Rating: 
Summary: What Happened?
Review: I have been a fan of T. Jefferson Parker since his first book. All of his books are real page turners. This one is slow, with characters that I didn't like. Silent Joe is too polite and predictable. Too much of the story takes place in his mind. I hope his next book is better.
Rating: 
Summary: A character so simple and so complicated at the same time.
Review: I just read T. Jefferson Parker's new book "Silent Joe". What a great book! I've read his other books and enjoyed them, but this one is even better. While it's called a mystery it's really much more. It's the story of a young man who was horribly scarred as an infant by an abusive father, abandoned by his mother and raised in an institution for the early years of his life. As a young sheriff's deputy he witnesses the murder of the man who adopted him and becomes determined to find the killer. Along the way he finds his past and his future. The book is remarkable for it's ability to take you into Joe's mind. You feel his thought process, you feel his pain and see how even bad experiences can result in a good man. I found myself trying to read slowly to savor the words. Days later I can't stop thinking about it. I still think the only bad part was that it had to end.
Rating:
Summary: A character so simple and so complicated at the same time.
Review: I just read T. Jefferson Parker's new book "Silent Joe". What a great book! I've read his other books and enjoyed them, but this one is even better. While it's called a mystery it's really much more. It's the story of a young man who was horribly scarred as an infant by an abusive father, abandoned by his mother and raised in an institution for the early years of his life. As a young sheriff's deputy he witnesses the murder of the man who adopted him and becomes determined to find the killer. Along the way he finds his past and his future. The book is remarkable for it's ability to take you into Joe's mind. You feel his thought process, you feel his pain and see how even bad experiences can result in a good man. I found myself trying to read slowly to savor the words. Days later I can't stop thinking about it. I still think the only bad part was that it had to end.
Rating:
Summary: Silent Joe: Edgar Award winner???
Review: I liked this book but found some components .....undigestable. The characters are inconsistent and unbelievable. We have an eleven year old child who reacts/speaks like an adult. She is abused yet has no fear of strange places or strangers, has the presence of mind to go to a rendevous point in an unfamiliar neighborhood in the middle of a shoot-out, and is non-plussed by being on the run with her crazy brother. She somehow sends postcards out of concern for Joe.
Joe adores a father who puts him in dangerous situations, using him as security and treating him like hired help. His father is a womanizer. Under normal circumstances I believe Joe would feel torn because he supposedly loves his mother. Political intrigue, shoot-outs, 100+mph driving etc, are not usually activities loving parents reserve for their children.
Joe is an incredible contradiction. He seems confused enough about good/bad to give large amounts of money to estranged family members, has respect for the woman who helped set his father up to be murdered, and misses a cop-killer he no longer guards in prison.
In addition, this book takes PC to an extreme level where Joe looks like a fool instead of a crusader. This book seemed a little agenda oriented - even for a Northern Californian. Lastly, there were some twists but Joe lives in an extremely small world. They end exactly where the reader thinks they will.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I read some of T. Jefferson Parker's books in the past and none of them have made any impact with me. SILENT JOE is his best novel and I am glad that it got the Edgar nomination for Best Novel of the Year. This is the story of Joe Trona, a young man working as a jailer and as a jack-of-all-trades for Will Trona, his adoptive father as well as a local politician. When Joe was a baby his father physically disfigured him by throwing acid on his face. Due to the physical abuse he is separated from his family and put in a group home. Several years later he makes the acquaintance of Will Trona and his wife and is adopted shortly thereafter. Joe is very happy with his life, he has a job he likes, owns his home, and loves his family. Unfortunately at the beginning of the novel, his adoptive father is murdered right in front of him and he is going to do everything in his power to find out whom had his father killed and what was his motive. Mr. Parker does an excellent job in showing Joe's innocence and naivete. This does not make the main character any weaker but stronger. He is always true to himself and will not do anything that it is out of character for him. He is trustworthy and very loyal. In this book there is a lot of supporting characters that help enhance the story line. This book is well written and I hope to see more of it in the future. I hope the author decides to bring Joe Trona back in a new novel or a short story. For someone who did not like Parker's previous work, I am looking forward to his next book.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't live up to reviews
Review: I was very disappointed with this book and shocked that it was an Edgar Award winner. From the reviews I expected a first rate mystery but I could never really get on board with "Joe." I found the narrator's (joe) voice stilted and awkward, his train of thought difficult to follow. The scenes were choppy and disconnected. It wasn't until page 133 that I was even marginally interested in the plot. The plot line was unique and compelling but Joe was not. I never connected with the characters (translated: I didn't care.) I was constantly annoyed by the cadence and lyric and didn't really enjoy one moment of the book. ... I would not recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't live up to reviews
Review: I was very disappointed with this book and shocked that it was an Edgar Award winner. From the reviews I expected a first rate mystery but I could never really get on board with "Joe." I found the narrator's (joe) voice stilted and awkward, his train of thought difficult to follow. The scenes were choppy and disconnected. It wasn't until page 133 that I was even marginally interested in the plot. The plot line was unique and compelling but Joe was not. I never connected with the characters (translated: I didn't care.) I was constantly annoyed by the cadence and lyric and didn't really enjoy one moment of the book. ... I would not recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Too silent Joe
Review: I will not write a lot about the plot in this review, since other reviewers have done it much better. I will instead explain why I only gave 3 too this book, a book which I wanted to like and had great hopes for. The plot is fairly good, and manages to avoid the more common cliches in the thriller/crime genre. My problem is with the protagonist himself, Silent Joe, who I find unlikely and unlikable. A young man who is the living version of the expression "speak softly but carry a big stick", he is like some parody of masculinity. Uniform job, three black belts, crack shot, dutiful soldier, silent and brooding. Always quietly polite, but roughs up anyone who is impolite to him in turn, or to the ladies. A breathless "wow" from one woman informs us that he is well hung, and thank god the scarred face saves him from being handsome or anything effeminate like that. Having acid thrown in your face, abandoned by your parents and being called the Acid Baby as you grow up probably won't make you the friendliest or most outgoing person. But the inner torment, rage and insecurity which I would imagine would go with having a history like that doesn't seem to be quite present in Silent Joe. Perhaps, as some other reviewers have suggested, the author tries to show that this isn't necessarily so, and that a completely good person can come from evil beginnings. Unfortunately, to me Joe doesn't comes off as being good, but rather unlikable and dull. I have put this book away for a while and will try to read it again later. Perhaps it turns out I have missed a lot and will find a real gem. But until then the 3 rating remains.
Rating:
Summary: The best yet by Parker!
Review: I've read every book that T Jefferson Parker has written and like them all, my favorite being Where Serpents Lie. So I picked up Silent Joe last year when it came out in hardcover. I began reading it and could not get into it. I read about twenty pages and then gave up on it and read something else. I needed something to read last week and decided to give Silent Joe a second chance. I could not put it down this time aound. It is one of the best mysteries I've ever read. Joe Trona is the most likeable detectives I've read. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy this book for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: T. Jefferson Parker at his best
Review: If you haven't read T. Jefferson Parker, you're in for a treat. If you have, you'll want to read this one--it's a definite winner. At four, Joe Trona was burned by acid, then adopted by Will and Mary Ann. Now, 24, he is a Deputy Sheriff and helps Will with little things like driving him between meetings, bugging offices, and dropping off ransom money. Will is on his way to pick up a kidnapping victim when gunmen open fire, killing him. Joe feels responsible and vows to bring 'justice.' Of course, justice is a tricky concept. Will was involved in blackmail and definitely dirty politics in Orange County, CA. Joe won't be able to protect his father's memory and still send his killers to jail. Certainly he has no end of opportunities to get rich quick, though, if he will back off. Too many of his father's old political allies and enemies had reason to fear Will, reason to kill him. T. Jefferson Parker writes a fast-paced story. He deftly weaves together several mysteries--the murder, the kidnapping, an apparently accidental death of a maid, and develops Joe as a complex and believable character. Not many books make me want to call in sick to work just so I can finish them. I can't tell you how tempted I was to do just this with this fine novel.
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