No I’m not talking about Yom Kippor, I’m talking about the fourth book in Faye Kellerman’s Peter Decker/Rina Lazerus series, Day of Atonement, which happens to take place in the days leading up to Yom Kippor, following Peter and Rina’s wedding. In it, there is no mystery to solve per se (for the reader at least), only for Peter and cohorts as he tries to track down a missing teen, the son of friends’ of Rena’s family. We, as readers know, or have a good idea through most of the book, where the teen is and we also know the danger he faces but we’re taken along for the ride as Peter tries to figure it out for himself.
I liked this book a bit more than the last. Maybe because the format was a bit different as we bounced back and forth between Peter’s view, the teen’s view and the view of the psycho that instigated the entire situation. Plus, having the story shorter by 100 pages than the previous book didn’t hurt the cause either. What I didn’t like about the book was so much of it was contrived – really driven by impossible coincidences and some behavior, especially from Peter that felt completely out of character. On the whole though, I’m still okay having taken the time to read it.