New Releases by Ridley Pearson

It begins as a heist in Sun Valley, Idaho-until the local sheriff discovers a more sinister underlying plan. The crime gets more personal. The stakes are raised, and nothing is as it seems.

In this action-packed third installment in the Starcatchers series, Peter and Molly find themselves in the dangerous land of Rundoon, ruled by an evil king who enjoys watching his pet snake consume those who displease him. But that’s just the beginning of problems facing our heroes, who once again find themselves pitted against the evil shadow-creature Lord Ombra in a struggle to save themselves, not to mention the planet. It’s a wild desert adventure, with rockets, carpets, and camels all flying through the air, zooming toward an unforgettable climax...

Peter and the Starcatchers

When the evil Overtakers gain control of a computer server at the Magic Kingdom, allowing them to put the holographic hosts into permanent comas if they should fall asleep, Finn and the others race against time to foil the plan.

Soon after Peter, an orphan, sets sail from England on the ship Never Land, he befriends and assists Molly, a young Starcatcher, whose mission is to guard a trunk of magical stardust from a greedy pirate and the native inhabitants of a remote island.

Sun Valley sheriff Walt Fleming returns in this high-intensity thriller as he thwarts a plan to steal a rare wine at the annual wine auction. When a bomb detonates just as the auction revs up, the investigation explodes as well, pulling Walt in a dozen different directions.

The president of Kprshtskan is plotting to infiltrate the science fair at Hubble Middle School in Maryland in order to take over the United States government, but when Toby Harbinger, an ordinary student, makes up his mind finally to win the fair, the terrorists'' plans go awry. 250,000 first printing.

A dead search-and-rescue team member, a missing friend, an unexplained illness at a local water-bottling plant that sends workers to the hospital and sets off biohazard warnings may have something in common as Sun Valley sheriff Walt Fleming follows threa

Lord Ombra ist nicht tot und bekommt den Auftrag, Peter zu fangen. Er macht sich auf zur Insel Mollusk. Diese wird von den Skorpionen, einem feindlichen Stamm, überfallen. Doch Peter kann gerade noch fliehen und läuft geradewegs in Lord Ombras Arme. Ab 10.

In this riveting and adventure-packed follow-up to Peter and the Starcatchers, we discover Peter leaving the relative safety of Mollusk Island—along with his trusted companion Tinker Bell—for the cold, damp streets of London. On a difficult journey across the sea, he and Tink discover the dark and deadly, slithering part-man/part-creature Lord Ombra. It seems that the dreaded Ombra has a variety of mysterious powers including the ability to make shadows disappear. When Peter reaches London, he sets out to find the indomitable Molly. Together they must combat Ombra’s terrible forces to both protect the Starcatchers and the treasured starstuff and most importantly to rescue Molly’s mother from the clutches of evil. Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have done it again—written a compulsively readable, impossible-to-put-down tale that will delight readers of all ages.

Little Scallop, a princess of the Mollusk tribe, longs to have a real adventure. So late one night, she and her mermaid friends sneak off to dive for pearls. They run into a fierce storm and a strange ship sailed by men who would love to capture a mermaid.

ears ago, Lou Boldt''s wife Liz had an affair with David Hayes, a young computer specialist at the bank where she is an executive. When Liz ended the relationship after reconciling with Lou, Hayes engaged in a daring embezzlement scheme. Now, years later, Hayes is trying to retrieve the money he hid for the Russian mob and contacts Liz to try to gain access to the bank''s mainframe. Liz is torn between wanting to protect the bank and needing to protect her family. Boldt, ripped apart by the discovery of his wife''s possible blackmail, must skate a delicate line between his incompatible roles as determined detective and jealous husband if he is to find the money while exposing and stopping Hayes. Intensely involving and revealing new aspects of Boldt''s emotional makeup never before seen, The Body of David Hayes is Ridley''s most gripping and engaging thriller yet.

Seattle police psychologist Daphne Mathews has her hands full with a pregnant, addicted, runaway teenager, a murder victim''s brother whose strange behavior unnerves her, and a deputy sheriff she once treated who''s now stalking her. She''s frightened enough to move in with Detective John LaMoia, a development that doesn''t exactly thrill Lou Boldt, their boss and Daphne''sex-lover. But Lou''s too busy with his own cases to brood over John and Daphne: the recent disappearances of two local women, and the death of Billy Chen, the nephew of Mama Lu, an old friend and a powerful figure in Seattle''s Chinese community, which appeared to be an accident but turns out to have been murder. The only thing the disappearances and murder have in common is location; all three victims were last seen in a part of downtown built over the Underground, a dark and dangerous warren of buildings abandoned after the fire that leveled Seattle more than a hundred years ago. While Seattle''s Underground has been the setting for several mysteries by other authors (Earl Emerson, J.A. Jance), Pearson makes the most of its creepy-crawly atmosphere in a gripping thriller whose solid plotting pulls all of Daphne''s, LaMoia''s, and Boldt''s cases together. It also wisely reconfigures the personal relationships among the three central characters, which bodes well for their future adventures in this long-running series ( Middle ofNowhere, The Pied Piper). --Jane Adams

Penzler Pick, June 2001: Ridley Pearson, who has written 14 previous books, many of them featuring his Seattle cop Lou Boldt, ups the ante in his latest thriller. Northern Union Railroad has been experiencing a series of accidents with their freight trains, but it is not until they find a freight car covered with blood that they call in outside help. Peter Tyler used to be a cop, until he nearly beat a black man to death and lost his badge. When he gets a second chance via an old friend at the National Transportation Safety Board, he drives a convertible through a snowstorm with the top down (he suffers from claustrophobia) to view the freight car. He arrives at the scene to discover that he will have to deal with Northern Union''s own security officer, Nell Priest, a black woman who already knows Tyler''s history. Meanwhile, Umberto Alvarez, the train wrecker, is systematically working his way towards his ultimate wreck, Northern''s F.A.S.T. train, due to make its maiden run from New York to Washington, D.C. Alvarez lost his wife and children when their car stalled between the gates at a crossing and were crushed by one of Northern''s trains. Although Northern Union was cleared of all responsibility and Alvarez''s wife was found negligent, he doesn''t think that''s so. As Peter Tyler''s investigation proceeds, he begins to come to the same conclusion. Closing in on Alvarez, he tries to interview the crossing guard who was on duty the day the wreck occurred. On arriving at the man''s apartment, he finds the man bludgeoned to death--with the same stick with which Tyler beat the black man all that time ago. It''s time to get paranoid. Who at Northern is covering up and what role does Nell play in all this? As always in a Ridley Pearson thriller, the action doesn''t stop until the final page. --Otto Penzler

"Impeccably paced" this "thoughtful and exciting" thriller from a "top-notch practitioner of the genre" features cops investigating human trafficking ( Publishers Weekly ). When a female reporter disappears—purportedly at the hands of the Chinese Triad—while investigating a story on illegal aliens, Lou Boldt and John LaMoia of the Seattle Police Department embark on an investigation that leads them from Seattle''s docklands to the offices of the INS in search of answers. What they discover is a vicious band of smugglers who traffic in human labor. "Pearson puts the reader smack in the middle of a complex undercover police sting and delivers delectable characters . . . Inventive plotting and strong dialog build gripping suspense." — Library Journal "Pearson builds suspense incrementally, brilliantly amassing details until his plot reaches critical mass at just the right moment. " —Booklist

Known for his meticulous, fascinating research, as well as his ability to create exciting plot twists that inevitably, a month or two later, seem to have anticipated real-life headlines, Ridley Pearson has genered praise as a "master" of the suspense novel. In Middle of Nowhere, the "Blu Flu" has struck the Seattle Police force and a majority of the officers are on a unofficial strike, with the exception of a few, including Detective Lou Boldt, who is committed to the job. When a string of robberies and the brutal assault of a female cop rock the city, the pressure of isolation threatens Boldt''s psyche and his marriage. With the help of psychologist Daphne Matthews and Sergeant John LaMoia, Boldt is able to make progress on both the assault and the robberies, but things soon spin out of control, and Bodt''s refusal to drop the case puts his own life at risk. Filled with the fast-paced, spiraling action that has made Pearson''s previous novels "irresistable" ( Los Angeles Times Book Review) works of suspense that "grip the imagination" ( People magazine), this offering from "the best thriller writer alive" (Booklist) is certain to keep the reader breathless.

It''s the boldest, most satisfying Ridley Pearson novel ever-the one that confirms his status as today''s most powerful thriller writer! No one writes heartpounding suspense like Ridley Pearson. In Undercurrents, his taut, edge-of-the-seat plot gripped you from the start and didn''t release you until the sharp, thrilling conclusion. In Probable Cause, he brought you to a whole new level of hard-edged excitement. Now he turns it up another notch, in Hidden Charges. In this "complex tale of greed, power and passion" (Indianapolis News), a shopper''s paradise becomes a city under siege-held hostage by a madman armed with the skills and the weapons of a trained soldier, and possessed with an uncontrollable lust for vengeance, destruction...and death.

Shattered...by a mindless act of violence that changed his life forever, James Dewitt decided to become a cop. Shackled...by a web of red tape and corruption, Dewitt now fights desperately to solve a string of murders cleverly staged to look like suicides. Submerged...in the deranged world of the psychopathic mind, Dewitt struggles to outwit the killer-the man they call the "trapper"-before it''s too late...and to use every fingerprint and every fiber-and every last ounce of his strength-to escape the ultimate evil.