Perfection [Hardcover]

Walter Satterthwait (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2006

Walter Satterthwait gives his readers a feast of different flavors. His modern-day private-eye series was followed by his historical mysteries. In real life, Lizzie Borden may actually have killed her parents, but Satterthwait turns her into a high-spirited amateur sleuth. Satterthwait's Left Bank in 1920s Paris is alive with artists like Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. And he has even dug up Hitler and his true-to-life Nazi pals (but, never fear, the good guys still win).

Now Satterthwait turns his hand to this terrific thriller, Perfection, with a pair of true-to-life police detectives for us to root for. In a small Florida city, a most baffling killer insists that his victims meet very specific criteria. Satterthwait teases the reader---and police detectives Sophia Tregaskis and Jim Fallon too; he shows us the killer in his own home, reliving the satisfaction of his latest murder. We watch him scouting his neighboring supermarket for the next person who will require "perfection."

Even childhood episodes that made him the monster he is don't help us---or the two police detectives---learn who and where he is. When the pair finally does track him through his past, chance---or the devil---stacks the odds against them with a vicious hurricane and the thrill of uncertainty until the very end.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this grisly, stand-alone thriller from Satterthwait (Masquerade), Florida detective Sophia Tregaskis and her older partner, former NYPD officer James Fallon, investigate a serial killer with a hatred of overweight women. Beautiful, enigmatic Dr. Eva Swanson, a psychologist, offers her services in profiling the killer. Some suspense builds as the detectives slowly comprehend who the suspect could be. The book's dialogue serves the needs of the plot, but the characters are pretty much clichés. Tregaskis continually employs Greek phrases when she thinks of her Greek mother; the brilliant serial killer is also a gourmet and lover of fine wine (and has an unfortunate tendency to refer to victims as "Wibble-Wobbles"). The narrative hurtles along smoothly if unpleasantly until the end, when a plot twist that requires far too much suspension of disbelief stops the story in its tracks, calling into question the entire novel and leaving the reader feeling more than a little cheated. (Feb.)
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About the Author

Walter Satterthwait has lived on both U.S. coasts, as well as in six other countries. He is the author of several crime novels that feature characters ranging from a modern private eye to Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ernest Hemingway, and Adolf Hitler, to name just a few. He lives in Southern California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (February 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312352441
• ISBN-13: 978-0312352448
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,424,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was raised by wolverines. The wolves wouldn't take me.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Skinny on a Good Read, February 21, 2006

By 

Jonathan Richards (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfection (Hardcover)

I've read a bunch of Satterthwait's books -- he's one of those authors you discover and then keep seeking out. His writing is always sly, witty, and solidly suspenseful. "Perfection" is no different. The sociological/psychological implications of this premise about a serial killer who slices up fat girls and trims them to fit his obscene ideal are disturbing but riveting. You won't be able to put "Perfection" down -- and if you're on a diet, you'll want to read it with your back to a wall.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars solid suspense thriller, February 8, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfection (Hardcover)

Veteran cops who thought they had seen everything want to puke; some do. The killer removed the fat from the obese woman as St. Anselm, Florida detective Sophia Tregaskis thinks the murder reminds her of a flensing operation performed by whalers on whales. Her partner former NYPD detective James Fallon takes charge of the crime scene. The clues are few if any. Two more identical deaths of obese females follow, making it obvious that a serial killer targets overweight women. To aid the cops, psychologist Dr. Eva Swanson begins profiling the killer.

As they dig for clues, James admires his partner for holding up and providing insight into the case, as the culprit is quite clever. As the city panics, the Mayor and police chief, encouraged by the demands of the media to catch the killer or resign, pressure the two lead sleuths. Sophia has learned so much from her veteran partner, the consummate professional not allowing anything to intrude on uncovering the identity of the killer except his desire for his much younger partner, but his top priority remains stopping the ritual-like murders before another victim surfaces.

In this day and age in which serial killers are common in police procedural novels few match up to the centerfold Lector or the real things, but the "sophisticated" culprit of PERFECTIONS he comes reasonably close especially as he dines and wines on quality food and drink,. Readers and Sophia appreciate James professional and methodical sleuthing for instance lecturing a cop who carelessly parked his car on a crime scene lawn. Though the climatic final twist is somewhere in the realm of Rod Serling plausibility, fans, except overweight females, will enjoy this solid suspense thriller.

Harriet Klausner

2.0 out of 5 stars Book Club Review: NOT for the Squeamish, February 6, 2011

By 

Claire McManus - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfection (Hardcover)

BOOK CLUB REVIEW
PERFECTION
by Walter Satterthwait

Our book club's book for February was PERFECTION, by Walter Satterthwait. Many of us had read Satterthwait in the past - he is a very diverse writer who's distinguished himself by not sticking to a particular formula.

PERFECTION takes place in a small Florida community where a serial killer has struck. This is where it gets a little hard to right this review, as this is without a doubt the most gruesome book our club has ever read. We've seen some sadistic scenes before (for example, in Chelsea Cain's book), and we do not tend to like them, though we (as a group) can deal with them if they are mercifully short or if they somehow give insight into a character. The murders here are simply ghastly, and rendered in such detail that many of our readers (and not just the women!) went running for the barf bags. Without going into too much detail, let's say that this serial killer targets fat women and decides to take some weight off them. Several of us couldn't get past the first 40 or so pages of the book due to this level of gruesome description, so about 5 (of 11) of us sat and listened while the others discussed the book. I did read whole book myself, but that's because I usually do the written reviews and I feel compelled to have finished the book to do a fair job!

The cover of the book says "Not your usual serial killer," perhaps in a bid to make this seem like a different type of serial killer book, but let's just say: While there is a good twist or two, the book does proceed very much like any one of a thousand other serial killer books you might have read.

I think what led to the most disappointment was our sense that the book was going to be a sort of interesting look at the problems of being overweight in our society. In fact, one of the investigating detective, Sophia, is battling a weight problem of her own, which made for a lot of potential that was never quite realized. The other investigating detective, Fallon, is your basic cop-with-a-drinking-problem.

I'm really sorry to report that this is just not a book that we can recommend, though several members specifically asked me to report that some of Satterthwait's other books have been terrific: MISS LIZZIE (an interesting twist on Lizzie Borden) and ESCAPADE among them. PERFECTION isn't for the squeamish, but the real problem is just that the ending--which is either really clever or completely unbelievable, depending on your perspective--doesn't make the slog through the book worthwhile.

I hate posting negative reviews like this, especially one for someone whose books are usually so good. But maybe everyone has a bad day every now and again.