Customer Reviews

In Harm's Way (Walt Fleming Novel)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Walt Fleming and Lou Boldt, Ridley Pearson's intrepid heroes, meet to work cases in this newest installment of the Killer series. Lou has starred in Pearson's books for years, and the younger Walt has appeared in three previous police procedurals. This one takes place in Sun Valley, Idaho, rich in natural beauty and populated by the wealthy, famous and, in some cases, infamous.

Lou, the Seattle connection, and Walt get hooked up to solve several murders. A woman was killed in Lou's jurisdiction, and he thinks a Sun Valley resident may be the culprit. Thus he calls upon Walt to help. Lou decides the best way to do this is to travel to Idaho and work beside his younger colleague.

As the book begins, the first sentence is a stunner: "Glancing out the windshield...Fiona [Kenshaw] spotted a log with flailing arms." She jumps into the fast-moving water and rescues the child, thus becoming a local hero. Fiona, a police photographer, begs Walt to keep her picture from being plastered on the front pages of the local newspapers. He doesn't succeed, and Fiona retreats into an emotional shell. She has a blackout and doesn't remember anything during that time. From this opening, the plot moves at breakneck speed with twists and turns that could give a reader whiplash.

Suddenly, in the midst of this tension, the body of a man is found on the side of a road. He turns out to be Martel Gale, a famous ex-NFL star. Walt and Lou realize that he is the link between their two cases. Sports agent Vince Wynn and former football team owner Marty Boatwright shoot right to the top of the suspect list. But without evidence, neither Walt nor Lou can move ahead with their investigations.

Meanwhile, Walt has other problems. He is trying to cope with the break-up of his marriage and take care of his twin girls. As a cop, his time is not always his own, and he feels guilty when he has to leave his daughters with sitters or break promises to them. On top of that, a series of break-ins attributed to wild bears is cluttering his calendar.

As the investigation moves along, one prong points to Fiona. Could she be the murderer? She has a ward that she is trying to help recover from a brutal rape and beating. Kira is making great progress, but she knows her mentor's secret. Can she remain quiet as the churning facts seem to put Fiona at risk?

IN HARM'S WAY is a suspenseful novel that challenges armchair detectives in many ways. Red herrings and real clues are scattered along the trail just begging readers to follow them to the unexpected outcome. This is a perfect beach, airplane, or vacation read.

This is a frustrating read.
It's difficult to care about any of the characters, particularly the female lead, who is so unlovable and irritating that it's hard to believe the Sheriff cares about her. The most enjoyable (and realistic) character is the dog, Beatrice.

Fiona Kenshaw rescues a small child from drowning in the river. She asks one thing from the man she is interested in; keep her face out of the local paper, the Mountain Express. Sun Valley Sheriff Wall Fleming is also interested in Fiona, but was burned by his wife who was cheating on him with his deputy. The paper's editor ignores the pleas the sheriff by running the story with her photo. This leads to Fiona to withdraw deep into her shell.

When the corpse of former football player and ex convict Martel Gale is found, Sergeant Lou Boldt of Seattle thinks there is a link between the deceased, his former agent residing in Sun Valley Vince Wynn and a former sport team owner and entrepreneur Marty Boatwright and the dead courtesan Caroline Vetta. Boldt is working the Vetta case and Martel's death enables Boldt to question Wynn and Boatwright. After Lou and Walt interview the men, both conclude one of them is guilty of homicide, but lack proof. Walt seeks evidence, but discovers a tie to Fiona that leads him to wonder if she is involved with the murders.

The latest "Killer" Walt Fleming police procedural (see Killer Summer and Killer View) is an excellent thriller as he works effectively with Ridley Pearson's other top cop Lou Boldt (from the Boldt and Matthews series). Fiona's relationships with Walt (sweet and just beginning), and with her ward Kira (coping with a rape as the youngster knows the truth about the guardian) enhances the entertaining whodunit. There is plenty of action, but it is the interaction between the key cast members that makes this a superb mystery.

Harriet Klausner

This was just awful. It seems as if Mr. Pearson was barely able to pick up his pen and push it across a piece of paper. Four novels about a whiney, boring Sheriff makes me believe that the real Walt Fleming must cringe whenever a new book comes out using his name. I won't be reading Ridley Pearson again until he returns us to Seattle and the Bolt-Matthews-LaMoia gang -- he should pack up the dog, Beatrice, and send her as well since she was the best thing about this book.

I won this pre-release book off Goodreads Firstreads. Pearson does an excellent job weaving characters, plot, evidence, and suspense into a book hard to put down! While, the reader, unfortunately encounters some foul language, the story in itself is exceptionally done! Not fully understanding the past of the crime scene photographer, Fiona Kenshaw keeps you questioning her actions and motives from the first chapter to the end. If you're looking for a good mystery, you won't be disapointed!

I just finished "In Harm's Way" and though I enjoyed the book and was up to Mr. Pearson's fine writing at the same time found some of it complicated to follow. That was probably just me and not Mr. Pearson's's fault. Fiona has something in her past and we never are real clear as to what happened-more just hinted at. There were other things that I felt the author leaves you wondering about and yet murders are solved and maybe even a bit of Walt's personal life allows him to move on.

Walt is still dealing with personal issues and allows his relationship with Fiona to cloud his judgement and even contemplate hiding evidence which might implicate her. In some ways his personal issues distract a bit in the storyline. Mr. Pearson writes a good crime procedure but his characters' personal lives are pathetic. You wonder if they will ever get it together. That said and you might think I'm critizing but really not-it's just the way Mr. Pearson writes. SO when I pick up one of his books that is what I've come to expect.

The author pretty much develops his characters and better if you have read the 3 previous books in the Walt Fleming books but even stand alone you would understand the characters pretty well. I haven't cared much for Fiona and even more so in this book. I just don't see her and Walt together but evidently the author does.

I enjoyed having Lou Boldt from one of this author's other series join Walt for some investigative work. They worked well together and could be friends-I liked the combination. They each have their expertise in investigating and was interesting to watch.

I'm not so much getting into the synopsis of the book as you can get that from the inside flap of the book or even a lot of reviewers but just to say what I liked or didn't like about the book. Even with the few things I didn't like about the book what I did like made the book for me an excellent read. IT's fast moving and does keep you interested even if it leaves some questions when you're through. I look forward to the next Walt Fleming Book and perhaps the author might even have Walt join Lou Boldt in one of his cases. That would be interesting.

I have read many of Ridley Pearson's books over the years. I don't know why he abandoned the series that featured the Seattle PD and fictional cops, Lou Boldt and Daphne Matthews. They were far more interesting characters than Walt Fleming, who is as bland as they get.

The author uses the come-on that this novel brings back the Seattle duo, Boldt and Matthews. In my opinion this was a cheap trick in that the story barely features Lou Boldt, who is on a consulting assignment from the Seattle PD. The Boldt character could just as well have been Capt. John Doe from Anywhere, USA. I felt that my hopes were falsely raised that Boldt and Matthews and their Seattle PD crew were making a comeback. This couldn't be farther from the truth as Boldt/Matthews were very minor, under-developed, characters.

Thus I gave a 3-star rating instead of a possible 4-star.

Wow, this was, um, awful. What happened Ridley Pearson? I felt like either I wasn't paying any attention or you weren't making any sense. I finished the book. You weren't making any sense. I am still not sure how all of the characters and stories related to each other or why we should care about either the crimes or who turn out to be the criminals. I loved the Boldt/Matthews books - what was this???

Simply put this is Sheriff Walt Flemming's best outing. Fiona performs a harrowing rescue of a child from the icy cold river but in doing so she gives up the anonymity that she so craves once her picture is splashed on the front page of the news paper. As she tries to comfort her friend Kiera after her trauma she is forced to deal with things that she thought that she had left far behind her in another life. As for Walt, he has a dead body on his hands and some high profile suspects to deal with, but he has Lou Boldt and Daphne Matthews to help figure just who is responsible for the grisly homicide. On the bright side, Walt's love life is finally taking off as he and Fiona explore the heat that becomes a full blown fire but will it interfere with the case that Fiona has gotten tangled up in?

This was my first Ridley Pearson book and it touched off a firestorm of reading for me. I read his entire canon. While this doesn't compare to The Angel Maker or The Pied Piper I still loved it enough to read it twice ( had to reread it after I had read the other books). Ridley Pearson just has the ability to make novels additively readable and fascinating and I highly recommend it and him to anyone who isn't already hooked.

This book is boring, pointless, the characters are unlikeable and one dimensional and the killer, whom we finally meet in the last few pages of the book, is a whiny dolt. The whole thing is a disjointed mess. This book suffered from a lack of good editing. A good editor would have told Pearson to scrap the whole book and try a new line of work.

Thank God I checked it out from the library. I returned it promptly so that there was no possibility of a fine since spending one nickel on this book is more than I am willing to pay.