police procedurals

Either write romantic suspense where all the stories have happy endings and the couples get together and stay together or right a gritty police procedural with real human emotions. don't try to combine the two--this effort was a mediocre one at best. The Art of Deception was much better.
And did you review any of your previous works in the series, before writing this--because it doesn't fit the timeline that the other books set out. Liz's affair with David Hayes couldn't have happened six years ago--by my alculations, that would have made it in the middle of No Witnesses--a good example of your writing. And you established in that book, and in Art of Deception that LIz knew about Daphne.
Finally, Lou whines too much and lies too much to himself about his feelings. Either get rid of him, or demote him to minor character status and bring on John and Daphne. I wish I got a copy of the connecting chapter; maybe that would explain a few things.

The fast-paced and engrossing THE BODY OF DAVID HAYNES is the ninth outing for Lou Boldt. Boldt is somewhat of a legend in the SPD. He has the highest case clearance per average in the history in the Seattle Police Department. The book opens when he is called to a scene where friend and fellow officer is drugged and beaten on a stakeout of a trailer. Missing from the scene is David Hayes, the subject of the stakeout. Six years earlier David Hayes worked as technical computer support in the same bank where Lou's wife, Liz was an officer. During a dark time in the Boldt marriage, Liz had an affair with David Hayes and it almost destroyed the Boldt marriage. After the affair was over Hayes embezzled seventeen million dollars from the bank. He was caught, but the money was never recovered. Several parties are interested in retrieving the money now that Hayes is released from jail including the bank, police, and the original owners of the money, the Russian mob. David is on the run and he contacts Liz to help him get the money, which has been in limbo since his arrest. He is afraid for his life if he does not get the money back to the mob he stole it from. Liz is only one of few that has access to the codes to transfer the money. Events escalate until both the Boldt's marriage and their children are threatened. Boldt is put into the position of having to protect his family over the interests of the police department.

From the very first page, the reader is drawn into this story. It is an extremely well plotted thriller that has the suspense building throughout the whole story until the very end. As good as the story is there is more at play here than just another good thriller which many books can claim to be. Where Pearson excels is at the finely tuned drawing of his characters as human beings, their frailties and their proclivity for secrets that come back to haunt them. The scenes between the Boldts are fraught with anger, hurt, tension and love as they try to get past wounds that could unravel their marriage. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

'The Body of David Hayes' is the latest installment in the drama that centers around Lieutenant Lou Boldt, family, and friends. Ridley Pearson's series has, in the past, focused on Lou Boldt, psychologist Daphne Matthews, and detective, now sargeant, John Lamoia as they used high tech forensic science, psychology, and a bit of good old fashioned detective work to track down kidnappers, killers, and rapers. Along the way, Pearson has gone into great depth about the home lives concerning the characters.

Daphne and John have settled into a live in relationship. This came about in the previous novel, which featured Matthews. Consequently, these two figures, while always prominent in past novels, are really no more than side characters in 'The Body of David Hayes.' John gets a fair amount of attention, but Matthews only really appears in about a dozen pages.

The attention of this novel is squarely on Lou Boldt and his wife Liz. The novel reaches back into the earlier installments of the series, and a past lover of Liz's is parolled after serving several years on his sentence for embezelling millions from the bank Liz worked out. Suddenly, Liz finds her entire world, including her career and marriage, in peril as the affair is threatened to be exposed.

While the Boldt's focus on this disruption on their lives, Lou sets out to piece together what exactly is happening. An old friend appears to have gone maverick in an attempt to close the old embezzlement case. The prosecuting attorney suddenly doesn't look so good either. David Hayes is on the loose, and what he is up to is an enigma. To top it all off, the Russian mafia enters the scene. Suddenly, who is an ally and who is an enemy is not quite so clear. Crime scenes are no longer clear, and cast suspicion on many characters.

'The Body of David Hayes' continues Pearson's string of well written novels. His writing, which was always strong, has grown and he is no longer just adept at writing a suspenseful thriller, but has captured the ability to add color to everyday scenes. The turmoil between Lou and Liz is thick and suffocating.

The only down point is that while Pearson kept the readers in suspense as to who exactly the 'bad guy' is, it almost becomes to confusing. Frequently, Liz or Lou would make some sort of discovery which would appear to be profound, but didn't seem to enlighten the reader much. This wouldn't be a problem if the story would then evolve from that point as if the reader had kept up. This doesn't happen a great deal, but enough to be distracting at points.

All in all, its a good novel. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. I recommend it to any fan of Pearson's work or the Boldt series, and any fan of police or crime fiction in general. Some knowledge of previous novels in the series would help, but it is not essential to understanding this novel. Pearson does a good job of summing up the back story so that the new reader is informed without it becoming cumbersome.