A brutal attack that leaves a young woman paralyzed is horrifying enough, but when it happens to one of Seattle police lieutenant Lou Boldt's own officers, and all the suspects wear the same uniform as the victim, it's much worse. The SPD has been struck by a not-very-mysterious case of the "blue flu," a labor dispute that's turned cop against cop. Frustrated by the work slowdown in the department, Boldt is working almost on his own, except for forensic psychologist Daphne Matthews and detective John LaMoia, familiar characters in Pearson's popular series (The Pied Piper, The First Victim). Despite not-so-veiled warnings from some of his colleagues, Lou is determined to unmask Maria Sanchez's attacker, even if it turns out to be a fellow cop. And if that's not enough, the piano-playing lieutenant with a devoted wife--and a lingering yen for his coworker Daphne--has to deal with a crime wave that's increasing every day as the blue flu fells more of the force.

Investigating a string of robberies, Lou and Daphne follow the evidence to a telemarketing operation in a Colorado prison and question an inmate who may have used inside information to set up the robberies for his brother in Seattle to carry out. When the inmate dies, his brother goes after Lou, who isn't sure who to blame when violence hits too close to home--the brother or the striking policemen. Middle of Nowhere isn't Pearson's best outing: the plot is thinner than usual and the pacing somewhat slower, although the detailed explanation of how to catch a criminal using new telecommunications technology is fascinating. Still, Lou Boldt is an always interesting character whose inner conflicts are well drawn and whose essential decency makes up for a lot. His understated romance with Daphne deepens in every new adventure; the real mystery is what's going to happen to the two of them. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
"Blue Flu" is running through the ranks of the Seattle Police Department, and life's not easy for the few cops who've chosen to buck the union and remain on the job. Among them is Lt. Lou Boldt, the relentless crime fighter and star of Pearson's outstanding series, whose loyalty to law and order tends to suck him into more than his share of life's complications. With 90% of the force calling in sick, Boldt has to shoulder an enormous caseload, yet a strange series of burglaries worries him the most. During one of the hits, a strikebreaking police officer was savagely attacked, her neck broken. When two other officers are mauled in similar fashion, and Boldt himself is badly beaten, a sickening prospect emerges: the cops who are on strike are retaliating against the cops still on the job. Yet it may not be that simple. Some of the crimes could be the handiwork of Bryce Abbot Flek, a crafty career criminal who has devised an ingenious method of coaxing people out of the homes he wants to burglarize. Along the way, Flek has also developed a searing hatred for Boldt, whom he holds responsible for the death of his brother, who was killed in prison shortly after a visit from the lieutenant. Pearson (The Pied Piper) never quite masters the intersection of these two disparate story lines, yet they eventually converge in a well-devised finale. This seventh Boldt thriller packs all of Pearson's usual wallop: it boasts simmering suspense, a plot with a level of detail that comes only from painstaking research, and dynamic chemistry between Boldt and his colleagues and family. Somewhat less effective is Pearson's latest stab at working current events into his books. His detailed explanation of how cell phones can be effective police tools fails to captivate and slows the story's otherwise torrid pace. 125,000 first printing; $300,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and Mystery Guild selections; audio rights to Brilliance; 11-city author tour. (June) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In his new Detective Lou Boldt thriller, Pearson (The First Victim) whisks the reader on a lightning-paced chase through the grisly sights and sounds of Seattle's seedy underbelly. With cops out on strike, burglaries are rampant; Boldt is among the loyal blues showing up to investigate the burglaries and a brutal attack on a female officer. When he and other cops are assaulted, he suspects that the strikers are warning them for not observing the walkout. Boldt's detective work leads him to a telemarketing prisoner in Denver and his volatile burglar brother, who is tied to criminal cop activity in Seattle. On a personal front, Boldt is drifting away from his noble wife, so it's no surprise when his love interest, police psychologist Daphne Matthews, has a kiss for him too tempting to resist. Readers will be riveted as Boldt's invigorating pursuit leads to a truly electrifying denouement. Highly recommended for all collections.DMolly Gorman, San Marino, CA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Just what is it about Ridley Pearson that makes him the best damn thriller writer on the planet? We've celebrated the forensic detail, the taut plotting, the multidimensional characters, and the screw-tightening suspense, but lots of fiction writers do all that. Here's a theory: Pearson is a master at manipulating opposites. His stories are forever jumping from high concept to small scale, from positive to negative charges, manipulating our emotions and minds with their polar hip-hopping. Take this latest example, in which Seattle police lieutenant Boldt and forensic psychologist Matthews must contend not only with a string of robbery assaults--one victim of which is a fellow officer--but also with the effects of a "blue flu" that has left the department seriously understaffed and riddled with internal conflict. We jump from marvelously detailed micromoments of forensic discovery--using triangulation to track the location of a cell-phone--to the high drama of a climactic shoot-out worthy of Peckinpah; from Boldt's ongoing, multileveled marital crisis, in which a raised eyebrow or a ringing telephone carry Jamesian levels of meaning, to a spectacularly choreographed chase scene in which a suspect is tracked across Seattle, on and off buses, in and out of shopping malls. This bipolar narration works not only between scenes but almost simultaneously within the same scene. Take the interchanges between Boldt and Matthews--utterly professional one moment, erotically charged the next, and with every moment holding the potential to become its opposite. That's the key, really: in a Pearson novel, there is no terra firma. He moves the ground from under his readers' feet more skillfully and more believably than any of his fellow writers. One of the reasons we like to read thrillers, after all, is that the terra in our own lives is altogether too firma. Pearson takes us to a very different place, but it is still a recognizably real place in which flesh-and-blood characters live lives that, at one pole at least, are quite like ours. But not for long. Bill Ott


Booklist
"Just what is it about Ridley Pearson that makes him the best damn thriller writer on the panet?"


USA Today
"Excitement quotient: high; technology details: intriguing."


Kirkus Reviews
"Master plotter, reliable thrills from a pro."


New York Post
" . . . Pearson is able to effortlessly intertwine several deatiled plot lines while still keeping his story firmly robed in reality."


Providence Sunday Journal
"Pearson . . . exposes the psychologicsl doubts and fears of his characters and keeps the plot racing from scene to scene."


Book Description
Known for his meticulous, fascinating research, as well as his ability to create exciting plot twists that inevitably, a month or two later, seem to have anticipated real-life headlines, Ridley Pearson has genered praise as a "master" of the suspense novel. In Middle of Nowhere, the "Blu Flu" has struck the Seattle Police force and a majority of the officers are on a unofficial strike, with the exception of a few, including Detective Lou Boldt, who is committed to the job. When a string of robberies and the brutal assault of a female cop rock the city, the pressure of isolation threatens Boldt's psyche and his marriage. With the help of psychologist Daphne Matthews and Sergeant John LaMoia, Boldt is able to make progress on both the assault and the robberies, but things soon spin out of control, and Bodt's refusal to drop the case puts his own life at risk. Filled with the fast-paced, spiraling action that has made Pearson's previous novels "irresistable" (Los Angeles Times Book Review) works of suspense that "grip the imagination" (People magazine), this offering from "the best thriller writer alive" (Booklist) is certain to keep the reader breathless.


Download Description
The “blue flu” has struck the Seattle police force and the majority of the officers are on an unofficial strike. Overworked and understaffed, Detective Lou Boldt is committed to remaining on the job no matter what. But when a string of robberies and the brutal near-murder of a female cop descend on the city, the pressure of being a nearly one-man operation threatens Boldt’s psyche and his marriage. With the help of police psychologist Daphne Matthews and Sergeant John LaMoia, Boldt is able to make slow progress cracking the case, and their work leads them to a Denver convict and his brother, a hardened criminal. Boldt and Daphne come to realize that the robberies, assaults, and strike are somehow connected—and that his life is now in very real danger. Filled with the fast-paced, spiraling action that makes Pearson’s novels “irrestistible” (LA Times Book Review) works of suspense that “grip the imagination” (People).


About the Author
Born in 1953, Ridley Pearson is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen prior novels, including The First Victim, The Pied Piper, Beyond Recognition Undercurrents, and Probable Cause. He was the first American to be awarded the Raymond Chandler/Fulbright Fellowship in Detective Fiction at Oxford University. His novel No Witnesses was selected by the ALA as one of the best works of fiction of 1994. Pearson and his wife, Marcelle, and their two daughters divide their time between the Midwest and the Northern Rockies.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

July 2000

Boldt: On the Road to Nowhere

Boldt is back! Everyone's favorite Seattle detective returns in Middle of Nowhere, the newest book by master thriller writer Ridley Pearson. The "Blue Flu" has annihilated the Seattle police force, and many officers are out on unofficial strike. Not, however, Lou Boldt. Despite the exhaustion brought on by overwork and lack of support, he's committed to staying on the job -- no matter what. As Boldt learns, however, life has a funny way of playing with you. When a string of robberies and the brutal near-murder of a female cop descend upon the city, the toll of being practically a one-man operation threatens to rupture not only Boldt's psyche but also his marriage. Joined by police psychologist Daphne Matthews and Sergeant John LaMoia, Boldt is able to make some progress cracking the case, slowly closing in on a Denver convict and his brother, a hardened criminal. But things spin out of control, putting Boldt's life in very real danger. From Ridley Pearson comes a roller-coaster ride through the spiraling, fast-paced action that has made Lou Boldt books such widespread successes. Leap into the latest book from "the best thriller writer alive"(Kirkus) -- or risk being left in the Middle of Nowhere.

SYNOPSIS

Filled with the fast-aced, spiraling action that makes Pearson's novels "irrestistible" (LA Times Book Review) works of suspense that "grip the imagination" (People)

FROM THE CRITICS

Jill M. Smith - Romantic Times

Immerse yourself into the brilliant storytelling of suspense master Ridley Pearson this is one author who never disappoints.

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

When the Seattle Police Force goes on strike, Detective Lou Boldt is determined to remain on the job no matter what. But as the pressure of being an essentially one-man operation heats up, his psyche and marriage are threatened. "Pearson pulls out all the stops in this suspense thriller - crooked cops, labor politics, and the three M's - menace, murder, and mayhem. This hyperkinetic novel twists and turns like a rollercoaster." "Electrifying." "Clear your calendar and then sit down to read this book."

USA Today

Excitement quotient: high; technology details: intriguing.

New York Post

. . . Pearson is able to effortlessly intertwine several deatiled plot lines while still keeping his story firmly robed in reality.

Providence Sunday Journal