A strange series of fires is raging in Seattle - white-hot fires that burn so cleanly even the ash is consumed, along with all traces of the fires' victims. Brilliant forensic investigator Police Sergeant Lou Boldt is back, battling the mysterious arsonist. He is also keeping his eye on the Fire Warden, who seems to be a little too close to the heat. But police psychologist Daphne Matthews is more concerned about the victims of the blazes, especially the smart and wily ten-year-old boy who had a terrifying encounter with a disfigured, badly burned man. Beyond Recognition is the story of a deadly, taunting game of cat and mouse, where the stakes are raised to a burning point that might spell disaster for Boldt - and the city of Seattle.
When an earthquake strikes Never Land Island, things begin to go terribly wrong. A mysterious barrel washes ashore and falls into the hands of Captain Hook, who hatches an evil plan. The once-peaceful mermaids, who have always been friends to the natives, have turned violent. When the mermaids injure some members of the Mollusk tribe, the warriors have no choice but to fight back. Meanwhile, the boys and Shining Pearl and Little Scallop set off on a secret mission to try to make peace with the mermaids. Instead, they're captured, and while in captivity they discover the cause of the problem - Blood Tide is poisoning the lagoon and will eventually kill the mermaids. With time running out, the children must figure out a way to save the mermaids and to stop Captain Hook, whose plan threatens to destroy the Mollusk village and change life on Never Land Island forever.
While Peter is away from the island, James and the other Lost Boys discover a mysterious cave. Shining Pearl and her sister, Little Scallop, warn the boys that the cave is a dangerous place, inhabited by a creature known as the Goat Taker - a beast so scary that even the Mollusk tribe fears it. But the boys can't resist trying to discover the cave's secrets. When the first of those secrets turns out to be a tantalizing hint of a famous haunted treasure, Captain Hook and his band of cutthroat pirates quickly join the hunt. Before long, the children are fleeing for their lives in a dark and deadly underground labyrinth...and their only hope of escape is to solve the mystery of the Cave of the Dark Wind.
Police lieutenant Joe "Dart" Dartelli made one critical mistake in his police career. Three years ago, he chose to ignore a piece of evidence in a suicide case-a suicide that may have possibly been a murder-because the dead man was himself a vicious woman-killer who more than deserved his fate. And the evidence that Dart ignored could have raised difficult questions about his former mentor, the brilliant forensic specialist Walter Zeller. But another suicide victim turns up-the body of a wife-beater-and Zeller has disappeared off the face of the earth. With nothing to tie the deaths together except some strange blood chemistry-and clear evidence that the death was self-inflicted-the case is officially closed. Dart knows that what's best for him is just to let things lie. There's no proof; only two unrelated suicides. Cleared cases. But Dart knows in his deepest heart that Zeller is on some twisted vigilante crusade. And it's going to happen again. And only Dart can stop it.
"Filled with breathtaking suspense . . . Famous for his plotting and attention to details, Pearson is off to a great start with his compelling and multilayered new protagonists." - Library Journal on The Risk Agent (starred review) When an award-winning foreign journalist reveals the existence of an Amsterdam-based sweatshop known as a "knot shop" that employs and enslaves young girls as laborers, private security firm Rutherford Risk is hired by a philanthropist to find it and shut it down. David "Sarge" Dulwich, John Knox's former boss from their government contractor days, knows that Knox's cultural knowledge, combat skills, and sympathy for the abused make him right for the job. Joined by Grace Chu, whose more subtle skills for acquiring sensitive tech information help balance his improvisational style, Knox heads to Amsterdam in an attempt to dismantle the child labor operation and rescue the girls. In their way is a crime organization that has permeated the neighborhoods with goodwill, turning even the victims' parents against their would-be saviors. With enemies around every corner, Knox and Grace can't tell the good from the bad.
Six years ago, witness protection marshal Roland Larson did the unthinkable: he fell in love with a protected witness, Hope Stevens, whose testimony was to put away prominent members of the Romero crime family. When Hope's plan to "cut and run" is interrupted by both the government and the mob, she disappears into a new identity, taking with her not only her testimony but a secret never shared with Larson. Larson, who has been looking for her ever since, is put back on her trail when the Romeros intercept the master WITSEC list from the Justice Department and Hope is believed among the first protected witnesses to be targeted for execution. In a series of terrifying encounters, Larson matches wits with a brutally ingenious killer whose sole target is Hope Stevens. For Larson, the stakes couldn't be higher - he must find Hope in order to protect her, and simultaneously prevent the mob from auctioning off the master witness protection list - an act that will put seven thousand innocent, and not-so-innocent, lives in jeopardy. Taut and edge-of-the-seat compelling, Cut and Run is a unique thriller that skillfully blends romance and suspense - Ridley Pearson at his heart-pounding best.
What’s it like to awaken in Disneyland on Opening Day, 1955? The five teenagers—the Kingdom Keepers—have found out the hard way. While they search for a way back to present time and their families, a businessman bent on revenge enters the swamps of Louisiana in search of a witch doctor to help him destroy the new park.
Graveyards at night, mannequins coming to life, and a group of misfits bent on sabotaging the new theme park all challenge the isolated Kingdom Keepers in both present day and past. Thrown into a world where cell phones won’t be invented for thirty years, where flashlights are the size of blow-dryers, where every girl wears a dress and the boys coats and ties, the Kingdom Keepers are truly fish out of water.
Black magic proves itself as powerful a foe as any the Kingdom Keepers have ever faced. The past, though far more simple in so many ways, is still complicated and fraught with danger.
While relationships tighten and allegiances strengthen within the Kingdom Keepers, the challenges facing them threaten to undo the good they have worked so hard to preserve. As the threats to Disneyland increase, the Keepers begin to wonder: if they should ever figure out how to get back to the present, will there be a Disney at all? Or has everything they’ve worked for over the past many years dissolved, like the real-life ghosts shimmering before their eyes?
Little Scallop should be happy. She's a princess of the Mollusk tribe, rulers of beautiful Mollusk Island. And she has two fun friends - Aqua and Surf - who just happen to be mermaids. But Little Scallop is bored. Her warrior brothers are allowed to do exciting things, like spying on the pirates who live on the other side of the island. Little Scallop longs to have a real adventure. When Aqua and Surf invite her to go pearl-diving - even though she knows she shouldn't - she can't resist. So late one night, she sneaks off into forbidden waters with Aqua and Surf. That's when the trouble starts - they run into a fierce storm and a strange ship sailed by men who would love to capture a mermaid. Soon, Little Scallop is caught up in the adventure she always wanted. The question is: can she and her friends get out of it?
FBI agent Cameron Daggett has for years been on the trail of an international triggerman responsible for planting at least two nearly undetectable explosive devices on airplanes. When a strange murder takes place in a Seattle aircraft training installation, Daggett suspects that his nemesis is involved. The man who was murdered was a specialist in training pilots to fly the Duhning 959-600 - a new breed of ultra-sophisticated aircraft - and he was killed in a Duhning flight simulator. Was the killer trying to be taught to pilot one of these super jets? How is this connected to Daggett's recent discovery of sophisticated altitude detonators? Is Anthony Kort - Daggett's prey - about to strike again? Using the most intricate and complex forensic techniques, the aerodynamic and technical principles that make monster jets stay aloft, and sheer cop's reasoning - Daggett picks up Kort's trail. He is joined by forensic experts, aerodynamic engineers, and criminal psychologists - but it comes down to Daggett and Daggett alone to see the pattern in the seemingly endless technical detail, and stop a tragedy before it takes place. But Kort is smart, and driven by a motivation that Daggett cannot possibly understand. And when Daggett gets close, Kort makes it personal. Hard Fall is a breathlessly paced thriller, an intellectual and technical game of cat and mouse, and a modern classic of suspense fiction.
Sun Valley sheriff Walt Fleming's budding relationship with local photographer Fiona Kenshaw hits a rough patch after she is responsible for a heroic river rescue yet attempts to avoid the press. Despite her laudable actions, she begs Walt to help keep her photo out of the local paper. Confused by her protests, Walt thinks she's just being modest about her heroism. While Sun Valley is known as a billionaire's playground, Walt's job still keeps him grounded firmly in reality. One day he's rubbing elbows with political royalty; the next he's stepping over spilled jam jars while investigating the vandalism of a local home by a brown bear, and trying to find sitters for his twin daughters. He's dodging Fiona, chasing down criminals, and attending charity fund-raisers, feeling like he's leading a double life. It's at one charity benefit that a young woman he once rescued is convinced she has seen a ghost: her former captor, a man Walt watched die. Then Walt gets a phone call that changes everything: Lou Boldt, a legendary homicide sergeant out of Seattle, reports that a recent murder in his city may have a high-profile Sun Valley connection. Their shared search for information is soon complicated by the discovery of a body at the side of the valley's busiest road, not far from where the spooked young woman lives. A young woman who happens to be under the watchful care of Fiona. Walt and Boldt sense a connection - but are some cases better left in the cold-case file? Can Walt turn away from what seems an impossible truth? Can Boldt trick the suspect out into the open? Walt and Boldt begin to fit together the pieces of a terrifying puzzle - in the process putting themselves and everyone around them in harm's way.
Sun Valley, Idaho - playground of the wealthy and politically connected - is home to an annual wine auction that attracts high rollers from across the country, and Blaine County sheriff Walt Fleming must ensure it goes on without a hitch. The world's most elite wine connoisseurs have descended on Sun Valley to taste and bid on the world's best wines, including three bottles said to have been a gift from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. With sky-high prices all but guaranteed for these historic items, it's no wonder a group of thieves is out to steal them. Walt is responsible for all the security for the glitzy event, the safety of the dignitaries, the auction site, and the wines themselves. Walt is enjoying a rare afternoon of freedom, fly-fishing with his nephew Kevin, when a passing truck catches his eye - and his suspicions throw him headlong into the discovery of a complicated plan to steal the rare wine. When a bomb explodes just as the auction revs up, the investigation explodes as well, pulling Walt in a dozen different directions. He is caught in the middle of a heist of epic proportions - and not the heist he had prepared for - orchestrated by the ingenious mind of Christopher Cantell, a man who seems to have prepared for everything, including the way Walt's own sheriff's office will react. "In Sheriff Fleming, Pearson has created a likable, sympathetic protagonist, forever challenged by ferocious weather, a feisty citizenry, and feral criminal minds." - Booklist (starred review) on Killer View
When a skier goes missing at Sun Valley's Galena Summit, Sheriff Walt Fleming quickly assembles his crack Search and Rescue team and heads out into the snowy night. Despite the treacherous conditions, Walt and his group, including deputy Tommy Brandon and Walt's best friend, Mark Aker, set off on skis, accompanied by highly trained search dogs. Within minutes, something goes horribly wrong: one of their team is dead. By morning, Mark Aker has disappeared. Torn between professional responsibility and the desperate urge to find his friend, Walt is further challenged by an unexplained illness at a local water-bottling plant that sends workers to the hospital and sets off biohazard warnings. Following threads of questionable evidence through the glitter of Sun Valley leads Walt to an unlikely-and darker-source, and reveals a crime played out on a much larger scale than he originally envisioned. Waist-deep in snow and knee-deep in lies, the life of his friend in the balance, Walt begins to suspect that the whole operation is controlled by people of great wealth and power, which leaves him where he started: out in the cold. From adrenaline-charged start to explosive finish, Killer View is heart-stopping suspense at its very best. "A terrific villain, an appealing protagonist, and breakneck pacing. Ridley Pearson writes thrillers, the kind that try to yank you to the edge of your seat and keep you there." -Boston Sunday Globe "Ridley Pearson writes thrillers, the kind that try to yank you to the edge of your seat and keep you there." -Boston Sunday Globe
