The Body of Peter Hayes by
Ridley Pearson
pbk out June 04
(Orion)
at £10.99
An American cop story, this one based in Seattle, as it is part of the series
built around senior homicide detective Lou Boldt. His wife Liz is senior
bank executive and gets into very deep water because of an affair she had
some years previously with one of the company's computer whizz-kids. This
is a bit hard to credit, as this David Hayes is portrayed as real nerdy anorak.
The said nerd has just been released from jail, as he was convicted of hiding
away seventeen million dollars at the expense of the bank by some computer
sleight of hand; the money belonged to the boss of the Seattle chapter of the
Russian mafia, who now wants his cash back. Hayes gets his fingernails
pulled out by the mafiosa to persuade him to cough up the computer programme, but they
need Liz to get access to the main-frames in the bank, as an impending
merger will wipe out the last chance of recovering the loot.
She is blackmailed with a compromising video and her cop husband has to
double-cross his own colleagues to get her and their children off the hook
from Russian reprisals.
The plot eventually becomes too tortuous for me to follow, with several law
enforcement agencies competing with each other, and people swapping
clothes in cinema toilets during a 'sing-along' of Sound of Music'.
The writing is highly competent, but rather dry and humourless, even for a
thriller - but there is a high level of tension and excitement which makes for
a compelling read, even if you don't really understand what the hell's going
on half the time!
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
The Body of Peter Hayes by
Ridley Pearson
