Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (USA 2013)

From the Publisher:
"An engrossing thriller... This knockout of an entertainment is the kind of book which establishes a career in one stroke." -- Newsday
Dr. Morton Hander practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Hander paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.

It's psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Meldoy's memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim.

"Suspenseful... neatly spun, fascinating." -- Philadelphia Daily News
"Grab yourself a copy soon!" -- Los Angeles Times

DON'T MISS THE EXCERPT OF JONATHAN KELLERMAN'S GUILT IN THE BACK OF THE RANK!

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. An Alex Delaware Novel. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 9780345540218 (March, 2013), 439 p., $9.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (UK 2008)

From the Publisher:
The first Alex Delaware novel, When the Bough Breaks, is vintage Jonathan Kellerman and full of psychological suspense.
Seven-year-old Melody Quinn is the only witness of a horrific double murder but she can't or won't talk about what she saw. Child psychologist Alex Delaware is brought in to try and get through to her and to the truth of what happened that night. But it soon becomes clear that Melody isn't just traumatised by the murders.

Alex is only too aware that LA is a city which spawns ugliness. But is he prepared for the seemingly bottomless pit of perversion and violence that he's about to uncover?

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. Headline, ISBN: 9780755342815 (February, 2008), 448 p., £7.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (UK 2005)

From the Publisher:
It began with a double murder: particularly vicious, particularly gruesome. There was only one witness: but little Melody Quinn can't or won't say a word. Which is where child psychologist Alex Delaware comes in - and takes the first step into a maelstrom of atrocities...

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS
A breathtaking novel about the sewer of perversion and corruption lying below the glittering surface of California cool.

"A gruesome psychodrama of depravity and organised vice... assured skill and horripilating effect" -- OBSERVER
"Exceptionally exciting" -- NEW YORK TIMES
"Ingenious and horrifying" -- SUNDAY TIMES

WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. Featuring Alex Delaware. Warner Books, ISBN: 0751506761 (May, 2005), 412 p., £6.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
"AN ENGROSSING THRILLER... This knockout of an entertainment is the kind of book which establishes a career in one stroke." -- New York Newsday
Dr. Morton Hander practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Hander paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.

It's psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Melody's memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim.

"SUSPENSEFUL... NEATLY SPUN, FASCINATING." -- Philadelphia Daily News
"GRAB YOURSELF A COPY SOON!" -- Los Angeles Times

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. The acclaimed novel that introduced Alex Delaware. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 0345466608 (November, 2003), 432 p., $7.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (USA 1994)

From the Publisher:
"AN ENGROSSING THRILLER... THIS KNOCKOUT OF AN ENTERTAINMENT IS THE KIND OF BOOK WHICH ESTABLISHES A CAREER IN ONE STROKE." -- New York Newsday
Dr. Morton Hander practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fear, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Hander paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn.

"SUSPENSEFUL, NEATLY SPUN, FASCINATING." -- Philadelphia Daily News
It's psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Melody's memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past.

"GRAB YOURSELF A COPY SOON!" -- Los Angeles Times
This connection is only the beginning, a single link in a forty-year-old conspiracy. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim: Melody Quinn.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. The first Alex Delaware novel. Ballantine Books, ISBN: 0553569619 (December, 1994), 432 p., $6.50 (?).

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (USA 1993)

From the Publisher:
NIGHT TERRORS
There is something spooky about this one, even for the dark side of L.A. A child molester's grisly suicide. A shockingly brutal double murder. A hidden network of perversion in high places. And a terrified seven-year-old girl who could put it all together... if child psychologist Alex Delaware could help her remember the horrors she'd witnessed.

But when he does, the police seem strangely uninterested. Obsessed with a case that endangers both his career and his life, Alex is caught up in a web of evil that stretches from the barrio to an elite island community, coming closer and closer to a forty-year-old secret that makes even murder look clean...

"A COMPELLING, EXCEPTIONALLY EXCITING THRILLER!" -- THE NEW YORK TIMES

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. An Alex Delaware Novel. Signet, ISBN: 0451178033 (June, 1993), 351 p., $5.99.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (USA 1986)

From the Publisher:
Dr. Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn. It's psychologist Alex Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Melody's memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Delaware discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past. This connection is only the beginning, a single link in a forty-year-old conspiracy. And behind it lays an unspeakable evil that Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim: Melody Quinn.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. Signet, ISBN: 0451168623 (June, 1986), 351 p., $3.50 (?).

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks (USA 1985)

From the Publisher:
"Gritty and swift, hard yet caring, and as timely as the morning news." -- Dorothy Salisbury Davis
Not since The First Deadly Sin has there appeared so riveting a psycho-drama, a thriller that so surely pierces to the bottom of our darkest fears and evokes our deepest emotions.

Dr. Alex Delaware, the engaging narrator and reluctant protagonist of When the Bough Breaks, is retired at the age of thirty-three, burned out and emotionally battered by his last case. As a psychologist, he was working with the nursery-school victim of a child molester when the offender she identified in Delaware's office.

Now, six months later, the police are asking for his help in a very different matter. Two people have been brutally murdered and there may have been a witness: a seven-year-old girl who either can't or won't tell them what she saw. If Alex would only talk to her, use his expertise, maybe hypnotize her...

When Delaware finally agrees, against his better judgment, he finds himself becoming more and more obsessed with a case that endangers first his career and then his life. As he uncovers a series of astounding facts and a horrifying way to the events that shattered him in the first place, he must finally conquer the terrors within himself as well as the terrifying circumstances surrounding the murders.

With the narrative ease of a born storyteller and a rare talent for creating character, Jonathan Kellerman has written an astonishingly gripping and skillful first novel.

Jonathan Kellerman: When the Bough Breaks. A Novel. Atheneum, ISBN: 0689115199 (February, 1985), 293 p., $15.95.