- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Hyperion (Dec 1 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 140130818X
- ISBN-13: 978-1401308186
- Product Dimensions: 20.5 x 13.3 x 2.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #818,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Lieutenant Lou Boldt, the Seattle cop who stars in Ridley Pearson's deservedly popular series, is a sharp and touching figure--perhaps the most believable police officer in current fiction. Early in this ninth book about his public and private life, Lou has to put on a bullet-resistant vest to lead a raid against some dangerous criminals. "The vest was not physically heavy, but its presence was," Pearson tells us.
It meant battle; it meant risk. For Boldt a vest was a symbol of youth. It had been well over a year since he had worn one. Ironically, as he approached the hangar's north door at a light run behind his own four heavily armored ERT personnel, he caught himself worrying about his hands, not his life. He didn't want to smash up his piano hands in some close quarters skirmish...Boldt plays jazz piano one night a week in a local bar, and despite his concern for his hands, he takes every opportunity he can to get away from his desk and into the streets. But money pressures, caused by his wife's recent illness, also make him think about the possibility of a better-paying job in the private sector. Meanwhile, some extremely ruthless people are murdering illegal Chinese immigrant women and leaving their bodies buried in newly dug graves. An ambitious local TV journalist named Stevie McNeal and the young Chinese woman she thinks of as her "Little Sister" risk their lives to investigate the killings, while Boldt and his team round up a most unusual array of suspects. This combination of hard-edged realism and softer sentiment has become Pearson's trademark, and once again it works smoothly. --Dick Adler --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Impeccably paced, beautifully observed and moving with a crescendo of suspense, this is another thoughtful and exciting Seattle-based police thriller from Pearson (The Pied Piper), whose skill at maintaining a balance between the narrative thrust of his plot and the personal lives of his characters makes him a top-notch practitioner of the genre. We learn just enough about Lt. Lou Boldt's current situation to realize that his recent promotion has had mixed benefits: he misses street work and bends the rules to get out from behind his desk. We also discover that his wife Liz's apparent remission from cancer has created some domestic tensionAshe credits her good results to faith; he can't quite make the same leapAand that financial pressure caused by the loss of her income has made him think about leaving the police force. We acquire this information gradually, as naturally as we would in real life, while being swept along through a heartbreaking narrative that involves illegal Chinese immigrant women being smuggled into Seattle in cargo containers. The story becomes a crusade for two sharp and ambitious female journalistsAlocal TV superstar Stevie McNeal and Melissa Chow, the young Chinese woman McNeal's father adopted, and whom Stevie calls "Little Sister." Lieutenant Boldt and his unusually well-defined team become involved when Melissa goes underground as an illegal and then disappears. Bodies of several Chinese women are found in a public graveyard, the "first victims" of a particularly vicious gang of smugglers. As one of Boldt's colleagues explains to McNeal, "The first victim is generally the one that is handled carelessly." Like all of Pearson's insights into the minds of criminals, cops and citizens, this one is strong, subtle and full of resonance. Atmospheric descriptions of Seattle and some fascinating forensic evidence add texture to a riveting story. $250,000 ad/promo. (July) FYI: The mass market edition of The Pied Piper, released simultaneously, will carry a teaser chapter from The First Victim.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
It came off the northern Pacific as if driven by a witch's broom: the remnants of typhoon Mary, which had killed 117 in Japan, left 6,000 homeless in Siberia and flooded the western Aleutians for the first time in sixty-two years. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It came off the northern Pacific as if driven by a witch's broom: the remnants of typhoon Mary, which had killed 117 in Japan, left 6,000 homeless in Siberia and flooded the western Aleutians for the first time in sixty-two years. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fast, Furious and Hard to Put Down,
By Vesta Irene (the Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 1st Victim (Mass Market Paperback)
A shipping container washes ashore in Seattle carrying a handful of scared and hungry Chinese women, three dead from the hard voyage across the Pacific. TV news anchor Stevie McNeal and her Chinese reporter friend and adopted sister Melissa chase after what seems to be a large scale scheme involving illegal aliens. Melissa decides to go undercover as an illegal but when Stevie doesn't hear from her she fears the worst.Seattle police Detective Lou Boldt is also on the case and now, all of a sudden, Stevie sees him as friend and ally, rather than foe.This was a fun read as are all Pearson's novels. It was fast, furious and impossible to put down. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a bad story; seems familiar. Well read though.,
By michael d. chlanda (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The First Victim (Audio Cassette)
This is the first story of Ridley Pearson's I've listened to [I'm referring to the abridged audiocassette version] featuring Lou Boldt. It was not bad. The story seems a little familiar (perhaps, because "Law and Order" or one of the program(me)s; perhaps, CSI, I'm not sure)had a similar story. Anyway, the reader, Scott Rosema, kept the story "tight". The characters, the detective, the reporter, and her friend, who took a chance going "undercover", are fairly strong. I think I'd like to check into more of Mr. Pearson's work. Recommended to me by a co-worker. Not bad, as I said, even though familiar.
3.0 out of 5 stars
An "A" for Effort--Keep Them Coming,
By Elizabeth Reynolds (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 1st Victim (Mass Market Paperback)
I get real tired with people who expect a 5 star novel every time up to bat. Personally I'll settle for a 5 star effort. The only thing that I really got bogged down with was the bureacracy. The rest of it was well paced. one of my fellow Ridley fans aptly described this as a mind thriller. definitely an apt description.
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