Rating: 
Summary: A New Hero from T. Jefferson Parker
Review: T. Jefferson Parker has given us another hero to root for and one whom I hope he will bring back from time to time so that we can find out he is doing.Joe Trona is a quite remarkable young man. Scarred for life by a psychotic father while still a baby in his crib, Joe is later adopted by Will Trona and his wife. Growing up in their loving home, along with the natural children of the Tronas, Joe finds all the emotional, physical and financial support he would never have known had he remained with his natural parents. After graduating from college, Joe joins the Orange County, CA Sheriff's Department just like his adopted father had. As a young man growing up, Joe developed exceptional skills with firearms and unarmed combat through the martial arts. Because of these skills and the fact that he possessed the extra authority imbued by his Sheriff Department's badge, he has served as the "back-up" to his father, Will. After retiring from the Sheriff's Department, the elder Trona turned to politics and his wife's financial status of independent wealth permitted him to run for county-wide office. During his political career, the elder Trona made many enemies through his battles against over-development. If ever there was a man in government who could be found to stand in the way of further development of the Orange County countryside, it was Will Trona. In his battles against the wealthy and powerful, Trona takes his son along and provides him with first hand experience and a bird's eye view of his personal method of doing business. But relatively early in this fast-paced novel, Will Trona is gunned down in front of his son and the 24 year old deputy sheriff decides to revenge his beloved father. What I always find exceptional about Mr. Parker's novels is the consistent ability he shows in description of time, place, atmosphere and the personalities of the people he creates as characters for his novels. SILENT JOE is no exception and held me hard and fast from first page to last. While showing a potential for violence, Joe Trona also has a side that is softer and needs nurturing. While his parents have shown that to him while he became a part of their family, his face, so badly scarred by acid leaves him a perennial social outcast. To cover the side most scarred, he wears a brimmed hat. But the technique also calls attention to himself, especially in southern California, where the sun is ever present. In addition, his case, which received widespread press coverage while he was a child and during his father's trial is well remembered by many who know his family through his adopted father's political career. Parker keeps the interest level high as he introduces a possible kidnapping into the equation, one where Joe is asked to serve as a go-between for a wealthy developer, whose youngest daughter has turned up as a "guest" of her older brother. Throughout the detective work, the revenge seeking and the general plot development, Parker introduces people who turn out to be less than they appear at first meeting. Almost all of them have one or more fatal flaws that result in the reader siding with Joe Trona. This ability, to create less than sympathetic main characters, while providing even more vile key role players is what I like about Parker's novel. And again, his well-developed ability to describe, in some cases, with a minimal use of words, the atmosphere being discussed is what keeps me coming back for more of his novels. I really came to admire Joe Trona for his singleminded devotion to avenging the death of his father. Parker paints a full-fledged hero for us and despite the fact that Joe Trona is not without his own faults, he grows into his role as a man, a police officer and as a fully realized human being. Jeff Parker has created an admirable and likeable hero in SILENT JOE. I enjoyed this book immensely and I only hope that Mr. Parker has the good sense to bring Joe Trona back for more adventures in Orange County.
Rating:
Summary: A New Hero from T. Jefferson Parker
Review: T. Jefferson Parker has given us another hero to root for and one whom I hope he will bring back from time to time so that we can find out he is doing. Joe Trona is a quite remarkable young man. Scarred for life by a psychotic father while still a baby in his crib, Joe is later adopted by Will Trona and his wife. Growing up in their loving home, along with the natural children of the Tronas, Joe finds all the emotional, physical and financial support he would never have known had he remained with his natural parents. After graduating from college, Joe joins the Orange County, CA Sheriff's Department just like his adopted father had. As a young man growing up, Joe developed exceptional skills with firearms and unarmed combat through the martial arts. Because of these skills and the fact that he possessed the extra authority imbued by his Sheriff Department's badge, he has served as the "back-up" to his father, Will. After retiring from the Sheriff's Department, the elder Trona turned to politics and his wife's financial status of independent wealth permitted him to run for county-wide office. During his political career, the elder Trona made many enemies through his battles against over-development. If ever there was a man in government who could be found to stand in the way of further development of the Orange County countryside, it was Will Trona. In his battles against the wealthy and powerful, Trona takes his son along and provides him with first hand experience and a bird's eye view of his personal method of doing business. But relatively early in this fast-paced novel, Will Trona is gunned down in front of his son and the 24 year old deputy sheriff decides to revenge his beloved father. What I always find exceptional about Mr. Parker's novels is the consistent ability he shows in description of time, place, atmosphere and the personalities of the people he creates as characters for his novels. SILENT JOE is no exception and held me hard and fast from first page to last. While showing a potential for violence, Joe Trona also has a side that is softer and needs nurturing. While his parents have shown that to him while he became a part of their family, his face, so badly scarred by acid leaves him a perennial social outcast. To cover the side most scarred, he wears a brimmed hat. But the technique also calls attention to himself, especially in southern California, where the sun is ever present. In addition, his case, which received widespread press coverage while he was a child and during his father's trial is well remembered by many who know his family through his adopted father's political career. Parker keeps the interest level high as he introduces a possible kidnapping into the equation, one where Joe is asked to serve as a go-between for a wealthy developer, whose youngest daughter has turned up as a "guest" of her older brother. Throughout the detective work, the revenge seeking and the general plot development, Parker introduces people who turn out to be less than they appear at first meeting. Almost all of them have one or more fatal flaws that result in the reader siding with Joe Trona. This ability, to create less than sympathetic main characters, while providing even more vile key role players is what I like about Parker's novel. And again, his well-developed ability to describe, in some cases, with a minimal use of words, the atmosphere being discussed is what keeps me coming back for more of his novels. I really came to admire Joe Trona for his singleminded devotion to avenging the death of his father. Parker paints a full-fledged hero for us and despite the fact that Joe Trona is not without his own faults, he grows into his role as a man, a police officer and as a fully realized human being. Jeff Parker has created an admirable and likeable hero in SILENT JOE. I enjoyed this book immensely and I only hope that Mr. Parker has the good sense to bring Joe Trona back for more adventures in Orange County.
Rating:
Summary: New Character for Parker
Review: T. Jefferson Parker is one of the better detective novelists around right now. One of the interesting things about him is the Orange County locales he uses, which are pretty much unique to him (Robert Ray used to use them a few years ago, but he appears to have stopped writing) and which he describes wonderfully. It's apparent he lived in Orange County, though the back of the book says he lives in Fallbrook, down by San Diego, currently. Here, the main character, Joe Trona, is very unusual, a young sherriff's deputy in OC whose father horribly scarred him as a child, so that his face is horribly disfigured. He's been adopted and raised by a local deputy turned politician and his wife, even though they already have children of their own, and he's now his father's gofer, driver, and bodyguard. When a mysterious meeting goes horribly wrong, and his father's killed in a murky shootout, Joe must work to find out what happened, and try and fix what went wrong. We see everything through the eyes of this wounded individual, and it's interesting. There's also shootouts, fights, and romance, along with lore of the jail where Joe works as a guard. This is probably Parker's best novel in some time, to my mind anyway. I did like the Merci Rayborn books (he's about to release a third one) but I think this one's better.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS MR. PARKER'S BEST NOVEL TO DATE!!!
Review: T. Jefferson Parker just keeps getting better and better with each novel. In his newest book, SILENT JOE, the reader is introduced to Joe Trona (a.k.a. Acid Baby), a deputy for the Orange County Sheriff Department, a bodyguard for his adoptive father, Will, and a man who was horribly disfigured by his real father as an infant. Needless to say, Joe has had to overcome adversity. He smart, tough, a trained martial artist, and a crack shot with a .45 automatic. He also deeply loves his adoptive father and would put his life on the line in a heartbeat to save him, if it ever came down to that. And it does! Will Trona, a powerful commissioner for Orange County, has made a lot of friends over the years, but he's also made a large number of enemies. One dark, foggy night, while acting as a go-between to help rescue a kidnapped girl from a wealthy and influential family, Will is set up to be killed. Joe, who's chauffeuring for his father that night, watches it happen, but is unable to do anything to save the man who raise him and loved him as few parents could. He does manage, however, to take out two of the killers before the head honcho of the group murders the rest of his men to protect his own identity and then swiftly disappears into the night. From that moment on, Joe's only goal is to find the answers as to why Will was set up and to put down the men behind the assassination. Over the next few weeks, as Joe starts checking into his adoptive father's past, he discovers things that surprise and shock him...things that would've been better left alone. He also begins to get an inkling of who might've wanted to murder Will and how big the conspiracy actually is. At first the people behind Will's death try to buy Joe off in an attempt to make him back away from his investigation, then he's warned as to what might happen if he doesn't stop. Joe Trona knows no fear, until the woman he has quickly grown to love is threatened. The only way out of the situation is to confront the danger head on. This is a man who always carries three handguns and can kill with his bare hands in a dozen different ways. It's going to take a lot of firepower and a high body count to stop him from settling his vendetta against those that brought tragedy to his family and threaten the people he loves. SILENT JOE is definitely Mr. Parker's best novel to date, and that's saying a lot when you consider that he wrote RED LIGHT, WHERE SERPENTS LIE and THE BLUE HOUR. He's created a powerful character in Joe Trona, a man with his own inner demons to fight, a man that the reader immediately starts rooting for from page one. As Joe seeks to avenge his father, he soon realizes that the person he loved was simply a man with his own strengths and weaknesses, and that nobody is perfect. Joe still has to find a way to accept the frailties of Will Trona, while acknowledging the good that he was able to do for his community before dying. Deep within Joe, however, is a desperate urgency to finally understand who his real parents were and why his actual father threw acid onto his face and his mother later abandoned him. These are painful questions that have been kept buried for too long and now need to be brought to the surface for a resolution of some kind. The answers may bring understanding, but they won't ease the turmoil that has made up his life. SILENT JOE is certainly writing as its best. Mr. Parker knows how to deliver the goods with a compelling plot and strong, believable characters that keep the reader glued to each riveting page. I hope that this isn't the last we've seen of Joe Trona. I'd love to see him return in a another novel, maybe even joining forces with Merci Rayborn from RED LIGHT and THE BLUE HOUR. This is a character that's too good to limit to just one novel. He deserves at least two or three more, so bring Joe back Mr. Parker!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Depicted
Review: T. Jefferson Parker shows, once again, that he's not only a superb mystery writer, but also a truly skilled creator of stories. His portrayal of the main character's life is deep and thought provoking. The seemless manner in which he weaves his story reminds me of the works of John Cheever.
Rating:
Summary: A subtle, painful glide into the dark night of life, soul
Review: The only novel worthy of the Edgar in the last decade, this marvelous novel explores the human psyche and invites the reader to enter the world of this novel and its lead character in order at least partially to understand the complexity and depth of the human spirit. Joe glides through his world like clouds across a clear star-lit night. His scarring outside gives him some insight that most of us utterly lack, but he is no saint and the scarring, at least in part, penetrates the inner man, sometimes making him a better human being, other times creating anger and a kind of bitterness. His real hurt comes not from his physical grotesqueness, but from his father's death and the deceitful actions that infect good men and the world they inhabit. The plot is propulsive; his mother and girlfriend add reality and human sympathy to the story ( yes, human sympathy is still extant in this cynical, mean-spirited world) I think Parker took a real risk with his acid-scarred main character. Many things could have gone wrong. But the novel is powerful, spiritual and "real." A magnificent tale. In a mystery world so full of "easy" fiction with cheap thrills, thin characters, shallow plots, Silent Joe demonstrates that a suspense novel can achieve the status of literature. Highly recommended. An essential "read" for the serious suspense reader.
Rating:
Summary: A subtle, painful glide into the dark night of life, soul
Review: The only novel worthy of the Edgar in the last decade, this marvelous novel explores the human psyche and invites the reader to enter the world of this novel and its lead character in order at least partially to understand the complexity and depth of the human spirit. Joe glides through his world like clouds across a clear star-lit night. His scarring outside gives him some insight that most of us utterly lack, but he is no saint and the scarring, at least in part, penetrates the inner man, sometimes making him a better human being, other times creating anger and a kind of bitterness. His real hurt comes not from his physical grotesqueness, but from his father's death and the deceitful actions that infect good men and the world they inhabit. The plot is propulsive; his mother and girlfriend add reality and human sympathy to the story ( yes, human sympathy is still extant in this cynical, mean-spirited world) I think Parker took a real risk with his acid-scarred main character. Many things could have gone wrong. But the novel is powerful, spiritual and "real." A magnificent tale. In a mystery world so full of "easy" fiction with cheap thrills, thin characters, shallow plots, Silent Joe demonstrates that a suspense novel can achieve the status of literature. Highly recommended. An essential "read" for the serious suspense reader.
Rating:
Summary: The Unknown Thing
Review: The Unknown Thing, coined by T.Jefferson Parker in Silent Joe is that indescribable feeling certain women impart on your soul. "I took hold of June's hand and thought about The Unknown Thing, and how June seemed to me to be made of it. I thought about the women I had seen it in, and I realized that it has something to do with goodness and something to do with wickedness but much more to do with what is irresistible. It can lead a man to shame as easily as it can lead him to love."
Rating:
Summary: The Unknown Thing
Review: The Unknown Thing, coined by T.Jefferson Parker in Silent Joe is that indescribable feeling certain women impart on your soul. "I took hold of June's hand and thought about The Unknown Thing, and how June seemed to me to be made of it. I thought about the women I had seen it in, and I realized that it has something to do with goodness and something to do with wickedness but much more to do with what is irresistible. It can lead a man to shame as easily as it can lead him to love."
Rating: 
Summary: The Sounds of Silence
Review: There is much to be learned when you keep your mouth shut. Working as a body guard for his adoptive father horribly scarred silent Joe took everything in. He learned not to talk, but to listen. Joe became an invisible man. This unfortunately served him well, when it came time for him to track the murderers of one crime he did not want to contemplate. T. Jefferson Parker presents a world of wheeling and dealing politicians ensconced in southern California. They are all ready to sell their souls and then some. It is a creepy surreal world through which silent Joe creeps. Silent Joe is a wonderful creature, who I hope to see in future books. Joe is a man who should be repulsive, but has that unknown thing which draws women. He is an intricate man, who the reader would gladly follow on endless adventure. The plot touches on themes of love, redemption, forgiveness and revenge. which of these contradicting emotions might win over? Read Silent Joe and find out. This is a recommended book for lovers of hard-boiled mystery.
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