When People aren't What They Seem To Be: Prayers for the Dead (Faye Kellerman)

Faye Kellerman. Prayers For the Dead (1996) Prominent and much admired heart surgeon Azof Sparks turns up nastily dead in a back alley. He was not what he seemed to be, nor are his family, which misleads Detective Lt Peter Decker. Rena’s long-ago connection with the family complicates the case, as do the usual attempts by family members to protect each other.

     Kellerman’s casual incorporation of the details of practiced Judaism is one of her strengths. But it’s her characters that impress me most. Even the secondary ones have unguessed depths. It’s the (I think deliberately) incomplete backstories that make the characters believable. We never fully understand or know the people that are closest to us, let alone those we know merely as acquaintances or regular figures in our daily rounds. We know most fictional characters better than we know most real people. But not in Kellerman’s books. The mysteries of being human are central to her fictions. I feel that although the criminal has been found, their motives are never fully understood. A satisfying read.***