Customer Reviews

The Art of Deception (Lou Boldt/Daphne Matthews Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Lou Boldt is third banana in "The Art of Deception" and psychologist Daphne Matthews takes over the lead with studly Jack LaMoia in the co-starring role. This freshens up a series that was running on fumes. Lou's troubles (wife with cancer, guilt ridden affair with Daphne, job dissatisfaction) were taking on the proportions of Job and becoming tiresome.

A troubled young woman is tossed off the Aurora Bridge. Lou is investigating the disappearance of two local women, one of whom is a personal friend and takes on a request from Mama Lu to investigate the "accidental" death of her cousin, Billy Chen. Daphne is up to her elbows in charity work at a local woman's shelter and trying to turn the life of a pregnant client around. All of these threads lead to the Seattle Underground, a city below the city, buried over more than 100 years ago.

Mr. Pearson excels on two levels: his characterizations are sharp and interesting. Via Daphne, Pearson gives us an in-depth look at suspects Lanny Neal, Ferrell Walker, and Nathan Priar. He keeps them in our face, and they are always lurking (sometimes literally) at the edges of our thoughts. Secondly, the locale. Pearson is magnificent in putting us in Seattle; you feel you should be reading holding an umbrella. And then the underground---the decay, the sickening odors and terrain, the sense of claustrophobia, the occasional dusty shop window untouched in 100 years reflecting your surprised image, the very real sense of an imminent cave in, and LaMoia's comment that graveyards are over their heads.

This is an excellent read with a smash of a finale and Pearson ties up the threads as neatly as an expert tailor. I could have done with a little less of Daphne's interior monologues. Sometimes I wondered what she was doing besides being lost in thought while all this furious action was taking place. Also feel the subplots of Margaret; Daphne's client, and Billy Chen were there strictly for plot purposes, not for their necessity to the story. However, these are minor quibbles. The gruesome level is fairly high, but manageable for all but the very faint hearted. "The Art of Deception" is an excellent addition to Ridley Pearson's fine stories.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

The lastest novel in Ridley Pearson's 'Lou Boldt' series really isn't about Lou Boldt. Instead, the focus shifts to Daphne Matthews and John LaMoia in 'The Art of Deception'.

Matthews' personal life is a mess. She fills all her free time with police and charity work. At the novel opens, she is consummed with caring for runaway girls at a local women's shelter. She checks up on a witness as a favor to LaMoia, and suddenly finds herself being stalked not only by the witness, but by a deputy from the sheriff's office.

LaMoia, after an intervention by Boldt and Matthews, has kicked an addiction to pills. Still working for Boldt, LaMoia gets drawn into the investigation of a couple missing women assigned to his former 'Sarge'. In addition, he finds himself looking after Matthews once she starts having run-ins with the witness she interviewed.

Boldt has reluctantly taken a promotion to Lieutenant in order to fulfill a promise to his family that he would be safer on the job. However, he gets involved in a case when a family friend turns up missing. An old informant, Mama Lu, further involves him by asking him to look further into the 'accidental' drowning of an Asian man that perhaps isn't so accidental after all.

'Art of Deception' is quite possibly Pearson's best novel yet. First, the clues are easily grasped. Much more so than in previous novels. They rely less on forensic evidence, which is interesting, but at times overwhelming in past novels. Second, there are multiple suspects. Pearson introduces nearly all of them early on and keeps your attention on them. He builds a sound case for each one. Third, the setting is incredibly interesting. The Seattle Underground is almost a character in itself. With its former buildings buried under the streets of present day Seattle, it is has become a maze in the darkness and Pearson expertly uses it to create edge of the seat suspense.

The characters themselves continue to grow, which sets this series apart from those of other authors. Old problems, such as Boldt's wife's cancer, have fallen aside, and new challenges have replaced them. Daphne struggles to find meaning in her life, LaMoia re-examines his life prior to his pill addiction daily, and Boldt wrestles with conflicting feelings as his two friends and coworkers grow closer.

The list of great things about this novel goes on and on. Pearson has long been one of my favorite authors because of his mastery of the suspense novel and his extensive knowledge of the police and forensic science. He does not disappoint in 'The Art of Deception'. I would recommend this novel to any fan of suspense novels, or detective stories. It is also a great introduction into the genre.

Lieutenant Lou Boldt of the Seattle Police department is back in the field and enjoying every moment of it except that two women have disappeared and the police don't have a clue what happened to them. One of the women is his wife's friend so it is very important to Lou that he solves the case so the families can have some kind of closure.

Police psychologist Lieutenant Daphne Matthews finds herself deeply involved in a case that might tie in to Lou's. The brother of a woman who was killed and thrown off a bridge insists he has some knowledge about the two missing women. The problem is that he wants to deal on his own terms with only Daphne with whom he has taken an unholy interest in.

Readers of this long running and popular series will feel very comfortable with the way the characters are evolving, especially Sergeant La Moia who is in control of his sexual and drug addictions. His relationship with Daphne is also evolving into something more personal and the audience will think this pairing makes for a better story. The mystery is complex, intricate and totally absorbing, a one sitting read that shows why Ridley Pearson is the grandmaster of the police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

Ridley Pearson has once again shown his ability and earned his place as an upper-tier novelist. The skillful plot development and dramatic characterizations found in THE ART OF DECEPTION is one of his better efforts. He has taken three crimes, each a priority to one of the main characters, intertwined them with deftly layed clues and an increasing sense of urgency to find a solution, and unified them in the mysterious Seattle underground.

The personal lives and emotional entanglements between police psychologist Daphne Matthews, Sergeant John La Moia, and Lieutenant Lou Boldt, give the characters and storyline depth and realism.

This however, is NOT a "Harlequin Romance". Rather, it is a hard-hitting forensic thriller, casting the triumverate of Matthews, La Moia, and Boldt as a contentious but sensitive trio of dedicated professionals and devoted friends. Their magnetism is found in the realism of their emotions and flaws in their behavior. They have the ability to understand the criminal mind but struggle to understand their own. They are able to trick the bad guys into vulnerable situations and force them into submission. At the same time, they are learning they don't need to deceive each other in the same way.

Not only has Ridley Pearson written an entertaining, complex, multi-levelled thriller, but he has also laid the groundwork for future thrillers involving three highly skilled characters and the increasingly complex relationships between them.

The only reason why I picked up this book was the gaudy banner on the top of the cover that says "From the author of The Ellen Rimbaur Diary." I happened to like that book (which was even the basis for a Stephen King mini-series on ABC earlier this year). But I was pleasantly surprised.

Ridley Pearson's Daphne Matthews series is reminiscent of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels. They're both psychologists working with police officers (Lou Boldt in Pearson's case and Milo Simpson for Kellerman) to help solve crimes or stop them before they happen again. In my opinion, the author dwells too much on the psychological makeup of the antagonists in the story as manifested by Daphne's profile of them. I understand that as a psychologist, it's her job to provide a possible motive for the actions of a suspect. However, in terms of storytelling such lengthy characterizations of a person's frame of mind seemed a bit distracting. Moreover, since I cannot verify the medical basis of such analyses I had doubt in my mind as to its validity.

In this novel, several things are going on at once for the trio of Daphne Matthews, Lou Boldt and John LaMoia. A series of murders preceded by reports of a peeping tom, an accidental drowning in a shady part of town, and a floating corpse retrieved close to a bridge all demand the resources of the CAP (Crimes Against Persons) unit of the Seattle PD. They are all pulled this way and that, but what happens in the end is like a rubberband snapping back to shape. It's tense.

There's also a love triangle in this story between the three protagonists. Lou and Daphne used to be lovers, but Lou has a wife and kids. John and Daphne develop a chemistry from working together that spills into their personal lives. John owes Lou and Daphne his life for saving him from his drug addiction. We clearly see how each one reacts to one another when Daphne's life falls in danger. She's attractive and smart (and clearly steals most of the story's limelight). There's detective Prair (a former patient) and Ferris Wheeler (the brother of the deceased floater) also vying for Daphne's attention.

I found Pearson's imagination of Seattle's Underground (a name given to the city of abandoned buildings built over by the current one) to be quite intriguing with its hidden passages through church cellars, building basements, and bus tunnels. He describes the darker side of Seattles drug-abuse shelters and the shady Chinatown district.

I do agree with another reviewer that the ending felt a little bit rushed. With only 4 pages left in the book, the author decided to split them up into 2 chapters. Each like a footnote of what happened to each character in the end.

Nonetheless, it was a very suspenseful book from the middle to the end. I found it hard to put down once the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. I had no idea who the killer was till the end.

LEAP rating (each out of 5):

============================
L (Language) - 4 (vivid descriptions of Pearson's Underground, well thought-out dialogue)
E (Erotica) - .5 (description of the victims' state Underground)
A (Action) - 2 (interrogation room drama, wire surveillance, rescue at the end)
P (Plot) - 4 (seamless dovetailing of sub-plots into a coherent murder-mystery)

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.

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.

I have read all of the Lou Boldt novels, and this one was one of my favorites. I did not guess the killer -- Pearson maintained the uncertainty well -- and i enjoyed the history lesson. Even more, I enjoyed Daphne Matthews as the principal character, and having her FINALLY stop yearning for Boldt, at least for a while. Thought the ending was a little bit hurried and sketchy -- there's a loose end or two -- but it did not interfere with my enjoyment. One more thing -- it's time to deepen the repeat characters a bit, instead of relying on the sketches built up in prior books.

I had an idea of who the killer was fairly early on, but Ridley Pearson kept changing my mind. I particularly enjoyed the way the author wove two stories together, while adding some interesting Seattle history into the mix. I'll be looking for more books by this author.

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.