An early morning earthquake in Los Angeles is ordinary enough, but after the trembling stops, 36-year-old Gloria Mendez finds her life anything but on steady ground. After heading into work to assess the damage, she discovers a garbled, frantic message from her boss, Carl Perreira. Gloria has worked for Carl for ten years-and has loved him for just as long. But now, on Carl's annual vacation to Mexico, the one part of his life the two didn't share, he has disappeared into the back country. Carl's strange message consumes Gloria; answers are hard and dangerous to find, and as soon as Gloria starts digging into Carl's past, she realizes how little she truly knows him. The plot moves along quickly enough, and Gloria is a strong, intense character. Although some of the dialog seems artificial and forced, it fits in with the overall mood and atmosphere that debut novelist Kellerman (son of authors Faye and Jonathan Kellerman) is trying to create. Sunstroke will certainly find readers, but Kellerman's family might help matters somewhat. Recommended for most public libraries.-Andrea Y. Griffith, Loma Linda Univ. Libs., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Uncovering a secret life isn't a very original plot, but then again, neither is boy meets girl; it all depends on what the writer does with it. And in his extraordinarily self-assured debut novel, playwright Kellerman (son of Faye and Jonathan) shows that he could probably take us on a compelling journey to the water cooler. L.A. novelty-company secretary Gloria Mendez, in love with her boss, is heartbroken when he dies while on vacation in Mexico. No family comes forward, so she heads south to claim the body. In sun-bleached Aguas Vivas, a dead town whose only industry is its graveyard, she finds ashes and a suspicious-acting cop. As Kellerman teasingly plays pieces of the puzzle, Gloria soon learns that nearly everything about the man she longed for has been a mirage--and she learns a few things about herself, too. This tightly focused thriller features expertly drawn characters, vivid scenes, and simmering tension. If it never comes to a rolling boil, that's all right. There's plenty of heat here to justify the buzz. --Keir Graff Copyright 2005 Booklist

From the son of the bestsellers Kellerman (Faye and Jonathan), a superb debut thriller about love, lust, vengeance, murder and a good girl coping. Okay, so Gloria Mendez at 36 is past her first girlhood. But good she is. Probably too good for her own good, as is evident from her behavior when her boss, Carl Perreira, owner-operator of Caperco Mask and Novelty, Inc., suddenly goes missing. The world isn't full of people, for instance, who would unhesitatingly get into a car and drive the ten hours from L.A. to Aguas Vivas, Mexico, out of a sense of obligation, out of the conviction that good girls bear witness. But bear witness to what? Excellent question, and not one to which Gloria can give a conventional answer. Still, "Take care of things while I'm gone," Carl's note had said, and, Gloria being Gloria, she sets about trying to do exactly that. In Aguas Vivas, however, a sun-blasted town that time forgot, she runs into obstacles. She knows that something bad has happened to Carl there. How bad? And where is he? How many unsuspected identities does he have, this man with whom she's worked side by side for a decade? And, gulp, is he still alive? Questions and more questions, all unsettling, as is the motley array that turns out to be her only source for answers. There's the gravestone cutter competing for market share with his dead half brother, the drunken Mexican cop intent on dragging her into his bed, a seven-year-old who computes like Einstein and the gorgeous hunk claiming to be Carl's long-lost son, who dazzles her, rattles her and scares the very daylights out of her. Funny, exciting and stylishly written--a delicious tour de force not to be missed. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kellerman is the son of well-known novelists Faye and Jonathan Kellerman, and if his debut is any indication, talent breeds true. Gloria Mendez-a 36-year-old secretary at a Los Angeles novelty item import business-is in love with her boss, Carl Perreira, though he has never reciprocated her romantic interest. Carl has gone on his annual vacation, and after leaving a garbled phone message on Gloria's answering machine, he disappears into Mexico's backcountry. Facing apathy from the police in Mexico and the U.S.-even after Carl is reported dead in a fiery car crash-Gloria heads south to retrieve his body. She soon finds herself enmeshed in a dangerous adventure hinging on the mystery of Carl's death (if he is indeed really dead), his real identity and the truthfulness of the young man who introduces himself as Carlos Perreira, Carl's son abandoned many years earlier. Gloria is dogged, resourceful and intelligent, but despite some sex and gunplay late in the game, the adventure is a bit too cool and cerebral to be a thriller and too literary to be a genre mystery. Many readers will enjoy the intrepid Gloria and her puzzle, but most will hope for a little more heat from this promising writer's next outing. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved