Rating: 
Summary: Parker Just Keeps Getting Better and Better!
Review: There is the old cliche that says "practice makes perfect. Well, T. Jefferson Parker has six other novels that I know of to his credit and he just keeps getting better with each outing. THE BLUE HOUR, his latest installment in the generally unrelated crime novels set in Orange County, CA rings with a truth all its own. Parker introduces two new but completely disparate characters. One I liked, respected and admired. The other, I didn't. The first is Tim Hess, a 67 year old retired detective called back into service to help solve some horribly gruesome murders. He is facing a death sentence of his own because he has already lost more than half a lung to cancer and is awaiting with that patient acceptance, the inevitable outcome. He thinks of himself as a loser; he has been divorced several times, is childless and alone as he enters the final phase of his life. His new partner is Detective Merci Rayborn. She is half his age and a lot easier to look at. In fact, some think of her as a beauty. There's a problem with her though and her name is very inappropriate. She is not merciful and gives none. She is difficult to be around, brash, temperamental and unforgiving. She seems to be singlehandely out to catch and punish all the evildoers in Orange County. If given her way, the reader wonders not about her possibilities for success but just how long it will take before she cleans up the entire state. There is a truly horrible criminal antagonist in this novel. He is the one committing the unspeakable crimes. He is the one Tim and Merci must stop. What Parker does with these characters and the spare but biting prose is nothing short of masterful. It is obvious that while these are imaginary characters, Parker has met them (or variations thereof) in his former life as a journalist in Orange County. Before the end of the book Parker ensures that Merci and Tim will become lovers. While somewhat implausible when taken out of context, I actually came to view it as inevitable. Both detectives are flawed characters who have never been able to make a permanent connection to other people. In the story, the author ensures that they finally do (and I wondered if he didn't do so for the sake of Tim Hess knowing that his time was finally coming to an end). Parker writes with an intimate knowledge of police procedures. He knows about the types of criminals police officers deal with every day. He knows how the penal system sometimes fails to protect society from its most degenerate predators. As Joseph Wambaugh wrote almost 30 years ago in his debut novel THE NEW CENTURIONS, it becomes readily apparent that the Tim Hesses and the Merci Rayborn's may be all that stands between civilization and total criminal chaos. T. Jefferson Parker carries on the tradition of Wambaugh by reminding us of that. He also shows his respect and admiration for the people who keep the barbarians at the gates from entering to wreak havoc upon the citizens inside the walls of the citadel. Other reviewers have said that this may well be Parker's best effort to date. I'm not here to dispute them. I discovered Parker early on and have read just about everything he's written. This is an outstanding novel in this genre. If you haven't read any of his other works, don't worry. Read this one first and then go back and read some of his earlier efforts (such as LITTLE SAIGON and LAGUNA BEACH). They were good, exciting and enjoyable reads but I think readers will be surprised and pleased to see just how far he has come as a master of this genre and in such a relatively short period of time. And if you liked this book, Merci Rayborn is reprised in Parker's latest release RED LIGHT. Thank you Mr. Parker for many enjoyable hours of reading pleasure. Much continued success in the future and I anxiously await your next effort.
Rating:
Summary: "GOOD BUT SCARY"
Review: This is the first T. Jefferson Parker book I have read. It will not be the last one that's for sure. The book was great. Tim Hess was a fantastic character. He was so real to life. You can just feel the pain he is going through. He is called back into service to help catch a killer who is abducting young women from malls and then doing strange things to their bodies. He is paired with Merci Rayborn, a young detective who has a short fuse and very impatient. The book has many twist and turns. It is not for everyone as part is pretty graphic. Parker does a good job of making you feel the thoughts of the people involved. I did not want to put the book down, especially the last several pages. Then I was afraid to put it down, afraid the monster man would come after me if he was not caught. A real thriller!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: exhilarating novel
Review: This was the first novel in which Mr.Parker introduces us to Merci Rayborn and after reading this one I'm currently up to the third in this series! Anyway,I digress...This book has a very taut storyline,very interesting characters that I thought were very likeable and one roller-coaster of an ending!!The last 20 or so pages I couldn't turn fast enough! If you love Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Robert Crais,etc. you need to read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Tim Hess is assigned a difficult partner-- a young detective named Merci Rayborn who struggles under both her father's legacy and her own prickliness. Merci lost her last partner when she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him and wastes no time in putting Hess in his place. Together they need to find a nasty serial killer that the news is calling "The Purse Snatcher" for his habit of leaving the purses behind. There's nothing terribly new in _The Blue Hour_ but it's both well-written and entertaining. Merci Rayborn seems like a wonderful character with whom to go forward into a series.
Rating:
Summary: tremendous plot, characters we care about, new series!
Review: We know Parker has six previous titles, but this first of the (now) three Merci Rayborn stories was our first Parker as well. And what a pleasant surprise awaited: wonderful characters we came to care a good deal about; a plot that twisted and turned through nearly a dozen murders before it was all over, and some definitely interesting byplay between the two leads. One, a 67-year-old semi-retired detective Tim Hess, fighting cancer and going through both chemo and radiation, becomes the partner and mentor of 33-year-old Merci, an ambitious sergeant who typically displays as much tact as the proverbial bull in a china shop. His wisdom and great crime solving instincts, and her intensity and passion for rooting out evil, lead to a very interesting relationship given the age difference, with a surprise ending that will no doubt play a role in the future books. Meanwhile, the trick of revealing much of the killer's moves and thoughts to us, even though for a long time we don't know who it was, gave us the buzzard's eye view of the chasers and the chased, which had us turning pages as fast as they would go toward the end. While plenty of clues to the outcome were there, none of us had much luck zeroing in til right near the final outcome -- great suspense! We can't say much more without spoiling one part of the story or another, so let's just say: ENJOY !! Meanwhile, we're rapidly on to Merci #2, #3: Red Light and Black Water...
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