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    The Beast: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
    The Beast: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
    The Beast: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Beast: A Decker/Lazarus Novel

    Written by Faye Kellerman

    Narrated by Mitchell Greenberg

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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. 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 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 the case, Decker wrestles with a difficult choice: turning to Chris Donatti, the dangerous man who also happens to be the father of Decker's foster son, Gabriel Whitman.

    As their work and intimate worlds collide, Decker and his wife, Rina, find themselves facing tough questions. And when all these shocking truths comes out, exactly how well will Decker and Rina cope, and survive?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 6, 2013
    ISBN9780062221780
    Author

    Faye Kellerman

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

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    Reviews for The Beast

    4/5

    27 ratings18 reviews

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    • 5/5
      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*
    • 2/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      This book had me up and down. I loved the first part on board the ship and the affair that begins between Louise and Charles. Yet, I was afraid to continue, dreading the inevitable upset and had to stop at times once they arrived in Marseilles and they say good-bye and Charles becomes himself - the real Charles. I was in knots over his dilemma and the way Louise treated him at first. Then, when the truth is finally revealed, it was a let down for me and their reunion. Overall, I love Judith Ivory, but this book is not a favorite, although it was still an intricately, well woven plot and a unique idea, yet it left me unsettled. Plus, I was curious to read it, since another of my favorite authors Sherry Thomas has stated this is a favorite book of hers and the inspiration for her Beguiling the Beauty? 'Nuff said, I had to read it.
    • 5/5
      This book is loosely based on the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale and Ivory's writing is just incredible. Charles d'Harcourt's eye was injured and scarred at birth so he is blind in one eye. He suffered another injury to his knee when he was younger and it sometimes swells up and cripples him for days. Louise Vandermeer is a stunning beauty from a wealthy family. H/h meet on an ocean liner in the Atlantic around 1889. I loved the opening scene where Charles is thrown out of his cabin when rough seas toss the ship about. He is naked and in the middle of an argument with his mistress and she won't let him back in the room :) I liked the hero but I could never quite warm up to the heroine. She seemed to have the "don't hate because I'm beautiful" attitude at first, although I liked her better toward the end. Ivory writes with absolute sensuality. The reader feels as though they are right there inside every scene because she describes all five senses so completely; you taste, touch, see, hear and smell everything in each scene in luscious detail. Louise never actually sees Charles on the ship. They conduct a hot, steamy affair completely in the dark. When they eventually meet on land in the light she is turned off by his deformities, but they marry as planned by her family. There is a famous scene when he kisses her hand that sent shivers up my spine. How Louise comes to love him and figures out that Charles was her lover from the ship is amazing and beautiful. (Grade: A
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      The story was great, but I want to correct a few things about animal sanctuaries. Sanctuaries that are accredited would never allow someone to take an animal home. The cost involved of an animal injured someone would be astronomical. Also, the animal would be put down. Also, sanctuaries rescue animals from circuses and zoos. They would never send them back. Accredited sanctuaries do not allow cub petting, any form of personal contact for reasons other than medical necessity. I reviewed a Faye Kellerman book, not Judith Ivory.Sounds like wifey #2is trying to say her ex was nuts so the will can be broken. It’s more likely that his ex killed him than a sex worker.
    • 3/5
      Judith Ivory is an excellent writer of beautiful prose. But the plot of this book didn't please me nearly as much as the prose. I was highly skeptical of the lovers-in-the-dark plot, which however, she pulled off quite convincingly. But once the ship docked and the lovers "met" one another for real, I was just impatient to get to the reveal. And that comes very late in the book.

      I'm glad that I read this, but I have no desire to reread some day. And I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the stomach-churning (literally) details of ambergris.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 1/5
      This book was so disappointing. I have always liked Judith Ivory so I expected a fun read with a strong, independent and smart hero and heroine. What I got was a book with a spoiled obnoxious 18 year old society girl who was placed in an arranged marriage to a duplicitous man in his late 30's. Ivory tells us all about how smart this girl is (she really is a girl, not yet a woman) but there is no real evidence other than a facility for language. Ivory tells us that the hero and heroine are having deep and intellectually stimulating conversations, but we are never privy to those conversations. Ivory tells us that the dirty old man is in love with this girl's mind, but the only thing he ever responds to is her youth and beauty. He never works hard to get her to chat, he only works hard to get her into bed. Also, both characters lie to each other about things central to their existence (his is the bigger lie by a country mile, but both lie) and there is little consequence for this once they come clean. Add to all this the fact that I was bored by the book. Really bored. I put the book down for weeks and did not feel compelled to pick it up again. That never happens to me with romances, even bad ones. I can't recommend this at all.
    • 5/5
      Spannend, interessante Charaktere, brutaler, aber interessanter Plot.
    • 3/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Ivory/Cuevas is always a treat, and always a challenge.

      I did not mind the pace of this book, but I do not like identity deception. However, I did think Ivory made choices here that actually served the story, but because this is going to be a speed review, I will say that my main issue with the book is that I identified w/ the hero, and Ivory made me feel like he could adore anyone.

      Still, typical Ivory, and I missed more than I picked up and it's a joy to read her writing.

      Buddy read w/ Gaufre & Whiskey-Thanks!
    • 4/5
      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!!
    • 3/5
      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.