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Parallel Lies
  

Parallel Lies (Hardcover)

by Ridley Pearson (Author) "The train charged forward in the shimmering afternoon sunlight, autumn's vibrant colors forming a natural lane for the raised bed of chipped rock and the..." (more)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)

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Penzler Pick, June 2001: Ridley Pearson, who has written 14 previous books, many of them featuring his Seattle cop Lou Boldt, ups the ante in his latest thriller.

Northern Union Railroad has been experiencing a series of accidents with their freight trains, but it is not until they find a freight car covered with blood that they call in outside help. Peter Tyler used to be a cop until he nearly beat a black man to death and lost his badge. When he gets a second chance via an old friend at the National Transportation Safety Board, he drives a convertible through a snowstorm with the top down (he suffers from claustrophobia) to view the freight car. He arrives at the scene to discover that he will have to deal with Northern Union's own security officer, Nell Priest, a black woman who already knows Tyler's history.

Meanwhile, Umberto Alvarez, the train wrecker, is systematically working his way towards his ultimate wreck, Northern's F.A.S.T. train due to make its maiden run from New York to Washington, D.C. Alvarez lost his wife and children when their car stalled between the gates at a crossing and were crushed by one of Northern's trains. Although Northern Union was cleared of all responsibility and Alvarez's wife was found negligent, he doesn't think that's so.

As Peter Tyler's investigation proceeds, he begins to come to the same conclusion. Closing in on Alvarez, he tries to interview the crossing guard who was on duty the day the wreck occurred. On arriving at the man's apartment, he finds the man bludgeoned to death--with the same stick with which Tyler beat the black man all that time ago. It's time to get paranoid. Who at Northern is covering up and what role does Nell play in all this? As always in a Ridley Pearson thriller, the action doesn't stop until the final page. --Otto Penzler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Pearson forsakes his franchise character, Seattle police detective Lou Boldt, for a railroad thriller that wobbles on its tracks. The hero here is Peter Tyler, a former Washington, D.C., homicide cop who was fired many say unjustly for beating a child-abuse suspect. Desperate for money, Tyler gets thrown a bone by an old friend who handles investigations for the National Transportation Safety Board. Handed a three-day contract, Tyler is assigned to check out a messy murder aboard a boxcar on a Northern Union Railroad line in rural Illinois. Nothing about the murder makes sense, but more intriguing to Tyler are the persistent rumors about why so many NUR trains have derailed in the past year. When Tyler turns up a suspect not only for the murder but also the derailments, he quickly finds that his services are no longer needed. Helped only by a railroad security officer, the lovely Nell Priest, Tyler follows the trail to New York City. That's where he believes the murderous vandal, who's seeking revenge for the railroad-related deaths of his wife and twin daughters, plans to sabotage the grand opening of NUR's most ambitious project: a bullet train connecting New York with the nation's capital. Pearson (Middle of Nowhere) keeps up his usual breakneck pace, and for excitement alone, his latest is good fun. But the story is marred by several false notes, imponderable plot twists and a clumsily executed love affair giving a squishy feel to an otherwise hard-edged thriller. Of greater concern, however, is Tyler. He simply never emerges as a character of substance or distinction. (July)Forecast: Despite Pearson's bestselling clout, a major/ad promo campaign and an eight-city author tour, tepid reviews and weak word of mouth may limit sales of this lackluster, Boldt-less effort.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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The train charged forward in the shimmering afternoon sunlight, autumn's vibrant colors forming a natural lane for the raised bed of chipped rock and the few hundred tons of steel and wood. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

63 Reviews
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3.4 out of 5 stars (63 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3.0 out of 5 stars Riding the rails with Parallel Lies by Ridley Pearson, Dec 18 2003
By Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Parallel Lies (Hardcover)
In this recent novel, Ridley Pearson deals with the American railroad system and a search for vengeance. Umberto Alvarez lost his family to death when a train crushed their car at a gated crossing. He knows the Northern Union Railroad is covering up the truth and he wants a public apology for the deaths they caused. Systematically, he has managed to derail freight trains of Northern Union's every six weeks or so as he works to the ultimate destruction of a test of a high-speed passenger carrying train.

Peter Tyler is the investigator for the National Transportation Board and has his own inner demons to deal with. After a long and distinguished police career, Peter met up with a child molester as the creep was bashing the bay's head against the wall. Something snapped deep inside him and Peter began to beat the molester's head against the wall, just like he had done to the baby. While understandable, Peter's actions became part of a media firestorm since the molester was black and Peter was white. In the aftermath, Peter with his reputation savaged in the media, lost his job, his career, his family and is days away from eviction. So, when tossed temporary work to investigate a current derailment, he leaps at the chance and he has to make it work.

The trail will lead him cross country as he discovers the clash between corporate greed, politics and the quest of one man to find vengeance from those who have wronged him. While these are fairly stock characters and Mr. Pearson does not plow new ground that has not been covered better in his other novels, this is still a fairly good read. The action is fast paced and the premise is all too plausible today. For more information on this book as well as his many other books visit his website at www.ridleypearson.com.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Parallel Lies, Nov 4 2003
By Leticia (California) - See all my reviews
I dont read very many books. In fact I could say none at all, but once I read Parallel Lies, I could not put the book down. The suspense in this book kept me reading. I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend this to everyone to read.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Above average, Sep 23 2003
By M. Steffen (Story City, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Some places in the story are slow to read, otherwise it was a good read overall. Makes you feel for the guy who did the derailments because the railroad company killed his family with a major cover-up. This story could be made into a good movie.
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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars fun ride
This novel was fun, the technical info on trains was fun; the story was high octane. The love interest was embarassing. Read it anyway if you think trains are interesting. Read more
Published on July 28 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Some goofiness, some originality: harmless
This book has a couple of things to commend it: The good guys and bad guys are a bit less black-and-white than genre fiction's usual, and the quality of prose is often much better... Read more
Published on Jan 11 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Derailed
Ridley Pearson, as always, gives us a fast ride. I had become a bit tired of Lou Boldt and Daphne's clenched teeth platonic relationship, and looked forward to some new... Read more
Published on Oct 14 2002 by sweetmolly

3.0 out of 5 stars a ridley-iculous tale of fast trains
This book was written to attract the attention of Hollywood producers. It gives the story of a widower, seeking revenge on the evil train company who refuses to admit fault in... Read more
Published on Aug 18 2002 by Paul Skinner

4.0 out of 5 stars Railroad caper
Even though this story lacks Lou Boldt, I read it on Pearson's reputation for acute psychological insight. Read more
Published on Aug 8 2002 by tertius3

2.0 out of 5 stars This one missed the station
I'm a Ridley Pearson fan, but this book had little going for it but momentum.

The plot is unbelievable, forced, but that's perhaps par for the course. Read more

Published on Aug 5 2002 by Ian Y. Lind

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, fast read
In this latest work, Ridley Pearson takes a break from his Lou Boldt series to tell the story of Peter Tyler, a disgraced ex-cop leading an investigation into an apparent hobo... Read more
Published on July 23 2002 by mrliteral

5.0 out of 5 stars A Top Notch Detective Yarn
I found this story, about a man who derails trains and the detective who tracks him down, fascinating. Read more
Published on Mar 22 2002 by Joseph L Burke

4.0 out of 5 stars Railroad suspense story is a great ride
I enjoyed my first outing with Ridley Pearson that tells the story of murder and sabotage where all is not what it seems. Read more
Published on Feb 17 2002 by mary1anne2

5.0 out of 5 stars On Track with this one!
Pearson keeps the pages turning with the adrenaline rush of the chase. He keeps you guessing as to who are the good guys & who are the bad. Read more
Published on Jan 1 2002 by Sandra L. von Pier

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