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Police Sgt. Lou Boldt heads a special task force within Seattle's homicide bureau. His job: find and stop the Cross Killer, a twisted, perverse serial murderer who has eluded police for six months and paralyzed the city. But when a body washes up on the shore of Puget Sound, Boldt thinks the killer has finally made a mistake. This body shows some of the work of the Cross Killer-but a job badly botched. Did this woman die while trying to escape? Did she knowingly jump in the water to preserve show more a clue? And is she now desperately trying to tell Boldt something? With the help of the alluring Daphne Matthews, a police psychologist, Boldt must piece together the complex puzzle. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
My first introduction to both author Ridley Pearson and Detective Lou Boldt. I enjoy watching all of the police television offerings and whether past (MOD Squad, Kojak, NYPD Blue, The Rookie, Hill Street Blues, Without a Trace) to present (Law & Order SVU, Unforgettable, Blue Bloods). Ridley Pearson takes the reader on a visual and emotional journey in book form of police procedure, forensic details, and psychological profiling as though you are a part of each step in the investigation and an integral part of the team. It is more intricate than any television drama or series can offer. It's an intense read but thoroughly absorbing without becoming a textbook or educational lecture. There are some authors who take you on so many asides show more to ensure you become a subject matter expert that the story is forgotten or paused until they 'teach' you the background. Ridley Pearson could surely teach them some valuable writing tips! I can't wait to investigate more titles by Ridley Pearson. :) show less
Seattle is a city paralyzed by fear. A serial killer is loose on its streets. And as each new victim surfaces-chest slashed, eyes taped open-the tide of panic rises.Driven by guilt and frustration, too exhausted to consider stopping, Detective Lou Boldt thinks he's finally gotten the break he needs to end the Cross Killer's twisted spree. But each new clue contradicts another. And each new corpse mocks Boldt's efforts.To fathom the silent tale told by the latest corpse washed up in Puget Sound, Boldt has to go beyond every state-of-the-art method at his disposal. But as he gets closer to the truth, he travels deeper into the tortured mind of a relentless killer...into the depths of his own fear...and into a whirlpool of madness more show more frightening than his worst nightmares. show less
I feel bad, but this is one of the slowest books I ever read. I'm over 200 pages in and just can't plod any further. I truly don't care who did it or why. :(
Great murder mystery that takes place in Seattle. One of the key parts of the story is the marine study of undercurrents in the Puget Sound, which I found fascinating.
Why do I continue to read books that are not that great? This book is readable if there is nothing else available.
De stad Seattle leeft in de ban van de angst. Een seriemoordenaar heeft het voorzien op jonge, alleenstaande vrouwen. Ze worden op gruwelijke wijze om het leven gebracht. Hun lichamen worden gevonden met opengesperde, vastgeplakte ogen, terwijl op hun borst een kruis is gekerfd. Tijdens zijn jacht op de moordenaar raakt brigadier Lou Boldt steeds meer vertwijfeld. Elke nieuwe aanwijzing lijkt een vorige tegen te spreken en elk nieuw lijk beschouwt hij als een persoonlijke nederlaag. Dag en nacht is Boldt in touw, maar komt met zijn onderzoek geen stap verder. Als er weer een slachtoffer wordt gevonden, krijgt Boldt het angstige vermoeden dat deze vrouw door een ander is vermoord. Ook al is de moord tot in details gelijk aan de vorige. show more Er moet een lek zijn... show less
Apr 2, 2025Dutch
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A ghoulish series of murders of young women in the Seattle area has the city jittery with fear and the Seattle Homicide bureau exhaustively hunting down every wisp of a clue. Police Sergeant Lou Boldt, who heads up the investigation, has a special stake in finding the psychopathic murderer, dubbed the "Cross Killer" by the press. Boldt was involved in arresting a suspect in the case who was show more later gunned down in the courtroom, although now he appears to have been innocent of the crimes. The guilt from that death, the unraveling of his marriage and a new and disturbing twist to the escalating series of murders have Boldt totally obsessed., The new twist comes after a 10th body is found appearing to be the handiwork of the Cross Killer. To Boldt's fine-tuned eye, however, this latest murder may actually be the work of a copycat killeran imitation so good, in fact, that Boldt has the unnerving suspicion that this murderer may very well be somebody within the police department. The narrative unfolds in a series of deftly rendered cinematic scenes leading to a hair-raising denouement. Pierson (The Seizing of Yankee Green Mall) has the ability to create a credible protaganist and involve the reader in his dilemma by virtue of a neatly constructed plot. He has, in addition, an authentic feeling for police investigation and forensic medicine, and a remarkable insight and understanding of the motivations of the criminal mind. show less
added by cmwilson101
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Books Read in 2000
113 works; 4 members
Author Information
101+ Works 34,851 Members
Ridley Pearson was born in Glen Cove, New York on March 13, 1953. He was educated at Kansas University and Brown University. In the early 1970s, he was a musician and songwriter for a rock band, eventually writing more than 300 songs and the score for an award-winning documentary. Having honed his craft writing scripts for television shows such as show more Columbo and Quincy, he turned to writing and published his first novel, Never Look Back, in 1985. His novels include The Angel Maker, No Witnesses, and Beyond Recognition. He has also published many children's books including The Kingdom Keepers series and a series of prequels to Peter Pan written with Dave Barry. His book Peter and the Starcatchers, written with Dave Barry, was adapted into a Broadway play that won 5 Tony Awards. He received the Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship at Oxford University in 1990 and the Missouri Writer Hall of Fame Quill Award Winner in 2013. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Undercurrents
- Original publication date
- 1988
- People/Characters
- Lou Boldt; Daphne Matthews
- Important places
- Seattle, Washington, USA; Puget Sound, Washington, USA
- Epigraph*
- Een seriemoordenaar houdt een stad in zijn wurggreep.
- Dedication
- Opgedragen aan mijn goede vriend en goede vriend, Brian DeFiore, voor zijn enthousiasme en onvermoeibare inzet.
Dedicated to my editor and good friend, Brian DeFiore, for his enthusiasm and tireless efforts on this book. - First words
- Het eerste dat Lou Boldt in de aankomsthal zag, was een kind op de arm van een vrouw.
As he steppped off the jetway, Lou Boldt spotted the child held in the women's arms, a keen sense of expectation in the young blue eyes as they briefly caught his own. - Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'Het is hem,' zei Boldt, en draaide zich weer om en verdween in de duisternis.
- Blurbers
- Cussler, Clive
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 427
- Popularity
- 71,437
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.73)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, German, Norwegian (Bokmål), Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 24
- ASINs
- 10
