Customer Reviews

The Art of Deception

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Seattle police biggie Lou Boldt is trying to track a serial killer, while Daphne Matthews, gorgeous forensic psychologist is investigating the untimely demise of Mary Ann Walker who was thrown (?) jumped (?) from Aurora Bridge. A boyfriend, known for physically abusing Mary Ann, is a prime suspect.

Before we know it Pearson, always a master of surprises, connects the two cases by spotlighting one suspect. However, a solution is never that easy.

Along the way emotions are stirred as a member of Boldt's team finds himself drawn to Daphne, who once had a fling with Boldt. Add a mega underground chase scene through streets long buried beneath contemporary Seattle and you have a high octane finish.

Pure Pearson - pure pleasure.

Seattle Police forensic psychologist Daphne Matthews is asked to aid in the homicide of Mary-Ann Walker, when Walker's body is found under the Aurora Bridge. Ex-lover and boss Lieutenant Lou Boldt is also part of the team.

Walker's abusive boyfriend is a possible suspect. Mary-Ann's brother Ferrell assists the officers immediately after the crime. However, his behavior becomes stranger and stranger and his inappropriate attraction to Daphne increases as the investigation continues. Could he have killed his own sister? Then someone starts stalking Dauphne, someone who is watching her every move.

Boldt investigates another suspicious death within the Underground beneath Seattle and begins to suspect that his case is connected with the Walker homicide.

Pearson combines the investigations of Boldt and Matthews into a thriller you'll be up all night reading, and his description of the Seattle Underground will have you rushing to the internet to check it out.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Seattle Police forensic psychologist Daphne Mathews is asked to join the investigation when a woman's body is found underneath the Aurora Bridge. The body is identified as Mary-Ann Walker. Mary-Ann's brother Ferrell is quick to cast blame on Lanny Neal, Mary-Ann's boyfriend. Ferrell not only latches onto the idea of vengeance, but he wants Daphne to help prove his theory. Then the stalking begins - noises outside Daphne's house, shadows that move in the night, phone calls.

Lieutenant Lou Boldt is working another investigation, following the trail of a murderer through Seattle's dangerous underworld. When the investigations suddenly point to the same person, the deception takes an artful turn and considering the books title, that shouldn't be too surprising.

Mr. Pearson has delivered a deceptive thriller, giving the reader a lot to sink his teeth into early on, but early conclusions made quickly become confused with all the twists and turns delivered up in this five star offering.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Police psychologist (or "profiler") Daphne Mathews has a long history in these exciting Seattle stories, and with Police Lt. Boldt, her mentor, idol, and more. Here she finally takes front center stage, with Boldt usually far in the background, and that ain't good. One thing that becomes clear is that Daphne is not only a bold, if erroneous, profiler, but is personally a bundle of boiling insecurities and anxieties in all directions. Here she seems like a caricatured throwback to pre-feminist women who sterotypically fall apart under pressure. I found this offensive, and maddening because it's not clear why she's suddenly folded into gibbering paranoia. While she tries to deceive her prime suspect into revealing himself, he is tying her up in his own unsuspected web of masterful deceptions.

The authorial tactic of personally involving the hero in criminal attacks is a cheap way for an author to ratchet up tension in his story without the effort of creating another victim from whole cloth-but you also know he won't eliminate a central series character. This tactic also tends to turn a "good, clean" mystery into an hysterical horror story-the reason I don't read Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta series anymore. Sorry, you might not have the same dislike.

What's neat is that even with a suspect in hand early, there are more surprises. And Pearson has again researched obscure facts about the city of Seattle that provide vital sidelights. There are two suspects chased into a fascinating Underground historic city (who knew?)-but how Boldt decides between the two eerie suspects is still a mystery to me. It's stock in this genre not to follow police procedure at critical moments because the detective is "special" or taking brilliant shortcuts-just so the author can put a desperately frazzled Lt. Mathews into the hands of unsuspected murderers. And real smart crooks don't go out of their way to toy with police. The chapter titles provide an amusing by-play.

Art of Deception has all the elements which make for a great mystery/detective. The Seattle underground was actually really cool-- I was interested in the victims, it wasn't too bloody and it was really pretty well written.

Unfortunately, it never came together well as a novel for me. Partly this was due to Daphne as a lead detective. It got irritating that every man she ran across became irrationally obsessed with her, and I just plain old wasn't interested in the progression of her relationship with John.

Too bad, but I'll probably pick up another Pearson to see if it gets better.

This is the first of this series that I read and it has a real solid plot line. Lots of layers and plot development in several directions. This comingling of the 3 main protagonists was artfully done. The scenes taking place in the Underground were fasinating and completely realistic. I felt the decay and funky vibe. Made me shiver in the night.

What a unintelligent shallow story. You got a lame incompetent female police forensic psychologist and a super
duper perfect cop doing/being stupid. That's it. My first R.Pearson, my last.

Though he is one of my favorite mystery/thriller writers, Pearson's books usually do not show a strong grasp of romantic relations or of women, in my opinion. The romances generally feel cardboard and perfunctory, and the women characters are usually one-dimensional stick-figures, or else completely incoherent hodge-podges.

In this book, Pearson puts his greatest weaknesses front and center--Daphne emerges as a lead detective, and she and LaMoia develop a romantic relationship.

For Pearson, that move is a brave departure, but not so smart. Thius book puts his weaknesses on glaring display, in my opinion.

In this book, Daphne is presented as something of an emotional mess. She pronounces (and insists upon) a lot of psychological speculation, without any data or evidence to back it up, but she doesn't "detect" much. The book's romance between her and LaMoia could have been written by a mildly talented ninth grader, so deep is its insight and subtle its progression.

And the plot isn't great--you figure out whodunnit fairly early. The red herrings confuse the plot more than mislead the reader. And the resolution turns on lots of amazingly correct guesses and overly improbable clues. For instance, at one point, when she is being kidnapped, Daphne reaches into her underwear and rips out the tag, dropping it on the ground as a "crumb" to lead detectives to her. Not only is the tag spotted-amidst all the detritus of a city street in a bad part of town-- but LaMoia (a) recognizes the tag as Daphne's, though at this point he hasn't had occasion to see her intimate apparel (he's even amused to see the brand, for the first time, in the midst of this chase), and (b) realizes immediately that it means to go underground through a man hole! That's quite a feat of semiotics!

There is also some sloppy editing--at one point, a judge upbraids an attorney for objecting in a disorderly fashion, saying that the courtroom isn't a revival meeting. But the attorney had not made any objection at all, in the published version. And though Pearson is usually a stickler for research, he has LaMoia, a recovered oxycontine addict, steal two tablets of amitriptyline and agonize for days whether to indulge in them. But unless my memory has completely failed me, amitriptyline is a very, very old-fashioned tri-cyclic antidepressant, chemically unrelated to the synthetic narcotic oxycontine. It's strange for Pearson to make this kind of mistake--and a decent copy editor should have caught it.

I found the whole thing terribly tedious and contrived.

I never thought I'd say this about a Ridley Pearson novel--but I advise you skip this one.

LaMoia has beaten an addiction to oxycodone, and Matthews is turning into the workaholic that Boldt narrowly avoids becoming.
Matthews does a favor for LaMoia and is sucked into a mess of stalking, voyuerism and murder. Her houseboat becomes an unsafe place, so she has two choices--move in with LaMoia or move into a hotel. Thank goodness she has the sense to know she needs to move in with a friend. Contrary to some reviewers, I found Daphne to be a strong woman again, but often unwilling to ask for help. Boldt is aware of a growing closeness between LaMoia and Matthews and it bothers him--but not to the point where it interferes in his doing his job. He's able to clear a relative(?) of Mama Lu's by proving he was murdered--then they find the killer(s) after Daphne is abducted. Too late to save the homeless, pregnant teen but not to save her baby, Daphne, and LaMoia.

"Disappointing" may be too negative a description of this
book, because Pearson is a great writer, and this description
only applies when compared to other Pearson writings.
The book moves along at a nice pace, and the main characters
are interesting, but the story covers a lot of familiar
ground here; we are supposed to get involved in the story of
some women disappearing, probably at the hands of some pervert
roaming the streets of Seattle, and the premise just isn't
engaging any more. Plus, in this entry, we have a lot more
"romance" than we usually find in a good mystery or suspense,
and there is so much of that element present, the mystery aspect
is too toned down.
Pearson tried some new direction here, and it is certainly not
bad, but we hope he will re-engage us with a return to top-
flight mysteries, similar to his work in the past.