When the Bough Breaks is the first book in the Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman. Alex Delaware is a retired psychologist and in When the Bough Breaks Alex helps his friend, police detective, Milo. Milo is investigating a murder and has a juvenile eyewitness he wants Alex to interview. After getting to know Melody, Alex becomes involved in the investigation and helps solve the case. 

I found the writing to be very descriptive. It was so easy to picture everything going on. The experience of reading this book felt very similar to the experience of watching a crime TV show.  I enjoyed the characters and their development. Though I did feel that some of Alex’s actions in the end were not consistent with his personality. But, really this just makes me want to continue to read the series to understand his character better. This book was written in 1985 and it was fun going back in time with little details like using phone booths and calling information when looking for a phone number. 

Because author Kellerman does such a great job in describing scenes there are triggers warning for violence and child molestation.