Most Popular Books by Jesse Kellerman

“A MASTERFUL PLOT AND DEAD-ON PACING.”—Entertainment Weekly “From its first hip, cynical, snarky, confessional pages, this deftly plotted novel rivets the reader…a must buy.”—Booklist In a decaying New York slum, a tenant named Victor Cracke has disappeared, leaving behind countless cardboard boxes of strange, original artwork. Gallery owner Ethan Muller can see their brilliance—and their moneymaking potential. Strictly speaking, the drawings don’t belong to Ethan. But great art demands an audience, and before long Ethan’s wildly successful show is being covered by the Times…where it attracts the attention of the police. Because the subjects of the pictures look exactly like the victims in a long-cold murder case. Ethan has received a letter saying stop stop stop. And the still-missing genius may be the link to a madman—or the madman himself…

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Alex Delaware novels and the award-winning #1 international bestselling author of The Genius combine their extraordinary talents for one of the most unusual—and unnerving—thrillers of the year. Detective Jacob Lev has awakened dazed and confused: it appears he picked up a woman the night before, but can’t remember anything about it. And then suddenly, she’s gone. Not long after, he’s dispatched to a murder scene in a house in the Hollywood hills. There is no body, only a head. And seared into a kitchen counter is a message: the Hebrew word for justice. Lev is about to embark on an odyssey—through Los Angeles, London, and Prague, through the labyrinthine mysteries of a grotesque ancient legend, and most of all, through himself. All that he has believed to be true will be upended. And not only his world, but the world itself, will be changed.

Work hits too close to home for Deputy Coroner Clay Edison when his wife's life is thrown into jeopardy in this riveting, emotional thriller from the bestselling father-son team who write "brilliant, page-turning fiction" (Stephen King). A tragedy at Safe Harbor Health Clinic leaves three dead and many traumatized, including Amy Sandek, psychologist and wife of Deputy Clay Edison. After her boss mysteriously stops showing up for work, Amy answers a call for help from Shasta Swann's family that brings her and Clay to the beautiful landscape of Humboldt County. Soon upon arrival, the couple realizes that all is not what it seems in the lovely Swann home. Family tensions. Forest fires. Missing people and dead bodies. Clay’s idyllic getaway becomes another day on the job, and there is no better partner for him to solve this mystery but his wife.

Things get personal for Deputy Coroner Clay Edison when a murder hits close to home in this riveting, emotional thriller from the bestselling father-son team who write "brilliant, page-turning fiction" (Stephen King). A raging wildfire. A massive blackout. A wealthy man shot to death in his palatial hilltop home. For Clay Edison, it's all in a day's work. As a deputy coroner, caring for the dead, he speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves. He prides himself on an unflinching commitment to the truth. Even when it gets him into trouble. Then, while working the murder scene, Clay is horrified to discover a link to his brother, Luke. Horrified. But not surprised. Luke is fresh out of prison and struggling to stay on the straight and narrow. And now he's gone AWOL. The race is on for Clay to find him before anyone else can. Confronted with Luke's legacy of violence, Clay is forced to reckon with his own suspicions, resentments, and loyalties. Is his brother a killer? Or could he be the victim in all of this, too? This is Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman at their most affecting and page-turning--a harrowing collision of family, revenge, and murder.

When businessman Carl Perreira disappears during his vacation in Mexico, it’s his loyal assistant Gloria who makes call after call to find out what happened. After all, she’s been secretly in love with him for years. When she’s told that Carl has died in a car accident, it’s Gloria who tries, to no avail, to track down the next of kin or a copy of Carl’s will. And it’s Gloria, heartbroken, who finally decides to journey across the border herself to retrieve his body. But the deeper into the desert she travels, the more shocking the discoveries she makes. About Carl. About herself. And about how elusive and dangerous the truth can be. “Offbeat…seductive…hypnotic.”—The New York Times Book Review “A slow-burning, sunbaked noir treat.”—Entertainment Weekly “Pitch-perfect prose…a helluva debut.”—Toronto Globe and Mail

Deputy coroner Clay Edison goes to extreme lengths for a forgotten Jane Doe in the new thriller from a father-son team of bestselling authors who write “brilliant, page-turning fiction” (Stephen King). “As for the keen sense of drama, it must be a genetic trait. . . . The Kellermans show compassion for the survivors, including conscientious officials like Edison.”—The New York Times Book Review Former star basketball player Clay Edison is busy. He’s solved a decades-old crime and redeemed an innocent man, earning himself a suspension in the process. Things are getting serious with his girlfriend. Plus his brother’s fresh out of prison, bringing with him a whole new set of complications. Then the phone rings in the dead of night. A wild party in a gentrifying East Bay neighborhood. A heated argument that spills into the street. Gunshots. Chaos. For Clay and his fellow coroners, it’s the start of a long night and the first of many to come. The victims keep piling up. What begins as a community tragedy soon becomes lurid fodder for social media. Then the smoke clears and the real mystery emerges—one victim’s death doesn’t match the others. Brutalized and abandoned, stripped of ID, and left to die: She is Jane Doe, a human question mark. And it falls to Clay to give her a name and a voice. Haunted by the cruelty of her death, he embarks upon a journey into the bizarre, entering a hidden world where innocence and perversity meet and mingle. There, his relentless pursuit of the truth opens the gateway to a dark and baffling past—and brings him right into the line of fire. Praise for A Measure of Darkness “Edison is an interesting protagonist, a good man for whom finding the truth is more important than anything else, including his own safety. He’s gentle and strong, compassionate and ruthless, methodical and impulsive. A strong sequel to Crime Scene that will leave readers wanting to see more of Edison.”—Booklist

Ethan Muller is struggling to establish his reputation as a dealer in the cut-throat world of contemporary art when he is alerted to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: in a decaying New York slum, an elderly tenant has disappeared, leaving behind a staggeringly large trove of original drawings and paintings. Nobody can tell Ethan much about the old man, except that he came and went in solitude for nearly forty years, his genius hidden and unacknowledged. Despite the fact that, strictly speaking, the artwork doesn't belong to him, Ethan takes the challenge and makes a name for the old man - and himself. Soon Ethan has to congratulate himself on his own genius: for storytelling and salesmanship. But suddenly the police are interested in talking to him. It seems that the missing artist had a nasty past, and the drawings hanging in the Muller Gallery have begun to look a lot less like art and a lot more like evidence. Sucked into an investigation four decades cold, Ethan will uncover a secret legacy of shame and death, one that will touch horrifyingly close to home - and leave him fearing for his own life.

Deputy Coroner Clay Edison discovers that buried secrets can be deadly in this riveting thriller from a father-son team of bestselling authors who write “brilliant, page-turning fiction” (Stephen King). An ID Book Club Selection Clay Edison has his hands full. He’s got a new baby who won't sleep. He’s working the graveyard shift. And he’s trying, for once, to mind his own business. Then comes the first call. Workers demolishing a local park have made a haunting discovery: the decades-old skeleton of a child. But whose? And how did it get there? No sooner has Clay begun to investigate than he receives a second call—this one from a local businessman, wondering if the body could belong to his sister. She went missing fifty years ago, the man says. Or at least I think she did. It’s a little complicated. And things only get stranger from there. Clay’s relentless search for answers will unearth a history of violence and secrets, revolution and betrayal. Because in this town, the past isn’t dead. It’s very much alive. And it can be murderous.

An Edgar(R) Award Nominee for Best Novel Jesse Kellerman—the international bestselling author of The Executor and The Genius—brings his prodigious talent to bear on a topic he knows well in this hilarious and surprising spin on the modern blockbuster thriller novel. Missing for months after a tragic boating accident, William de Vallée, the superstar thriller writer, is pronounced dead. His oldest friend, Arthur Pfefferkorn, receives the news with an unsettling mix of grief and envy. A middle-aged college professor with long-dead literary aspirations, Pfefferkorn can’t help but feel outshone by his friend’s success—especially since he married the woman Pfefferkorn loved. But now Bill is gone, and Pfefferkorn is there to comfort Carlotta in her time of grief. Reconnecting with de Vallée’s widow makes more than one of his dreams come true . . . until it plunges him into a shadowy world of intrigue and double crosses, where no one can be trusted—and nothing can be taken seriously.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A former star athlete turned deputy coroner is drawn into a brutal, complicated murder in this psychological thriller from a father-son writing team that delivers “brilliant, page-turning fiction” (Stephen King). Natural causes or foul play? That’s the question Clay Edison must answer each time he examines a body. Figuring out motives and chasing down suspects aren’t part of his beat—not until a seemingly open-and-shut case proves to be more than meets his highly trained eye. Eccentric, reclusive Walter Rennert lies cold at the bottom of his stairs. At first glance the scene looks straightforward: a once-respected psychology professor, done in by booze and a bad heart. But his daughter Tatiana insists that her father has been murdered, and she persuades Clay to take a closer look at the grim facts of Rennert’s life. What emerges is a history of scandal and violence, and an experiment gone horribly wrong that ended in the brutal murder of a coed. Walter Rennert, it appears, was a broken man—and maybe a marked one. And when Clay learns that a colleague of Rennert’s died in a nearly identical manner, he begins to question everything in the official record. All the while, his relationship with Tatiana is evolving into something forbidden. The closer they grow, the more determined he becomes to catch her father’s killer—even if he has to overstep his bounds to do it. The twisting trail Clay follows will lead him into the darkest corners of the human soul. It’s his job to listen to the tales the dead tell. But this time, he’s part of a story that makes his blood run cold. Praise for Crime Scene “You could drive yourself crazy trying to figure out who wrote what. . . . But whoever came up with the fine line, ‘When I meet new people, they’re usually dead,’ should pat himself on the back.”—The New York Times Book Review “A terrific book . . . Put Crime Scene at the top of your reading pile.”—Bookreporter “A character-driven, intricately plotted whodunit . . . Mystery readers will devour the book and look forward to the next father and son collaboration.”—Press Republican

Joseph Geist takes a job as a "conversationalist" for a wealthy, enigmatic woman who offers him a place to stay in her big, beautiful house. But as his friendship with his employer evolves from conversationalist to lodger to caretaker, Joseph finds himself at odds with the woman's troubled nephew, and decides to do whatever is necessary to maintain his position.

"From two [authors] of crime fiction comes a...thriller about family, murder, and the secrets that refuse to stay buried. It's been more than a year since LAPD detective Jacob Lev learned the remarkable truth about his family, and he's not coping well...Then he comes across the file for a gruesome unsolved murder that brings the two halves of his life into startling collision. Finding the killer will take him halfway around the world, to Paris-- the city of romance, but also of gritty streets, behind the lights. It's a dangerous search for truth that plunges him into the past."--

When the world's bestselling thriller writer, William de Vallée, disappears from his luxury yacht while sailing off the LA coast, his best friend and fellow writer Arthur Pfefferkorn decides to pick up where he left off. But little does Arthur know that this impulsive decision is about to change his life for ever... We want to tell you more about this novel. We wish we could explain how spectacular and absolutely unexpected it is; how it will burn itself onto your brain for ever. But the truth is we could never do it justice... The only way you'll understand it is to read it.

MINISERIES FINALE ÒGive Them What They WantÓ Jerry and Cassandra are having an increasingly hard time convincing the more violent sides of their worlds that Jerry is, in fact, well-heeled self-help guru Darren Hart, a challenge made even more difficult by Jerry-as-DarrenÕs appearance on a very public talk showÉ

"Live, Laugh, Love." Jerry Hauser seeks to reinvent his present with the aid of Darren Hart’s opportunistic assistant Cassandra, but his past refuses to stay where it belongs—as Jerry’s ex-wife and daughter learn when they meet Powder Bob. And nothing good happens to anyone who runs afoul of Power Bob...

ÒWho Shaves the Barber?ÓÊ Jerry Hauser has long been in over his head, which is one reason he assumed the identity of the globally popular but presumed-dead self-help guru. Only, all heÕs accomplished so far is assuming the growing problems of both menÑa situation that spirals even further out of control thanks to his appearance on a daytime talk show, bringing even more unwanted and vicious criminal elements into his life!

MINISERIES PREMIERE Down-on-his-luck rideshare driver Jerry HauserÕs existence is a bleak oneÉespecially because every fare he picks up tells him how much he looks like uber-successful self-help guru Darren Hart. But after a twist of fate, Jerry is given the chance of a lifetimeÉwhich, if heÕs not careful, may well end his lifetime. So begins this California noirÑa rollicking and gleefully lurid pulp crime story for our time.

A surreal and colorful world populated with two-faced talk-show hosts, cheerful Finnish mobsters, bloodthirsty white supremacists, snide English butlers, and panther-wielding Euro-trash assassins. Down-on-his-luck rideshare driver Jerry HauserÕs existence is a bleak oneÉespecially because every fare he picks up tells him how much he looks like uber-successful self-help guru Darren Hart. But after a twist of fate, Jerry is given the chance of a lifetimeÉwhich, if heÕs not careful, may well end his lifetime. So begins this California noirÑa rollicking and gleefully lurid pulp crime story for our time. Collects SELF HELP #1-5

A Prague, un harceleur en série massacre de jeunes serveuses ou vendeuses, avant d'être neutralisé dans d'étranges circonstances. A Los Angeles, Jacob Lev, inspecteur du LAPD, ancien de Harvard marqué par la personnalité de son père rabbin et la mémoire de sa mère sculptrice, est un peu sur la touche. Pourtant, une mystérieuse "unité spéciale" lui confie une affaire apparemment insoluble : on a trouvé une tête - la tête seule, pas de corps - dans la cuisine d'une maison abandonnée sur la colline d'Hollywood. Et, gravé à la flamme dans le revêtement du plan de travail, un mot en hébreu : "Justice". L'enquête de Lev s'amalgame intimement au récit d'une très ancienne vengeance impliquant des mythes et rituels juifs au centre duquel se dresse le Golem, créature humanoïde modelée au XVIe siècle avec la terre glaise des rives de la Vltava pour protéger les Juifs pragois de leurs persécuteurs.

Arthur Pfefferkorn est un prof de fac aux ambitions littéraires avortées (il aurait commencé 77 romans différents). Son plus vieil ami est le fameux William de Nerval, auteur de thrillers sanglants au succès international, qui compte Stephen King parmi ses fans. Pourtant, Arthur, qui s’est toujours considéré comme l’Écrivain, est très jaloux de la réussite de William. En outre, ce dernier a épousé la belle Carlotta, dont Arthur est épris depuis leur jeunesse. Un jour, William disparaît en mer. Arthur se rapproche alors de la veuve éplorée, et la tentation est grande de faire aussi main basse sur le dernier manuscrit de son ami. Plongé dans un monde truffé de clichés et d’intrigues rocambolesques, Arthur se lance en quête de l’ultime secret : comment concocter un best-seller.

Par l'auteur du roman culte Les Visages. Arthur Pfefferkorn est un prof de fac aux ambitions littéraires avortées. Il vit dans l'ombre de son plus vieil ami, le célèbre William de Nerval, auteur de policiers au succès international, qui compte même Stephen King parmi ses fans. Pour couronner le tout, William a épousé la belle Carlotta, dont Arthur est épris depuis leur jeunesse. Un jour, William disparaît en mer et Arthur se rapproche alors de la veuve éplorée. La tentation est grande de faire aussi main basse sur le dernier manuscrit - inédit - de son ami. Mais son plagiat va déclencher une série d'événements sinistres, dignes des thrillers les plus terrifiants... Un véritable tour de force, cette satire de polar contient tous les codes - espionnage, romance et suspense - auxquels l'auteur tord le cou avec un plaisir évident. Traduit de l'anglais (Etats-Unis) par Julie Sibony