Billy Straight: A Novel Hardcover – = by Jonathan Kellerman

In this riveting, astute, high-tension thriller, the creator of psychologist sleuth Alex Delaware weaves a Dickensian tale of innocence, urban depravity, and the resilience of the human spirit, and brings to the page one of the most endearing and finely drawn characters in contemporary  fiction.
        
Twelve-year-old Billy Straight--precocious, heartbreakingly perceptive, relentlessly moral--has fled the chaos and abuse of his life at home and is fighting to survive on L.A.'s meanest streets. All alone, Billy has fashioned a precarious existence for himself, using principled tricks to nourish his body and his mind. Late one night he watches from his hiding place as a man viciously butchers a woman. The victim turns out to be the ex-wife of a television celebrity with a history of domestic violence, and Billy becomes the center of terrifying attention--from the media, from violent bounty hunters, and from the murderer himself. As he runs for his life, relying on his native wit and instincts for survival, Billy is also tracked by a potential savior: Petra Connor, a tough, gifted, beautiful LAPD homicide detective with a past of her own.
        
Breathtakingly paced, Billy Straight  brings to life one street kid's efforts to survive in the face of unspeakable evil. Richly layered, emotionally compelling, and peopled by a vivid cast of supporting characters--including Alex Delaware himself in a strong cameo role--this gripping novel represents one of the century's great story-tellers at the top of his form.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Kellerman isn't just an Edgar Award-winning thriller writer, he's a prominent child psychologist, and it shows in Billy Straight. The hero is a 12-year-old runaway whose sharp mind and straitlaced moral sense make him fit to survive the lurid jungles of Hollywood. One night hiding in Griffith Park, Billy witnesses the butchering of Lisa Ramsey, the cokehead ex-wife of Cart Ramsey, a crummy actor-golfer once busted for pummeling Lisa. Did Cart knife Lisa, or was it his pathetic old football sidekick Greg Balch?
When O.J. was on trial, Kellerman said, "This wouldn't make a good novel," but some of Kellerman's toughest critics say this funhouse-mirror version of an O.J.-like case is his best, better than his famous Alex Delaware series. Psychologist Dr. Delaware has a bit part here, but the heroine is Detective Petra Connor, his distaff equivalent. Kellerman's main strength is his vivid invention of secondary characters and his skill at juggling subplots. When Petra's media-whore boss puts Billy's police sketch in the paper with a $25,000 reward, two marvelously sub-simian bounty hunters join the chase: a vicious Russian ex-cop and the vile biker boyfriend of Billy's stoned-out, trailer-park mom.

Like the kid hero of Russell Banks's Rule of the Bone, Billy enriches his author's customary milieu by viewing it from a new, low angle. The tale is more taut than Kellerman's 1997 bestseller Survival of the Fittest and more riveting than the O.J. case--the cops are smart and justice has a prayer. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly
Although this is only the second of Kellerman's 14 novels not to feature psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware (the first was Butcher's Theater, 1988), it has all the author's familiar strengths: a broad cast of well-defined characters, a fast-moving plot and themes sponged from the daily news yet turned fresh. (And Delaware makes a brief appearance at the end.) Twelve-year-old Billy Straight, a precocious homeless kid with a taste for reading, flees Los Angeles in terror after witnessing a murder in Griffith Park. The homicide inquiry is headed by Petra Connor, a determined, intuitive detective, and her partner, Stu Bishop, who is distracted by a family tragedy. The murder victim turns out to be Lisa Ramsey, ex-wife of the famous, and abusive, Cart Ramsey, who plays a private eye on a late-night television series. Kellerman does a fine job revealing how memories of the Simpson case shadow the Ramsey investigation, affecting the ways Petra and Stu are allowed to go about their work. The search for Billy by the cops and several villains forces a comparison with John Grisham's The Client, but Kellerman's novel is far more complex, switching points of view among a multitude of characters and amid a series of distinctive subplots. By the dramatic climax, Kellerman has pushed a number of familiar buttons?but with enough panache and surprises to satisfy his most demanding fans.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
For 12-year-old Billy, dubbed "Straight" because of his strong sense of moral duty, life on the run in L.A. is preferable to living with his addicted mother and her sadistic boyfriend. But after witnessing the stabbing murder of a celebrity's ex-wife, things get tougher for Billy; he saw the killer's license plate and knows he should tell, but he's terrified of both the killer and the police, so he runs for his life. LAPD Detective Petra Connor investigates the murder and begins to search for Billy?as do the media, bounty hunters, and the killer. Kellerman (Survival of the Fittest, LJ 8/97) has given Detective Alex Delaware only a cameo role here, but Billy and Petra are poignant, likable characters in a fast-paced, riveting tale that will keep readers hanging until the very last page. Another winner from the master of the psychological thriller; highly recommended.
-?Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Readers rightfully equate Kellerman with blockbuster best-sellers filled with suspense, violence, and intriguing glimpses of the human psyche. His latest is no exception, although Kellerman rests series star Dr. Alex Delaware and introduces two new heroes: 12-year-old runaway Billy Straight and LAPD detective Petra Connor. Billy has escaped his alcoholic, drug-addicted mother and her abusive boyfriend and lives by his wits on L.A.'s mean streets. Petra is an artist turned homicide detective, recently divorced from a husband whose mental abuse left deep scars. The lives of these characters merge when Billy witnesses a violent murder and Petra is assigned to investigate the case. As Petra follows up leads, wades through evidence, and deals with the LAPD bureaucracy, Billy burrows deeper into street-kid anonymity, terrified the killer will come after him. The plot hurtles along at breakneck speed toward a cliff-hanger of a climax that's guaranteed to surprise even seasoned mystery fans. Kellerman, already an icon in the genre, will further cement his status as a mystery master with this diabolically clever thriller. A mesmerizing combination of violence, pathos, misery, and hope. Emily Melton
From Kirkus Reviews
While Alex Delaware, his psychologist-sleuth (The Clinic, 1997, etc.), is out on a one-book hiatus, Kellerman produces his best work yet. Young Billy Straight, fleeing domestic non-tranquility--his mom's a drunk, her boyfriend's a sadist--happens on a woman being stabbed to death. It traumatizes him, of coursenot only the brutality of it, but its way of placing on his thin shoulders one more impossible burden. What should he do? Should he tell the police he's seen a license plate number? Hes only 12, but Bill is named Straight for a reason: he's a boy who takes moral dilemmas seriously. But this time, nevertheless, he runs. Facing the police, risking a return to the misery of his home as well as possible exposure to a killer, is more good behavior than he can force on himself. The murder victim turns out to be the divorced wife of a well-known television starand a case for the LAPDs Detective Petra Connor, who is less than overjoyed at it, knowing it will be high profile and a media magnet. Launching the kind of professional investigation she prides herself on is tricky business in a fish bowl. Brass will get nervous. In addition, her usually rock-solid partner is already distracted in a way that mystifies her, and he wont explain himself, making Petra feel put upon and deserted. But there's plenty of bulldog in this pretty Detective, belying her laid-back and understated look. Relentlessly, she tracks down the leads that at first point unerringly to the disgruntled and jealous former husband. Soon, however, other possibilities occur, until at last Petra connects with Billy during a climactic, blood-drenched shoot-out that resolves all. An engrossing tale in lean, straightforward prose. Readers leery of Kellerman's style will be hard put to find the purple patches usually associated with it. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"Jonathan Kellerman doesn't just write psychological thrillers--he owns the genre."  --Detroit Free Press

"Often, mystery writers can either plot like devils or create believable characters.  Kellerman stands out because he can do both.  Masterfully."
--USA Today
From the Inside Flap
ting, astute, high-tension thriller, the creator of psychologist sleuth Alex Delaware weaves a Dickensian tale of innocence, urban depravity, and the resilience of the human spirit, and brings to the page one of the most endearing and finely drawn characters in contemporary fiction.

Twelve-year-old Billy Straight--precocious, heartbreakingly perceptive, relentlessly moral--has fled the chaos and abuse of his life at home and is fighting to survive on L.A.'s meanest streets. All alone, Billy has fashioned a precarious existence for himself, using principled tricks to nourish his body and his mind. Late one night he watches from his hiding place as a man viciously butchers a woman. The victim turns out to be the ex-wife of a television celebrity with a history of domestic violence, and Billy becomes the center of terrifying attention--from the media, from violent bounty hunters, and from the murderer himself. As he runs for his life
From the Back Cover

"Jonathan Kellerman doesn't just write psychological thrillers--he owns the genre." --Detroit Free Press
"Often, mystery writers can either plot like devils or create believable characters. Kellerman stands out because he can do both. Masterfully."
--USA Today

About the Author
Jonathan Kellerman, America's foremost author of psychological suspense and one of the world's most consistently bestselling novelists, turned from a distinguished career in child psychology to writing full-time. He has authored twelve Alex Delaware novels--including When the Bough Breaks, Devil's Waltz, The Clinic, and Survival of the Fittest--as well as the thriller The Butcher's Theater, two volumes of psychology, and two children's books. A nonfiction book of his on violent children is soon to be published. He and his wife, the novelist Faye Kellerman, have four children.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
In the park you see things.
But not what I saw tonight.
God, God . . .
I wanted to be dreaming but I was awake, smelling chili meat and onions and the pine trees.

First, the car drove up to the edge of the parking lot. They got out and talked and he grabbed her, like in a hug. I thought maybe they were going to kiss and I'd watch that.
Then all of a sudden, she made a weird sound--surprised, squeaky, like a cat or dog that gets stepped on.

He let go of her and she fell. Then he bent down next to her and his arm started moving up and down really fast. I thought he was punching her, and that was bad enough, and I kept thinking should I do something. But then I heard another sound, fast, wet, like the butcher at Stater Brothers back in Watson chopping meat--chuck chuck chuck.

He kept doing it, moving his arm up and down.
I wasn't breathing. My heart was on fire. My legs were cold. Then they turned hot-wet.
Pissing my pants like a stupid baby!
The chuck chuck stopped. He stood up, big and wide, wiped his hands on his pants. Something was in his hand and he held it far from his body.
He looked all around. Then in my direction.
Could he see me, hear me--smell me?
He kept looking. I wanted to run but knew he'd hear me. But staying here could trap me--how could he see anything behind the rocks? They're like a cave with no roof, just cracks you can look through, which is the reason I picked them as one of my places.
My stomach started to churn around, and I wanted to run so badly my leg muscles were jumping under my skin.

A breeze came through the trees, blowing up pine smell and piss stink.
Would it blow against the chili-burger's wrapping paper and make noise? Would he smell me?
He looked around some more. My stomach hurt so bad.
All of a sudden he jumped ran back to the car, got in, drove away.
I didn't want to see when he passed under the lamp at the corner of the parking lot, didn't want to read the license plate.
plyr 1.

The letters burned into my mind.
Why did I look?
Why?

I'm still sitting here. My Casio says 1:12 a.m.
I need to get out of here, but what if he's just driving around and comes back--no, that would be stupid, why would he do that?
I can't stand it. She's down there, and I smell like piss and meat and onions and chili. Real dinner from the Oki-Rama on the Boulevard, that Chinese guy who never smiles or looks at your face. I paid $2.38 and now I want to throw it up.

My jeans are starting to get sticky and itchy. Going over to the public bathroom at the other end of the lot is too dangerous . . . that arm going up and down. Like he was just doing a job. He wasn't as big as Moron, but he was big enough. She trusted him, let him hug her . . . what did she do to make him so mad . . . could she still be alive?
No way. Impossible.

I listen carefully to see if she's making any sounds. Nothing but the freeway noise from across the east side of the park and traffic from the Boulevard. Not much traffic tonight. Sometimes, when the wind blows north, you hear ambulance sirens, motorcycles, car honks. The city's all around. The park looks like the country, but I know the difference.
Who is she?--forget that, I don't want to know.

What I want is to put tonight on rewind.
That squeaky sound--like he took the air right out of her. For sure she's . . . gone. But what if she isn't?
Even if she isn't, she will be soon, all that chucking. And what could I do for her, anyway? Breathe into her mouth, put my face in her blood?
What if he comes back while I'm doing it?
Would he come back? That would be stupid, but there are always surprises. She sure found that out.
I can't help her. I have to put this all out of my mind.
I'll sit here for ten more minutes--no, fifteen. Twenty. Then I'll get my Place Two stuff together and move.

Where to? Place One, up near the observatory, is too far, and so are Three and Four, even though Three would be good 'cause it has a stream for washing. That leaves Five, in the fern tangle behind the zoo, all those trees. A little closer, but still a long walk in the dark.
But it's also the hardest one to find.

Okay, I'll go to Five. Me and the animals. The way they cry and roar and smash against their cages makes it hard to sleep, but tonight I probably won't sleep anyway.
Meantime, I sit here and wait.
Pray.
Our Father in heaven, how about no more surprises?
Not that praying ever got me anything, and sometimes I wonder if there's anyone up there to pray to or just stars--humongous balls of gas in an empty black universe.
Then I get worried that I'm blaspheming.
Maybe some kind of God is up there; maybe He's saved me lots of times and I'm just too dumb to know it. Or not a good enough person to appreciate Him.
Maybe God saved me tonight, putting me behind the rocks, instead of out in the open.
But if he had seen me when he drove up, he probably would've changed his mind and not done anything to her.

So did God want her to . . .
No, he just would've gone somewhere else to do it . . . whatever.
In case You saved me, thank You, God.
In case You're up there, do You have a plan for me?
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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House; First Edition (January 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 467 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679459596
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679459590
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.25 x 10 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #419,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#3,646 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
#23,486 in American Literature (Books)
Customer Reviews: 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars    1,762 ratings