This was my first Ridley Pearson book, and Beyond Recognition made me an instant fan! This book was first published back in 1997, so I am a little behind the times in reading it. It has been sitting on my shelf for ages, the result of a missed "decline shipment" deadline for the Mystery Guild. I picked it up because it has been a while since I have read a mystery. It was a terrific book.
The book is about a detective on the hunt for an arsonist that is using some unknown accelerant for his fires. The accelerant used burns everything fast and super hot. Like the accelerant, this book is fast paced and interesting for the whole ride. The supporting characters are fantastic and compliment the storyline nicely. Enough scientific and forensic detail is given to make the story believable and very interesting, but not so much that the reader doesn't understand or gets bored. There is a subplot that involves the complex relationships of this married cop, and his struggles to balance work and life.
I found that the author is very good at using his language to set the pace. When the detective, or another character is being contemplative or things are moving slower, the language used and sentence structure takes the reader at a slower pace. When the action picks up and time is racing, the language changes and the sentences are more clipped. This causes the reader to speed up their pace, too.
This book was a real page turner. I am a fan of Ridley Pearson now and look forward to reading another of his novels. This book was great as a stand alone, but it turns out this is the 4th book in a series about the detective, Lou Boldt. I plan on getting the other books in this series out of the library so I can catch up on Detective Boldt's life. When I finished the book, I wanted more. I am very glad that I can have it! There are 9 total novels in this series and according to Ridley Pearson's website, another is due out next year.
Happy Reading!
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