A review by zade
The Golem of Hollywood by Jesse Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman
3.0
This book surprised me by being better and more engaging than I expected, then surprised me again by ending on a quite disappointing note. The father/son Kellerman team do a good job of supporting and balancing each other's strengths as writers. Jonathan can keep a plot moving and Jesse has a really ability to build characters. Their protagonist, Jacob Lev, is not a particularly likable fellow, but you end up liking him just the same and his personal struggles are as much a part of the book as the mystery.
I am not a fan of supernatural elements in my thrillers, but for the most part, the Kellermans handle that aspect of the plot well. The chapters retelling the story of Cain and Abel and of the origins of the golem are, surprisingly, not disruptive to the whole. The interweaving of Jewish culture, mythology, and history into the story works very well and makes what could have been a fairly drab tale come to life. I detect more than a little influence from Faye Kellerman in this aspect of the novel.
What didn't work for me was the way the real-world mystery took more and more of a back seat to the supernatural as the plot evolved. Yes, we find out whodunnit, but almost as a side note to the spooky goings-on with the golem. When I add the sense of incompletion in the mystery plot to the fact that the golem plot was left hanging intentionally, I came away feeling like I'd just read 500+ pages to get nowhere. Parts of the journey were certainly entertaining and parts were quite educational (I found myself looking up historical and mythological background so I could tell where the Kellermans were inventing their own spin on things), but in the end, there just wasn't anything to hang onto. I'd not be averse to reading the next in the series, but I don't think I'll be running out to buy it in hardback, either.
I am not a fan of supernatural elements in my thrillers, but for the most part, the Kellermans handle that aspect of the plot well. The chapters retelling the story of Cain and Abel and of the origins of the golem are, surprisingly, not disruptive to the whole. The interweaving of Jewish culture, mythology, and history into the story works very well and makes what could have been a fairly drab tale come to life. I detect more than a little influence from Faye Kellerman in this aspect of the novel.
What didn't work for me was the way the real-world mystery took more and more of a back seat to the supernatural as the plot evolved. Yes, we find out whodunnit, but almost as a side note to the spooky goings-on with the golem. When I add the sense of incompletion in the mystery plot to the fact that the golem plot was left hanging intentionally, I came away feeling like I'd just read 500+ pages to get nowhere. Parts of the journey were certainly entertaining and parts were quite educational (I found myself looking up historical and mythological background so I could tell where the Kellermans were inventing their own spin on things), but in the end, there just wasn't anything to hang onto. I'd not be averse to reading the next in the series, but I don't think I'll be running out to buy it in hardback, either.