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COLD PURSUIT
by T. Jefferson Parker
Hyperion, April 2003
372 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0786868058


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

At 84 years old, Pete Braga has amassed more than his share of enemies, both professionally and personally. When he's found bludgeoned to death in his own home, there are no shortage of suspects. He's been on the winning end of some nasty business deals. He's left certain members of his family out of his will. He's been involved in some key projects that have huge political and financial ramifications. The person that seems most likely to be involved in the murder is Pete's nurse, a very attractive younger woman by the name of Sally Rainwater who Pete fell in love with and to whom he had given several valuable gifts.

Detective Tom McMichael is assigned to investigate the case, and he's not necessarily the optimal person to fill that role. Many years earlier, McMichael's grandfather had served as a hand on one of Pete's tuna boats. According to family legend, he had been treated unfairly and not been paid for his work on one of their outings. When he raised the issue, Pete shot him. Subsequently, Pete's own son, Victor, was brutally beaten by an unknown person, rumored to be Tom's father, and left permanently damaged mentally as a result. To say that there's bad blood between the families is an understatement.

Tom quickly eliminates Sally Rainwater as a suspect, at least in his own mind, and rather unwisely becomes involved with her. He's been on his own for a while, coming through a divorce that he doesn't quite understand and living mostly for the moments that he is able to be with his 7-year-old son, Johnny. As the investigation proceeds, Sally falls into the spotlight again when various of Pete's valuables are found in her home, and she ends up in jail.

Sally doesn't exactly have a squeaky clean past, but there are other folks in the picture who have convincing motives for doing Pete in. There are his various family members who believed that he was going to change his will to Sally's favor. There are the political committemen and entrepreneurs who may have been negatively impacted by some of the things that Pete was supporting to their detriment. McMichael is a fair and honest detective who is able to put the family events into the background to figure out just who the real villain is in this situation.

Parker has done a good job with the characterization in this book, making each of the participants believable and well formed. In particular, McMichael is interestingly portrayed, as we see beyond his police persona and into his role as a father and son. The "mystery" itself was not very complex and fairly easy to figure out. The resolution was just a bit implausible, particularly the outcome of a suspenseful scene involving McMichael and the villain(s).

I enjoyed spending time with Tom McMichael and hope that perhaps Cold Pursuit is the first in a series rather than a pure standalone.

Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, March 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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