Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker
William Morrow, October, 2004Hardcover, 384 pages
ISBN: 0060562366
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
T. Jefferson Parker mines the dark depths of passion, politics,
and sibling rivalry in this gripping police procedural set mostly
in 1968 Southern California. Nick Becker is one of four brothers,
and a fledgling homicide detective. His first case is to investigate
the brutal killing of the beautiful Janelle Vonn, the younger of two
sisters that the Beckers have known all their lives. Nick's brother
Clay has been killed in Vietnam, his brother David is a preacher who
ministered to Janelle and Andy Becker is an investigative journalist
for the Orange County Journal. Ever since an incident in their childhood,
when the Becker brothers bested the Vonn brothers in a showdown at the
SunBlesst Oranges packinghouse in Tustin, California, the Beckers
have tried to look out for the younger Janelle, who had a tough life.
When she is found murdered, each of the brothers starts his own investigation,
taking the reader through a maze of politics, family secrets, drugs and
violence. The past refuses to stay buried, and the more the brothers investigate,
the more dangerous life becomes.
T. Jefferson Parker takes readers back to 1968 and all the currents that were swirling on the political landscape. Richard Nixon, the John Birch Society, the CIA, Timothy Leary, LSD -- they all show up in perfectly written cameos that add texture and realism to the story. Parker has a gift for dialogue and setting: his characterizations ring true. Absorbing, atmospheric, violent, and evocative, California Girl is T. Jefferson Parker's best work yet.
--Claire E. White
Ice Run by Steve Hamilton
Thomas Dunne Books, June, 2004Hardcover, 320 pages
ISBN: 0312301219
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
This sixth entry in the bestselling Alex McKnight series finds
Alex in a heap of trouble. For one thing, he has fallen like
a ton of bricks for Natalie Reynaud, the Canadian cop from
Blood in the Sky. But Alex's friends are less than
thrilled with the situation and warn him against the romance.
But Alex, hard-headed as people tend to be in these situations,
books a romantic weekend away with Natalie, who is on leave from
the Ontario Provincial Police. A cryptic note in an old
Homburg hat left outside their hotel room by a mysterious elderly
man that seemed to be shadowing the couple
raises Alex's hackles and his cop's instincts. The note says,
"I know who you are" but Natalie is less than forthcoming about
the mystery. His investigation plunges him
deep in the local history and the enmity that exists between
two families. Leon Prudell, his former partner in the PI business
helps Alex out, but it's not enough to save Alex from a brutal beating.
Meanwhile, things with Natalie aren't going so well. In fact,
his love life seems to be as cold as the subzero winters in
Michigan's Upper Peninsula where Alex lives.
Steve Hamilton has a lean prose style which works especially well for this gripping crime story which has more than a does of noir. The setting of the U.S.- Canadian border in winter provides the perfect backdrop for the fast-paced action and believable characters who inhabit this literate crime thriller.
--Claire E. White
The Pearl Diver by Sujata Massey
HarperCollins, August, 2004Hardcover, 352 pages
ISBN: 0066212960
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Japanese-American antique dealer and designer
Rei Shimura leads a very intriguing life indeed.
After being banned from returning to Japan in the
last book (The Samurai's Daughter), Rei has
finally moved in with the fiancé, Scottish attorney
Hugh Glendinning who works in Washington, D. C.
But Rei is certainly not content to sit around
Hugh's apartment planning her wedding. An introduction
from her chic cousin Kendall Johnson to the owner of a hot new Asian restaurant
called Bento leads to a job decorating the restaurant.
Rei makes friends (and enemies) quickly, and soon is embroiled
in the life of Andrea, the beautiful but aloof hostess, who asks Rei to
help her find her Japanese war-bride mother who disappeared in
the U.S. when Andrea was just a little girl. Then Rei's
Aunt Norie arrives from Japan to help plan Rei's wedding, throwing
Hugh's household into chaos (he has to move out, for one thing).
Sujata Massey expertly weaves together the poignant story of a missing Japanese bride who married a U.S. serviceman in Vietnam, the backstory of an ambitious and charismatic U.S. senator, and the ongoing angst of Rei's love life into a fascinating mystery which whets one's appetite for the next book.
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