A Book in Review

By Colleen Robinson

  Story synopsis:  

The cheerful chaos of a California schoolyard is shattered one autumn day; a schoolyard is shattered by a sniper's gunfire. No children were hurt, but the sniper is gunned down and L.A.P.D. detective Milo Sturgis calls in his friend, child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware, to help the children deal with the trauma that's invaded their lives. 

The shock of the incident is quickly followed by another stunning surprise: the identity of the sniper. As the media feed the public's curiosity with a profile of the stereotypical lone assassin, Alex receives a second plea for help - this time from the sniper's father.

Alex is intrigued by the chance to explore intimately the forces that created such a twisted mentality and knows that uncovering the sniper's motivation could help the children deal with the shooting. But he is disturbed by the motives of a father who seems too self-involved to mourn. And Alex's role in the shooting's aftermath is already complicated by his strong attraction to Linda Overstreet, the Nathan Hale Elementary School's Principal - a courageous, feisty young woman with secrets of her own. Then there are the puzzling attempts made by a local politician to force Alex to step aside and let a slick psychotherapist with a canned feel-good message take over the children's therapy.

Nathan Hale Elementary school has been the object of fierce hostilities ever since the busing of inner-city children to its suburban setting began, but as Alex becomes ever more deeply involved, he discovers that a wider net of malice has been cast. One that reaches far beyond the school and may already have claimed innocent lives. Before long, his relentless probing will make Alex himself the target of an obsessive and consuming hatred - and the catalyst for its eruption into violence.
Synopsis taken from the inside flap of "Timebomb"

I fully enjoyed the novel "Timebomb" and could follow it with not too many problems. Kellerman has a knack for creating a story that's both intriguing and gripping until the final pages. While reading the book, I'm given a detailed description of both the characters in that particular scene and the setting involved. I feel that when I'm given a description like that I can fully picture that particular character or setting as if it's right in front of me.

The only thing wrong with it was it had too many minor characters that were really not a crucial part of the story. At times I felt it tricky to keep track of some of the newly introduced ones. For example, that teenager who damaged Linda's car; that whole scene with him talking to her could have been eliminated. That character was a one-time, one scene character and without him the story wouldn't have changed What could have done, in my opinion, was eliminate the entire exchange between them, shorten it or it could have been dealt with over the telephone.

As the story continued I began to wonder about the sniper's father. My first impression was that he wasn't grieving as a parent who lost a child would. But as I continued I came to the conclusion that he had more on his mind than to grieve about his child; he had a mission to make the people who killed his child pay.

Like I said before, the book was very good although some parts did get a little boring. During one part a character was explaining an event that had happened a long time before and an organization he was involved with. He was also explained who else was involved. That part was dealing with certain things that uninterested me. 

After that part, the story kept my attention until the end. There were unexpected surprises that were not expecting and a disappointment, but for anyone who has not read this novel I don't want to give anything away.

 About the Author: 
Colleen Robinson I live in Oakville, Canada. I work part time in a daycare as an Early Childhood Assistant. I attend the local college and hope to complete my Early Childhood Education Diploma by December of 2000. I have been an interested in both poetry and short stories from the time I was a child.