T. Jefferson Parker - California Girl (2004)
T. Jefferson Parker is one of the best of the lesser-known crime fiction writers, a status bound to change if he keeps producing such standout works as California Girl.
This latest effort from the Edgar Award-winning author of Silent Joe is a brilliant, epic story of the growth of Southern California from orange groves to sprawling suburbia. It focuses on a trio of brothers and their often troubled journey through life.
When one of the brothers, on his first case as a homicide detective, is assigned to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, all their lives are turned upside down along with those of many others in their tight-knit community.
Parker has produced a masterpiece filled with intriguing, multi-dimensional characters, an enthralling, sweeping plot and some of the finest writing you'll ever read, inside the genre or out.
It is everything Dennis Lehane's Mystic River tried to be, but wasn't. Publishers try to promote books with statements like "If you read only one mystery novel this year, this should be it!" In the case of California Girl, it's absolutely true.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
Comments
Good
Posted by: Ameka | Jan 28, 2005 5:25:23 PM
