Killer View (Walt Fleming) by Ridley Pearson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Killer View (Walt Fleming)
Book Review: Not as good as the rest of the series
Summary: 3 Stars
Killer View is the second book in Ridley Pearson's series featuring Sheriff Walt Fleming of Sun Valley, Idaho. In this outing Walt has to contend with domestic terrorists, the kidnapping and rape of a young woman, the potential contamination of the water supply, and a missing persons case--all of which may be related to one another. At the same time he's got problems on the home front: emergencies at work keep him away from his twin daughters, and his soon-to-be-ex-wife is starting to think she wants the girls back. But much of the time Walt's most challenging adversary is the weather: early snowfall has made the remote areas in which much of the story takes place impossible to travel by car. There's a lot of trekking around on snowshoes in this book, and Walt sweats through more than one undershirt while climbing mountains and running from avalanches in freezing temperatures.
I've read and enjoyed the first and third books in Pearson's series. Unfortunately this second book was a bit of a disappointment. The principal villain is uninteresting, a madman--or close enough--who's motivated by ideology. It's never made very clear precisely what his cause is, so we don't get a great sense of what's at stake for him. The challenges Walt's up against are for the most part physical rather than cerebral. There are some parts of the book that go on too long and slow down the narrative--descriptions of guns or geography. Walt is beset by self doubt in this book more than in the others. It sometimes seems as if he's a character who's stepped in from a different series. And the book's climactic scene was over the top--the role played by a dead cow was like something out of Silence of the Lambs.
Happily, Pearson regained his mojo in book three, so I've high hopes for whatever he comes up with next.
-- Debra Hamel
Book Review: The suspense novel has the silver screen written all over it!
Summary: 4 Stars
Ridley Pearson has written an intelligent suspense novel that has the silver screen written all over it. Fast-paced and action-packed, it's a page-turner.
Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming, with his office in Hailey, Idaho, south of super-rich Sun Valley/Ketchum, has his hands full investigating a series of baffling events.
Not only are the sheep dying but there's a murder. a monster avalanche, a rape, a kidnapping, and a vicious onslaught by a wounded, enraged bear.
Fleming's life is further complicated by an impending a divorce from his estranged wife Gail, who is having an affair with Tommy Brandom, whom Fleming considers to be his best deputy.
East of Hailey, the Idaho National Laboratory, an ultra-secret government facility, may be harboring a deadly secret, with powerful men engaged in a cover-up.
Added to this volatile mix are the Sammakinn (from a Blackfoot word meaning "long knife"), an extremist group of wannabe domestic terrorists, part Ted Kaczynski, part Aryan Nation.
Fleming is taken aback when he learns he has everything wrong, but with dogged persistence he plods on in this complex police procedural, finally uncovering the villain's identity.
The action takes place in the brutal snow of an Idahoan winter, in which one must overcome both the attack of a ruthless killer and the assault of unforgiving elements.
Ridley Pearson is the author of more than twenty novels, including the New York Times bestseller Killer Weekend; the Lou Boldt crime series; and many books for young readers. He lives with his wife and two daughters, dividing their time between Missouri and Idaho.
Book Review: True Page Turner
Summary: 4 Stars
This was the first book I read from Pearson and I throughly enjoyed it. I recommend this book if you are looking for a page turner at the beach, airplane etc...Book Review: Wintry Mix
Summary: 3 Stars
The snows of Sun Valley run red when murder and nefarious conspiracy are abroad. I couldn't tell if the character's in this fairly standard thriller were so sketchily drawn because they'd been introduced in a prior book, or if the writing was a little thin. Our stalwart hero with his troubled home life is a little dull. There are however, a couple good set pieces, namely an avalanche and a hibernating bear.
It's not clear if the environmental subtext was right-or-left wing or conveniently anxious to avoid offense.
Book Review: one sitting police procedural
Summary: 5 Stars
A skier goes missing on Galena Summit, Idaho. In spite of the snowstorm making conditions treacherous even for experienced individuals, Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming bring together his Search and Reduce team to make a concerted effort to find the lost skier. However, during the dangerous trek, a shot is heard and they find crewman Randy Aker dead.
Not long afterward, Randy's brother and fellow S&R member veterinarian Mark Aker disappears; though his best friend Walt worries about him he assumes his buddy needs some alone grieving time. However, Walt revises his assumptions when an unknown adversary molests a veterinary assistant and there is a major increase of sick employees at a water-bottling plant and numerous animals reported dead. He begins to wonder if someone is slowly and diabolcially cleverly working a terrorist campaign in Sun Valley.
This one sitting police procedural will hook the audience from the onset with a need to know what is going on as the plot twists plausibly with every new incident or clue that Walt encounters. The story line is fast-paced and filled with a strong cast. The setting is electric; the Sun Valley area comes across beyond its geographical beauty as a two caste social system symbiotic tied togetehr economically. Ridley Pearson provides a strong Idaho mystery as readers get a KILLER VIEW of Sun Valley.
Harriet Klausner