Monday, October 27, 2008 11:07 PM CDT
BOOK REVIEW: 'Killer View' By Ridley Pearson
Review by Juanita Sherwood
“Killer View” by Ridley Pearson is a good read if you like thrillers. The book is set in Idaho among beautiful scenery. It presents a couple of mysteries, including a murder, and illustrates personal troubles for the main character, Walt Fleming, the local sheriff.
The book begins with abduction, and then jumps to a distress call during the first heavy snowfall of the season: a skier has been lost on one of the local mountains. Rescue operations gather. When the mission is completed, no lost skier has been found, but one of the rescuers, very experienced on skis and a local veterinarian, is found dead.
The next morning, the dead vet’s brother, also a veterinarian, is found to be missing.
As the story progresses, we learn about the sheriff’s personal problems: he and his wife are separated; he is currently trying to juggle having minor, twin daughters in his household and the time requirements of his job; his chief and best deputy is part of the reason his marriage is broken up.
The sheriff is a multi-talented man who is expert in the ways of the local wilderness; he also has a pilot’s license, which is important to the story, and a keen mind for solving problems.
The 19-year-old young woman who was kidnapped at the beginning had been given a date rape drug and was then brutalized. She turns up at the local hospital with no memory of what has happened to her, or of who is responsible. She also is the assistant to one of the veterinarians. The abduction does not seem a part of the murder investigation at first, but later Fleming discovers that it ties in.
The book is intriguing because the reader makes assumptions about the investigation and characters that do not tie together in quite the way that might be expected.
One of the “bad” guys is who the reader knows he is, truly despicable, a disturbed man with a cause — a wilderness expert, almost a mountain man-type character.
The other person who seems to be responsible for some of the crimes has no clear ties to such activities. As the sheriff investigates, what he discovers is surprising — and he is pressured into signing an ND (non-disclosure) agreement with officials. Justified? Perhaps ...
Also playing a role in the story is the fact that Idaho hosts the INL, Idaho National Laboratory. This is a bona fide research facility that is located in Idaho, which has several successful developments to its credit, some of them very public accomplishments, the research and results carried out there being highly classified, according to the author.
Maybe Roy Coats isn’t as crazy as he seems when all is revealed at the end, although no one could condone his methods.
An interesting note: the sheriff uses the assistance of young, computer/game-playing teens to help solve part of the crime. It is entirely feasible that this could be done the way it is described in the book — a clever and interesting use of modern technology by the author.
The ending is rather violent, but that is not as disturbing as the fact that the death of many sheep and its implications are not made public. This gives rise to the question: how often does something of this magnitude occur, just how vulnerable is the public, and to what extent would the authorities go to cover up a dangerous situation?
Sherwood of Charleston is a retired reading teacher.
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htomfields wrote on Oct 28, 2008 10:30 AM: