Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Killer Weekend-Killer Weekend

Killer Weekend
Ridley Pearson
Putnam, Jul 2007, $24.95
ISBN 0399154078

Attorney General Elizabeth Shaler reflects back to eight years ago when she was a victim and almost killed when an intruder attacked her in her Sun Valley, Idaho vacation home. Only the efforts of a dedicated rookie cop Walt Fleming saved her life.

Walt’s excellent police work has been rewarded as he is the Sun Valley sheriff. However, he and his staff are preparing for a difficult weekend as Ms. Shaler, who is planning a run for the White House, has come to town to announce her intentions at an upper crust conference. Fleming is concerned that a hitman coming for Shaler has vanished off the radar screen when he should have been on the plane from Salt Lake City. Shaler’s security team and the zillionaire host scoff at Fleming’s paranoia; writing him off as a local rube trying to pretend he belongs with the big guys. Meanwhile assassin Milav Trevalian has usurped the identity of a Utah blind man he killed because he knows no one would expect a “blind” person to be the professional killer.

This is an exciting police procedural political thriller starring a likable dedicated hero who is treated with disdain by the “big boys and girls” and by his staff; one deputy believes the job should be his just like Fleming’s wife is apparently his. The motive why Trevalian’s employer wants Shaler dead is not provided with any depth, but most readers will not care as the action never stops. The audience will enjoy this fine tale starring an overworked sheriff struggling with a murder investigation, an animal cruelty case, the Shaler protection entanglement, and his ambitious treacherous deputy in what proves to be a lost KILLER WEEKEND.
Harriet Klausner

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