Rating: 
Summary: A Story with T U T
Review: Parker acknowledges he was inspired by Jonathan Lethem and "Silent Joe" has the good feel of "Motherless Brooklyn". Parker's version of Lionel Essrog is Joe Trona whose father splashed him with acid at age nine months. Orange County political heavyweight Will Trona and his wife Mary Ann adopt five-year-old Joe. At age twenty-four Joe is as tough as nails, ugly as sin, nice as can be, man of his word, deputy sheriff, county jail guard and man Friday for his adoptive father.Will takes Joe on a mission of mercy to pick up eleven-year-old Savannah who was either kidnapped by her brother Alex or is fleeing their evil father, billionaire developer Jack Blazak. Five Cobra Kings attack them and Will is killed. The supporting cast is great. Blazak and Carl Rupaski, the corrupt Transportation Authority chief, want to sell an unproftable toll road back to the county. Reverend Daniel Alter is a big time TV evangelist who's been caught with the ex-maid now light hooker who is later beaten up and run over by a Chevy Suburban. Bo Warren, the Semper Fi security guy in a red and white '63 Vette, works for Rev. Dan and Blazak and is on the fringe of everything selazy. Radio babe June Dauer gets it on with Joe introducing wild and romantic interests into his otherwise celibate life. Add in the Vietnamese gangbangers, accused cop killer Sammy Nguyen, his girlfriend Bernadette Lee and John Gaylen the Cobra Kings leader and Parker has a great assortment to build a story around. Joe figures out how these lives weave together and the story builds to a great conclusion. In the end we get a bitter-sweet view of Charlotte Wample, Joe's biological mother. What ever else she was, she must have had what Will Trona called "TUT", that unknown thing that makes certain women irresistable. Great characters and a great story!
Rating: 
Summary: Facades, faith, fathers and fast cars
Review: Parker is at the top of his game in this interesting tale of a scarred son hunting the killer of his adoptive father. Scars can be inside, as this young man painfully learns, and they can be far uglier than those acid burns he carries. A different pace and view for Parker and his best work in a while.
Rating:
Summary: Shouts and Raves for Silent Joe!
Review: Parker takes a rest from Merci Rayborn and introduces us to a Deputy in Orange County...SILENT JOE. People have trouble looking him in the face because it was scarred in very early childhood. He lived in a home until he was five and then was adopted by Will and Mary Ann Trona,wonderful and loving parents. Joe worked in the jail during the day and at night was side-kick-albeit silent- to his father's nightime business. Will told Joe to look around,keep an eye out and be quiet. He also told him to always be polite.He always said sir even if he was kicking you into submission. All of these things he did and did them well. Then one night while trying to save a kidnapped girl and in a dark alleyway; cars surround them; and Will, his father, gets out and approaches a man who says,"Ah Will...Will Trona" and murders his father. From then on it is a search for that voice, the murderers; a search for his real mother and a search for real love and affection. a search which will lead him to hearing at night.."Ah Joe....Joe Trona!" A powerfully plotted mystery within a mystery .... a careful unwinding and skillful and well-planned ending...clearly etched characters..all these will keep you turning page after page...and then you will wish you hadn't read it yet so you could start all over. A definite keeper for my library!
Rating:
Summary: Everyone has scars, some on the inside, some on the outside
Review: Parker's new novel has all the qualities of what I tell my writing students qualifies as good literature: (1) a world so real the reader becomes a part of it and forgets that he is reading; (2) a plot so compelling and seamless that the reader is carried on its current; (3) characters complex and real enough that the reader believes he knows them personally and can learn from their triumphs and failures; and (4) a life-changing but undefinable quality that leaves the reader at the end a better person than before he read the book. I have followed Parker's writing since his first novel, Laguna Heat (actually, I was in one of the same writing seminars he was in at the MFA program at UCI in the early-mid 1970s, but neither of us was grown up at the time). I thought then that he had the potential to become one of the best mainstream novelists in America, and Silent Joe continues to confirm my estimation. I waited until the weekend to begin the book because I knew I wouldn't be able to put it down, and I was almost right. When I got within 50 pages of the end, I set the book down, cleaned the house, washed the dishes, checked my e-mail and played 50 games of double free cell so that I wouldn't have to finish the story. Then I picked it up again and finished. What a triumph! What a wonderful story! I can't think of what could be criticized in any major way -- plot, setting, rhythm, vocabulary, characterization, theme, descriptions, dialogue, -- all of it is superb. And I will "steal" some of the best lines like how Joe described his reaction to June, the radio journalist he was "attracted to" -- "My heart started thumping like a washing machine with a bad leg."
Rating:
Summary: The Acid Orphan
Review: SILENT JOE by Jefferson Parker This is a writer who was a new discovery for me. Jefferson Parker's good, actually for this book he was better than good. This is the story of an orphan, Joe Trona who grew into a very capable, polite and to the people who knew him a very agreeable, if disfigured figure. His natural father threw acid into his face when he was an infant and his mother left him at the same time. The traumatic experience shaped Joe's life from that point on. He was known as the 'acid baby' for a long time. Will and Mary Ann Trona adopted him when he was five in spite of his dreadfully scared face. Joe started out worshiping his adopted parents.
Later, after schooling, when he was 20 Will got Joe a job as a deputy for the county Police Force. He worked a five-year probation as a guard in the jail before they would let him become what he considered a real police patrolman. Meanwhile he eared a black belt in self-defense along with several medals in handgun use. As soon as he earned his drivers license he became Will's driver, confidant and bodyguard. He was a 24 year old, large in size and in good condition, and looked dangerous. People were careful when said around him. Will, his adopted father was murdered while Joe was with him. Joe loved his father and felt responsible in spite of killing two of the murders out of the five who were there when Will was killed. He devoted the remainder of his time to finding the people who had contracted for the murder of his father and preformed that murder. Joe used a lot of the police lore like finding fingerprints that Will had taught him. He was a very fast driver and was curious as to how the killers knew where he was taking Will. He found a small transmitter affixed to the underside of the car that he used to drive Will to some of his assignments. From this small beginning and his photographic memory he slowly put the case together to find his father's murders and the multitude of people that were implicated. Joe is very quiet and concentrated as an investigator. His quest for justice makes an excellent book. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. ...
Rating:
Summary: Bittersweet story of love and loyalty
Review: Silent Joe develops the flawed and unlikely hero that T. Jefferson Parker features in all his novels. This time, however, the character is not as easy to relate to as his other central characters. Joe does not feel as well-rounded, I think in part because the writing is more terse than in Parker's previous works. A few more words could have softened Joe into someone we can all identify with and learn from. This is the reason for 4 stars instead of 5. Parker delivers all of his good stuff in this book: fast pace, shifting values, people who are not what they seem, and satisfying resolution of pressing questions. The ending was more predictable than some of his others, but I wouldn't have it end any other way, so it is forgivable. All of his other works have been enjoyable. Parker writes books that are both intellectually and emotionally appealing to all lovers of the mystery/thriller genre.
Rating:
Summary: Keeps you guessing
Review: Silent Joe keeps his secrets until the end in both the main plotline and the secondary plot. But when he speaks, it's as clear as the baptismal waters he always seeks. Joe Trona is achingly charming without being conscious of his charm. When he gives a gift of rubies to a woman he's just met, he doesn't realize it's way over the top until she gently tells him. This is my favorite kind of mystery, where I cheer the hero on, believing in what he believes in. Joe inherits Travis McGee's knight-errant legacy and does him proud.
Rating: 
Summary: Another reason I'll never move to california
Review: Started off interesting with fast-paced writing, then began to get repetitive. Joe had very little personality and the ease at which hot babes became attracted to him was totally unrealistic. In real life, hot chicks stay away from men with badly burned faces. Another annoyance was how every single women character introduced was "attractive". Every one. It's possible this was intentional on Parker's part, maybe everyone DOES appear attractive to Joe when he compares them to himself, but it annoyed me anyway. Also annoying was the "liberal" california feel of the book: white rich men bad; poor latin people good or misunderstood. Like many others, I'm tired of liberalism. Yaaaawn. Silent Joe is enormously overrated. I was disappointed given the rave reviews.
Rating:
Summary: PARKER WRITES ANOTHER FASCINATING WINNER!
Review: T. Jefferson Parker can write! That's all there is to it. All of his novels are wonderful complex stories of mystery and suspense. I believe that "Silent Joe" was his best novel! Almost all of Mr. Parker's novels take place in Southern California, which is also enjoyable. The plot: Joe Trona is politician Will Trona's personal assistant and son. Will and Joe are on the way to pick up Savannah Blazak, who was kidnapped by her brother, Alex, and held for ransom until Savannah and Alex's parents pay Alex. They called in Will Trona to drop off the money. While getting out of his car, Will is confronted by a group of about four people who shoot Will dead. Savannah hears the shot and runs away, while Alex disappears. Joe Trona is determined to figure out who killed his father and get Savannah back. Who is the criminal? Is it crime boss and head of a major gang John Gaylen? Is it Bo Warren the Blazak's personal guard? Could it be Mr. Rupaski another politican who holds a grudge against Will? Joe is determined to find out, even if it means killing!
Rating:
Summary: One of Parker's best
Review: T. Jefferson Parker has come out with around ten novels, all mysteries set in Orange County, California. They have all been good reads, and this one is no different in that respect. What is different and makes this one stands out is the principal character, a deputy (Joe) whose physical scars are not as bad as the ones he carries within. Unlike most of Parker's novels, this one is written in the first person; this is important, since this story is as much about the character as the mystery. Although Joe is always very civil and restrained, there is always something boiling under the surface. The tension that is within Joe adds to the suspense and makes this novel stand out from Parker's other books. I'm not alone in noticing that this book is exceptional; just recently, it won an LA Times book award for best mystery and it has received other praise as well. If you are a Parker fan or a mystery fan in general, this is well worth the effort of reading.
| 
