No Witnesses - Book review

Ridley Pearson’s 1994 thriller No Witnesses doesn’t disappoint. I’ve yet to encounter one of his books that doesn’t deliver.

Homicide detective sergeant Lou Boldt is approached by an old associate, the police department’s forensic psychologist, Daphne Matthews. Her boyfriend Owen Adler is a multi-millionaire in the food supply business. Adler has been receiving threatening faxes full of hate. He has been told not to go to the police. So Daphne wants Boldt to investigate clandestinely.

The threats turn out to be real and deadly, starting with a supermarket tin of soup at one of the Adler supermarkets; one victims dies from poisoning, the other is seriously ill.

So begins a cat-and-mouse case, where the clues are small and frustrating; but fortunately Boldt is meticulous and no small detail is overlooked.

Several aspects of this police procedural set it above many of its contemporaries, the humanity, the detail, the pace and the insider knowledge. 

Boldt is businesslike but humane, despite the lowlifes he has to contend with:

‘Any homicide cop felt the pain and suffering of the victims and their relatives – no matter how callous to the crime scenes he or she became, no matter how quick the one-liners, and how easy it was to move on to another case. The tragedy of the Crowley family had deeply affected everyone…’ (p338).

And then there’s the suspense. Pearson has the enviable knack of ratcheting up the tension in more than one encounter. You’re there, you can feel the threat, the anxiety. Daphne, Adler and his daughter are in jeopardy; and Boldt is convinced there’s somebody in the department aiding the deranged blackmailer.

There’s humour, inevitably, some of it dark. One instance: They want to track down the withdrawals of the ransom money – it’s being done via the city’s ATMs, a few thousand dollars at a time. The bank boss, Lucille confronts a technician, Ted Perch, asking for his help. ‘… Perch looked a little hurt. She knew more than he did, and he did not like that. And if he tried to look up her skirt one more time, Boldt was going to say something about it…’ Later, after technical talk with Boldt, ‘Lucille recrossed her legs and Perch didn’t even notice. That was when Boldt knew he had him.’ (p160) Had Perch hooked, in fact.

It’s  a little out-dated now, due to the advances of technology, but that doesn’t spoil the tale at all. You’re there, in 1994, sweating it out with other cops in Seattle.

Oh, and there’s a neat twist near the satisfying end, too.

Book review - Undercurrents

Written by Ridley Pearson in 1988, Undercurrents is his first Detective Lou Boldt novel.

Sergeant Boldt is investigating the ‘Cross Killer’ – a serial murderer who cuts a crucifix into the victim’s chest. Boldt is assisted by police psychologist Daphne Matthews.  

Slowly, painstakingly, their tenacity builds up a criminal profile. Yet this is more than a police procedural novel. Pearson provides poignant observation of people’s flaws, including Boldt’s, not least the disintegration of his marriage. ‘Being a cop is like a terminal disease: it consumes you, entirely, slowly but surely. I’ve allowed it to take everything out of my life. And I’ve suddenly reached the stage where I resent that.’ (p260).

There’s wit aplenty too. Boldt is being hounded by the press, notably because an earlier suspect, who proved to be innocent, was murdered before he could go to trial: ‘You’re getting more press than a pair of cotton slacks.’ (p131)

However, there seems to be more than one killer; there appears to be a copycat, too. Throughout their investigation, the killer (or killers) seem to be at least one step ahead.

Beneath the surface there’s a deep-seated anger at the perpetrator, who denies the innocents of life.  If you’ve never read a Lou Boldt book, this is the place to start. You won’t regret making the guy’s acquaintance. I’ve also read the tense suspenseful sequel, The Angel Maker, which I can also recommend. There are nine books in the Boldt series.

FFB - The Angel Maker

Ridley Pearson’s 1993 shocker, the second of his Lou Boldt outings, makes grim reading.

 

Police Psychologist Daphne Matthews works with teenage runaways on the streets of Seattle. She uncovers a disturbing trail of mutilation among the young women in the centre: some are missing internal organs but have no memory of the event or knowledge of the loss…

Teaming up with sergeant Boldt, she begins a race against time to find the insane butcher who was set on harvesting a human heart for transplant surgery. The victim is Daphne’s friend, Sharon. The insane Angel Maker is Elden Tegg, a veterinary surgeon and he is out to make this one last harvest, to rake in the big money so he can retire in South America.

An exciting un-put-downable detailed and well researched thriller with believable characters.

Pearson has written over two dozen thrillers and has been on the NYT best sellers list more than once, yet for some reason he’s never become ‘big’, which is a shame, as he delivers edge-of-seat visceral books.

The subject of organ harvesting wasn’t even new in 1993. What Cops Know by Connie Fletcher (1990) ends with ‘Ten, twenty years from now… the big thing that organized crime will get into will be the selling of body parts. They’re already doing it in some countries – taking these kids, buying babies, killing them, and selling their organs for transplants… They’ll take the kids, whatever ages they want, and just grow them like cattle. And when somebody needs an organ or a group of organs, from a three-year-old, an eight-year-old, a female, whatever… Organ farming is expected to be the next wave after drugs. Doesn’t that scare you?’

 

The main plot in my novella Silenced in Darkness (1995) is organ harvesting.

Today, the mission statement for the newly formed National Crime Agency of the UK is to combat international organized crime, including illegal organ harvesting…