The Art of Deception

July 1, 2002
Seattle police detective Lou Boldt, Pearson's engaging cop hero, retired from the force a few years back when personal problems started stacking up, then returned when those same problems faded. These days, he's in more of a paper-shuffling role, letting his younger charges mix it up on the street. Taking center stage here, in the eighth Boldt entry (after Parallel Lies), are two longtime prominent series sidekicks, forensic pathologist Daphne Matthews and the skirt-chasing stud cop, John LaMoia. Together, they investigate the perplexing murder of a woman who was pushed off a bridge. The case turns creepy when the evidence against the prime suspect falls apart and the victim's brother, Ferrell Walker, simultaneously courts and lashes out at Matthews. Meanwhile, Boldt pursues his own case, following the trail of two missing women who appear to have been stalked before disappearing. As with many of Pearson's plots, the two story lines eventually mesh into a wild, drawn-out finale. The setting this time couldn't be better. It's Seattle's Underground, a subterranean ghost town of abandoned shops and homes now underneath the newer, more flood-resistant city built on top a century ago. It is within this spooky, cavernous landscape that Pearson's forte—the manhunt—bursts through with all its usual bone-tingling drama and suspense. And what of the somewhat marginalized Boldt? Longtime fans may feel a touch of sadness, yet Pearson ably layers Matthews's personality with new depths to make an appealingly quirky character. As for LaMoia, even he shows that he's more than just a pretty face with an insatiable sex drive. (Aug. 7)Forecast:A one-day laydown, television ads, an author tour and teaser chapters in
Parallel Lies add up to major promo activity for this title—and should stimulate the usual healthy sales. Don't confuse this with the nonfiction book published under the same title by computer hacker Kevin Mitnick (Forecasts, June 25).

Starred review from July 15, 2002
In Pearson's latest thriller (after Parallel Lies), deception is raised to the level of an art. Lou Boldt is back, but Daphne Matthews and John LaMoia take the spotlight in this Seattle-based suspense novel. A young woman is thrown off the Aurora Bridge, two women have vanished in the tourist area of the Seattle Underground, and a worker drowns under mysterious circumstances. These three cases are just the beginning, as Daphne discovers that she is being stalked. She starts to believe that same man has committed all three crimes and she is the next target. Her strong will keeps her involved in the case, even as her stable life starts to crumble around her. Pearson keeps the sense of danger and paranoia intense as the various characters' emotions spill from each page. The atmospheric descriptions of Seattle are dead-on, causing this Seattle-based reviewer to feel uneasy when moving around town. This is hands-down one of the best thrillers of the year. - Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2002
Pearson's last novel, " Parallel Lies "[BKL My 1 01], a stand-alone thriller about railroad terrorism, seemed a bit predictable, at least for a writer who is usually a master of unpredictability, but this time he's back at the top of his game. The eighth installment in the Lou Boldt-Daphne Matthews series finds the Seattle police lieutenant and his forensic psychologist colleague investigating two cases that ultimately become one. Boldt is tracking a serial killer, and Matthews is investigating the death of a woman who was thrown from Seattle's Aurora Bridge. Circling around both cases is John LaMoia, a longtime member of Boldt's team now struggling with both a lingering addiction to pain medication and the attraction he suddenly feels to Matthews, who was once involved with Boldt. Pearson has always excelled at interweaving human drama with the constantly building suspense of a murder investigation, and he does so again here. As both cases come to focus on the same suspect, a stalker who haunts Seattle's Underground, Boldt, Matthews, and LaMoia are thrown together in a dramatic finale made all the more exciting by the roiling emotions the three characters feel for one another. Pearson makes particularly good use of his Seattle setting this time; the legendary Underground (created when the city was rebuilt after its great fire of 1889) has often appeared in mysteries, but Pearson's detail-rich treatment goes well beyond the typical cliches of dark passages and abandoned storefronts. On every level, this series remains one of the mystery genre's great pleasures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)