Rating: 
Summary: Underground intrigue
Review: Police psychologist (or "profiler") Daphne Mathews has a long history in these exciting Seattle stories, and with Police Lt. Boldt, her mentor, idol, and more. Here she finally takes front center stage, with Boldt usually far in the background, and that ain't good. One thing that becomes clear is that Daphne is not only a bold, if erroneous, profiler, but is personally a bundle of boiling insecurities and anxieties in all directions. Here she seems like a caricatured throwback to pre-feminist women who sterotypically fall apart under pressure. I found this offensive, and maddening because it's not clear why she's suddenly folded into gibbering paranoia. While she tries to deceive her prime suspect into revealing himself, he is tying her up in his own unsuspected web of masterful deceptions. The authorial tactic of personally involving the hero in criminal attacks is a cheap way for an author to ratchet up tension in his story without the effort of creating another victim from whole cloth-but you also know he won't eliminate a central series character. This tactic also tends to turn a "good, clean" mystery into an hysterical horror story-the reason I don't read Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta series anymore. Sorry, you might not have the same dislike. What's neat is that even with a suspect in hand early, there are more surprises. And Pearson has again researched obscure facts about the city of Seattle that provide vital sidelights. There are two suspects chased into a fascinating Underground historic city (who knew?)-but how Boldt decides between the two eerie suspects is still a mystery to me. It's stock in this genre not to follow police procedure at critical moments because the detective is "special" or taking brilliant shortcuts-just so the author can put a desperately frazzled Lt. Mathews into the hands of unsuspected murderers. And real smart crooks don't go out of their way to toy with police. The chapter titles provide an amusing by-play.
Rating: 
Summary: Upper-Tier Suspense
Review: Ridley Pearson has once again shown his ability and earned his place as an upper-tier novelist. The skillful plot development and dramatic characterizations found in THE ART OF DECEPTION is one of his better efforts. He has taken three crimes, each a priority to one of the main characters, intertwined them with deftly layed clues and an increasing sense of urgency to find a solution, and unified them in the mysterious Seattle underground. The personal lives and emotional entanglements between police psychologist Daphne Matthews, Sergeant John La Moia, and Lieutenant Lou Boldt, give the characters and storyline depth and realism. This however, is NOT a "Harlequin Romance". Rather, it is a hard-hitting forensic thriller, casting the triumverate of Matthews, La Moia, and Boldt as a contentious but sensitive trio of dedicated professionals and devoted friends. Their magnetism is found in the realism of their emotions and flaws in their behavior. They have the ability to understand the criminal mind but struggle to understand their own. They are able to trick the bad guys into vulnerable situations and force them into submission. At the same time, they are learning they don't need to deceive each other in the same way. Not only has Ridley Pearson written an entertaining, complex, multi-levelled thriller, but he has also laid the groundwork for future thrillers involving three highly skilled characters and the increasingly complex relationships between them.
Rating: 
Summary: PURE PEARSON - PURE PLEASURE
Review: Seattle police biggie Lou Boldt is trying to track a serial killer, while Daphne Matthews, gorgeous forensic psychologist is investigating the untimely demise of Mary Ann Walker who was thrown (?) jumped (?) from Aurora Bridge. A boyfriend, known for physically abusing Mary Ann, is a prime suspect. Before we know it Pearson, always a master of surprises, connects the two cases by spotlighting one suspect. However, a solution is never that easy. Along the way emotions are stirred as a member of Boldt's team finds himself drawn to Daphne, who once had a fling with Boldt. Add a mega underground chase scene through streets long buried beneath contemporary Seattle and you have a high octane finish. Pure Pearson - pure pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Deception is the Name of the Game
Review: Seattle Police forensic psychologist Daphne Mathews is asked to join the investigation when a woman's body is found underneath the Aurora Bridge. The body is identified as Mary-Ann Walker. Mary-Ann's brother Ferrell is quick to cast blame on Lanny Neal, Mary-Ann's boyfriend. Ferrell not only latches onto the idea of vengeance, but he wants Daphne to help prove his theory. Then the stalking begins - noises outside Daphne's house, shadows that move in the night, phone calls. Lieutenant Lou Boldt is working another investigation, following the trail of a murderer through Seattle's dangerous underworld. When the investigations suddenly point to the same person, the deception takes an artful turn and considering the books title, that shouldn't be too surprising. Mr. Pearson has delivered a deceptive thriller, giving the reader a lot to sink his teeth into early on, but early conclusions made quickly become confused with all the twists and turns delivered up in this five star offering. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Rating:
Summary: Are the Killer and the Stalker the Same Person?
Review: Seattle Police forensic psychologist Daphne Matthews is asked to aid in the homicide of Mary-Ann Walker, when Walker's body is found under the Aurora Bridge. Ex-lover and boss Lieutenant Lou Boldt is also part of the team. Walker's abusive boyfriend is a possible suspect. Mary-Ann's brother Ferrell assists the officers immediately after the crime. However, his behavior becomes stranger and stranger and his inappropriate attraction to Daphne increases as the investigation continues. Could he have killed his own sister? Then someone starts stalking Dauphne, someone who is watching her every move. Boldt investigates another suspicious death within the Underground beneath Seattle and begins to suspect that his case is connected with the Walker homicide. Pearson combines the investigations of Boldt and Matthews into a thriller you'll be up all night reading, and his description of the Seattle Underground will have you rushing to the internet to check it out. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
Rating:
Summary: Not highly deceptive
Review: See main storyline above. This time around Ridley teams Daphne Matthews with a different partner, John LaMoia. If you're a reader of Pearson's past novels, you know that LaMoia has a history of drug abuse. Well this time he's clean--not without great effort.
The story itself is an average mystery, but it's told in an above average way that only Pearson can write. I guessed the killer early in the novel and am a little surprised that Daphne and John overlooked him/her. It became almost frustrating to me as I kept reading and they remained clueless.
It's a story of a stalker that will take you into Seattle's underground. A place I didn't know existed. Good suspense and a solid mystery. Recommended
Rating:
Summary: Seattle crime round up
Review: The Art of Deception is a rather unspectacular crime drama surrounding a triad of unsolved crimes in Seattle. The central character Daphne Matthews is a police lieutenant and forensic psychologist who is also a volunteer at a womans shelter. While at the church based shelter she gets summoned to a crime scene involving a bloated corpse of a young woman that apparently went off the Aurora Bridge. Matthews who is a member of the Crimes Against People (CAP) Unit of the Seattle P.D. confers about the crime with her superior Lt. Lou Boldt and colleague Sgt. John LaMoia. Boldt and LaMoia both have active cases that they're investigating as well. Boldt as a favor to an old friend, Madame Lu, head of the large Chinese community of Seattle, is looking into the death of a Billy Chen. Chen apparently fell down a sewer during a flood under mysterious circumstances. LaMoia, ex pain pill popper and stud of the department, complete with ostrich skin cowboy boots is involved in the disappearance of 2 young women. Both women had been stalked by peeping Toms and one was a close personal friend of Boldt's wife. The common thread between the crimes was the Seattle underground, a subterranean remnant of the old city burned by a fire 100 years ago and used as a foundation for new construction. Matthews probing leads her to identify the corpse as a Mary Ann Walker. She had been shacking up with a boyfriend with a violent history of abuse to women. He is the prime suspect in the death. While investigating, Matthews interviews Walker's brother Ferrell, a down and out 20 year old psychotic fisherman who offers his unwanted assistance. Matthews who recognizes that Ferrell Walker is a psychological nightmare cannot brush him off. He begins to stalk her, further complicating her efforts. He story goes on in a predictable fashion until all the mysteries are unraveled and tied up into a neat little package. Ho-hum!
Rating:
Summary: Pearson's Most Deceptive Novel
Review: The lastest novel in Ridley Pearson's 'Lou Boldt' series really isn't about Lou Boldt. Instead, the focus shifts to Daphne Matthews and John LaMoia in 'The Art of Deception'. Matthews' personal life is a mess. She fills all her free time with police and charity work. At the novel opens, she is consummed with caring for runaway girls at a local women's shelter. She checks up on a witness as a favor to LaMoia, and suddenly finds herself being stalked not only by the witness, but by a deputy from the sheriff's office. LaMoia, after an intervention by Boldt and Matthews, has kicked an addiction to pills. Still working for Boldt, LaMoia gets drawn into the investigation of a couple missing women assigned to his former 'Sarge'. In addition, he finds himself looking after Matthews once she starts having run-ins with the witness she interviewed. Boldt has reluctantly taken a promotion to Lieutenant in order to fulfill a promise to his family that he would be safer on the job. However, he gets involved in a case when a family friend turns up missing. An old informant, Mama Lu, further involves him by asking him to look further into the 'accidental' drowning of an Asian man that perhaps isn't so accidental after all. 'Art of Deception' is quite possibly Pearson's best novel yet. First, the clues are easily grasped. Much more so than in previous novels. They rely less on forensic evidence, which is interesting, but at times overwhelming in past novels. Second, there are multiple suspects. Pearson introduces nearly all of them early on and keeps your attention on them. He builds a sound case for each one. Third, the setting is incredibly interesting. The Seattle Underground is almost a character in itself. With its former buildings buried under the streets of present day Seattle, it is has become a maze in the darkness and Pearson expertly uses it to create edge of the seat suspense. The characters themselves continue to grow, which sets this series apart from those of other authors. Old problems, such as Boldt's wife's cancer, have fallen aside, and new challenges have replaced them. Daphne struggles to find meaning in her life, LaMoia re-examines his life prior to his pill addiction daily, and Boldt wrestles with conflicting feelings as his two friends and coworkers grow closer. The list of great things about this novel goes on and on. Pearson has long been one of my favorite authors because of his mastery of the suspense novel and his extensive knowledge of the police and forensic science. He does not disappoint in 'The Art of Deception'. I would recommend this novel to any fan of suspense novels, or detective stories. It is also a great introduction into the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Step aside Kellerman...
Review: The only reason why I picked up this book was the gaudy banner on the top of the cover that says "From the author of The Ellen Rimbaur Diary." I happened to like that book (which was even the basis for a Stephen King mini-series on ABC earlier this year). But I was pleasantly surprised. Ridley Pearson's Daphne Matthews series is reminiscent of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels. They're both psychologists working with police officers (Lou Boldt in Pearson's case and Milo Simpson for Kellerman) to help solve crimes or stop them before they happen again. In my opinion, the author dwells too much on the psychological makeup of the antagonists in the story as manifested by Daphne's profile of them. I understand that as a psychologist, it's her job to provide a possible motive for the actions of a suspect. However, in terms of storytelling such lengthy characterizations of a person's frame of mind seemed a bit distracting. Moreover, since I cannot verify the medical basis of such analyses I had doubt in my mind as to its validity. In this novel, several things are going on at once for the trio of Daphne Matthews, Lou Boldt and John LaMoia. A series of murders preceded by reports of a peeping tom, an accidental drowning in a shady part of town, and a floating corpse retrieved close to a bridge all demand the resources of the CAP (Crimes Against Persons) unit of the Seattle PD. They are all pulled this way and that, but what happens in the end is like a rubberband snapping back to shape. It's tense. There's also a love triangle in this story between the three protagonists. Lou and Daphne used to be lovers, but Lou has a wife and kids. John and Daphne develop a chemistry from working together that spills into their personal lives. John owes Lou and Daphne his life for saving him from his drug addiction. We clearly see how each one reacts to one another when Daphne's life falls in danger. She's attractive and smart (and clearly steals most of the story's limelight). There's detective Prair (a former patient) and Ferris Wheeler (the brother of the deceased floater) also vying for Daphne's attention. I found Pearson's imagination of Seattle's Underground (a name given to the city of abandoned buildings built over by the current one) to be quite intriguing with its hidden passages through church cellars, building basements, and bus tunnels. He describes the darker side of Seattles drug-abuse shelters and the shady Chinatown district. I do agree with another reviewer that the ending felt a little bit rushed. With only 4 pages left in the book, the author decided to split them up into 2 chapters. Each like a footnote of what happened to each character in the end. Nonetheless, it was a very suspenseful book from the middle to the end. I found it hard to put down once the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. I had no idea who the killer was till the end. LEAP rating (each out of 5): ============================
L (Language) - 4 (vivid descriptions of Pearson's Underground, well thought-out dialogue)
E (Erotica) - .5 (description of the victims' state Underground)
A (Action) - 2 (interrogation room drama, wire surveillance, rescue at the end)
P (Plot) - 4 (seamless dovetailing of sub-plots into a coherent murder-mystery)
Rating:
Summary: Good book with great parts and not so great parts
Review: There are few major things about this book that I need to get at in this review -
1. There were a bunch of mysteries in this one book - and by in large, it was a great mystery. There were a lot of characters, and things moved along quickly. I really enjoyed the interwovenness of the stories -
2. At some points, the characters seemed dumb to me, and that annoyed me because John, Daffy and Lou are not dumb at all. Here is what I mean: When they went to Neal's arraignment with the story that the clock was flashing 2:22 - come on now - any clock that is flashing is clearly not working. I saw that from the first time Neal said it, and I can't believe that 2 great detectives didn't. Then, when Mary-Ann's brother gets Daffy's cell phone number and she can't figure out how - I mean come on - the magic marker on Margaret's arm jumped right out at me - and the Daffy I know from previous books would have picked up on that quicker...
3. I really loved the way Ridley worked Daffy and John's relationship. I was glad to see that Ridley didn't just disregard Daffy's relationship with Lou as he slowly put her together with John. There are characters that we know well and I was glad to see Ridley take his time with the characters and not jump into anything.
All and all I loved this book. As I wrote, the mystery as a whole was fantastic, twisty, and very interesting. There were a lot of suspects and as another reviewer wrote, while you suspected the brother from the beginning, Ridley kept throwing curve balls and knocked the theory off balance. And, even though I had some minor problems with the detectives during the mystery, it didn't take much away from the book.
I give Ridley a thumbs up for his relationship building between Daffy and John, and it was nice to see Lou just a bit jealous - that was very realistic too.
Good job!
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