bang and a growl. The main crime we are pulled right into concerns a dead elderly recluse. Did I happen to mention that he was brilliant and richer than rich? This recluse just happened to keep a Bengal tiger as a pet.and that makes this a very unpleasant crime scene to go through, since the man , Hobart Penny, has been dead for several days and a tiger has been on the loose!Soon we will find that Hobart Penny was more of a beast than the tiger was and the crime gets harder and harder to solve,Ms. Kellerman does a fantastic job with her characters, writing them vividly in her usual style. There is humor interspersed with the goriness and that is much appreciated by this fan. The secondary story was not as appreciated by me and won’t be if you have not kept up with the books as I have not.. The secondary story concerns Rina and Deckers foster son who is a 17-year-old prodigy with the piano and his girlfriend. It was a pleasant diversion, but I would have much rather have had more about the crime than that story.Some parts of this book did seem to leave gaps that are never fully explained, but they are not really germane to the main story. The author seems to have chosen not to over-write this novel and to let our imaginations fly.I will now be reading this series from the very beginning and fall in love with the characters again. Plus I really do have to see what I’ve been missing since I’ve been away!------------------------------Spoiler Alert -----------------------------------------I have looked, although not as carefully as I could have, to see if this is the last book in the series. I understand that the author is writing a stand-alone book next. Will we have more Decker and Rina now that he is going to move to the east coast? Will we get snippets from Marge’s life now that she is engaged to be married and will be moving…what about Oliver? These are all characters that we have come to respect and like and I think I will be missing them if they do not show up once in a while. *ARC supplied by publisher*

[carol420 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gabe Whitman, the piano prodigy, seventeen-year-old foster son of Rina and LA Lieutenant Peter Decker completing a day of testifying for the prosecution in a rape case. It quickly moves on to investigating complaints of neighbors about the smell from an apartment where the police discover a full grown lion and a dead man. The investigation reveals that the victim, an eighty-nine-year-old billionaire recluse named Hobart Penny, was very strange, was willing to pay for whatever he wanted, especially kinky sex, and had no friends. He also had some very unusual collections, part of which lead to other potential victims.

I have been reading the Decker/Lazarus books for years.I was absolutely delighted to read this latest book.The mystery part of the book is interesting. Revisiting the main characters is the best part.

[echasc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Seems like this book was written just to set the stage for the major changes the author envisions for her characters beginning in the next book in the series. Not up to Kellerman's usual high standard.

[jolenemacinjax · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What can I say about the Decker/Rini series written by Faye Kellerman? They have been and continue to be excellent. I enjoy reading about her characters, catching up on what they are doing and I even like the new character that was introduced a couple of books ago, Gabe, and his being "adopted" into the family. He makes an interesting addition. This story as you can read from the synopsis and other reviews is about a twisting and turning mystery involving the murder of rich recluse who decided to live in a low rent apartment complex with tiger. Quite a little twist on the plot I think. This story does set up for a big move for the LT. and his band and with the preview of Murder 101 in the back of the last three books I read on Kindle it seems to be farewell to L.A. and hello, to Upstate New York. I like reading Ms. Kellerman's stories a little better than her husbands and I am on the fence with her son's writing still. But all in all I enjoyed this story and look forward to her new ones in the future.

[kewaynco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really loved the series in the beginning but the plots have worn thin. the characters are stale. I don't know if it is a spoiler but it appears Ms Kellerman is setting the characters up for an end of the stories.

[bookish59 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another exciting but comfortable read by one of my favorite writers. It was fun seeing how Kellerman worked in a major character from another of my favorite writers. And she set the stage for a setting change. Fast read.

[sollimath · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Spannend, interessante Charaktere, brutaler, aber interessanter Plot.

[celticlady53 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Beast was the first book I read in the Decker/Lazarus series so I didn't have a lot to base the past story lines on. That said The Beast is one of those stories that starts out exciting and doesn't let go. The story starts with Gabe, foster son of Decker, expecting to testify in a court case, I think if I had read more in the series I would understand more what the case was about. Decker is called in on a murder where an elderly man, Hobart Penny, is found murdered, in the apartment is a tiger, yup a tiger. At first glance it is not quite clear as to how the man died and the forensic team has their work cut out for them in determining how the man died. The investigation takes some strange turns as Decker and his colleagues Detectives Dunn and Oliver start interviewing a list of suspects. I love a good murder mystery and this one was no exception, I enjoyed the author's writing style and the characters are believable. I just have to say that since I had not read any of the previous books in the series, at times I was at a loss, but it did not really keep from me enjoying the book. I will be going back and probably starting with the first book, I enjoyed it that much!!

[Maria Elena Fernandez Messina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

it was great! I'm really getting into kellerman. this is the second novel I've read. can hardly wait to read the next one.

[lbswiener · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Beast is a story about a horrible murder of an old man with a live tiger. The story covers serial murders, prostitutes, beatiality, money and power. There is a whole lot of discussion about characters who are not part of the case. In fact the reason for only three stars in this review is because too much time was spent on characters who were not part of the story. It is a difficult book to plow through because of the horrible lifestyle of characters in this story.

[jennybeast · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The gripping next installment of the the Decker/ Lazarus series. It starts out with a dead man keeping a tiger in his apartment as a pet, and grows steadily more bizarre and twisted from there.

[Starr2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is only the second book I have read by ms. Kellerman. I was intrigued by the opening chapter to continue reading. I was not disappointed. The story was a bit slow to unfold but held my interest. I liked the twists in the story line so I could not predict the ending. The is a quick read for anyone looking for a good mystery.

[123kumarrr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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