Author: Ridley Pearson
Fascinating psychological profile of killers and the police who track them down. Perhaps too analytical and self-indulgent at times (self-anaylsis gets old quickly if you’re not the focus) and not enough focus on the plot, but the unusually close perspective makes for an interesting book. It begins awkwardly, as there’s obviously a lot of history between the characters that we don’t know about. Some of that is because apparently this is part of a series of books that involve the same characters (this is the first Pearson book I’ve read), but some of that is because the novel begins after some crimes have been committed and the investigation is underway. That means we’re given information in retrospect fashion, which is awkward, and leaves you the vague feeling that maybe you missed something along the way. It’s also a lot of information to absorb: all the characters, their private lives and relationships, the murder victims and investigation details, etc. With a similar murder mystery kind of book (like Agatha Christie) you’re just given the info you need, nothing more, nothing less. Here we’re right in the detectives’ heads, following along as they struggle with day-to-day life, follow the clues, and try to analyze and interogate suspects. The main character is Daphne Matthews, a psychologist and police lieutenant, which explains much of the novel’s introspective feel. She analyzes everyone she meets, from police to criminals. I liked her a lot, but I found her character incongruous in that she appears to be strong but in the novel she’s often frightened to immobility. There’s some logic behind that as she’s being stalked, the watching giving her a bad case of paranoia, but there were a few places where it felt overdone and out of character for her to be so frightened. Maybe it’s a woman thing. A regular woman would have certainly felt what she felt, but she’s a trained professional with years of experience — shouldn’t she have been able to keep her emotions at least a little in check? She also seems so logical most of the time, when she reacts out of pure emotion it felt incorrect. But other than that, the book is excellent. Good characterizations, fascinating pyschology, and an unusual plot that takes us into the Seattle Underground: literally a city beneath the city. Recommended.
