The Pied Piper

Three months isn't too long, is it? This was an excellent detective novel by a writer I had never read before. If you remember the story from the fairytale "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" you can probably guess that this book has to do with children being taken away from their parents. A series of kidnappings up the west coast of the US has defied the best efforts of the FBI and the local police authorities. Seattle Police Department prepared for the kidnapper to strike their city by setting up a task force consisting of their best detectives. When the first kidnapping in the city occurs John LaMoia corrals his former boss, Lou Boldt, from the side of his wife's hospital bed to go to the scene. Psychologist Daphne Matthews joins them to show more provide advice about the type of person who would commit the crime of kidnapping and also to help in questioning witnesses and suspects. LaMoia and Matthews do not have children but Boldt and his wife have a young son and an even younger daughter so this crime hits closer to home for him. Although the FBI is part of the task force there is not a lot of cooperation between the locals and the feds. Despite this, the SPD squad follow some interesting leads and seem to be getting closer to perpetrator. Then Boldt's daughter is kidnapped and he is told to stymie the investigation if he ever wants to see his daughter alive. To find out whether the father or the cop triumphs you must read the book.

I took this book with me when I went out of town on business and it definitely helped pass the hours but it probably resulted in me losing sleep. show less

This is the latest in the Lou Boldt series. This book is about children as victims which is a major plot factor recently and one that I find tiresome and cheap. And, this book has several really stupid errors as the plot revolves around computers which really annoys me. I wish novelist would either learn computers or just leave them out of their books until they do. Now having done that bitching , I have to say that even so, this book is great. I was sucked in from the first word. New born babies - home from the hospital only a few weeks are being snatched from their homes. And, Seattle is only the latest in the string of cities where this has happened. And then Lou Boldt's own youngest is snatched….

The Pied Piper. Ridley Pearson. 1998. (book 5 of 9 in Bolt and Matthews series). Babies are being kidnapped all along the west coast. A small plastic flute is left in when each baby is taken. When the kidnapper lands in Seattle, Bolt gets involved. He has to deal with the FBI as well as the fact that his wife is being treated for cancer. Bolt is a very human character. In spite of all the difficulties, Bolt and his team manage to catch the villain. I enjoyed this book, but it was way too long. Pearson could have halved the descriptions of how to set up surveillance, tap phones and computers, and mad chase scenes. I will probably read more in this series.

This is the first Ridley Pearson book I've read. I'm impressed. It was very well written. It developed well right from the beginning. The character development was excellent. I loved Lou Boldt. Towards the end the suspense built to the point that I couldn't put the book down. I will read more of his work.

I have to confess that I had never heard of Pearson before. I'm pleased to report that the writing is as engaging as the crime and the sleuthing. Look for more by this author. It's a great summer book.