California Girl : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece!
Review:

A Plus for T. Jefferson Parker's incredible "California Girl."

Stylish and engaging, it transports you back to 1968 in Orange County (and up to present day)...again mixing real life characters (Dick Nixon, Tim Leary, Charles Manson) with a fictional cast of vividly sketched characters.

The three Becker brothers (a cop, a crime reporter and a minister) have an intense commitment to finding the truth about a decapitated friend from their teenage years.

Their search for the facts leads to compromise, concessions and exposure of the brothers' secrets.

It is a subtle, sophisticated, cerebral novel with justice the overruling topic...no matter how long it may take.

A well-crafted look back at a period of time that fashioned a generation told in a most intriguing manner.

As good as any book I have read this year.

Rating:
Summary: Parker delivers yet again with this dynamic novel.
Review: California Girl is about the Becker boys and follows them into early adulthood. One becomes a homicide detective, one a minister and one a reporter. The bulk of the novel is focused on the death of a young woman, whom the Becker men have known most of their life. Her death affects each of them in a different way.

I have to start by saying I am a fan of Parker's writing and have always been impressed by his work. Having said that, I think California Girl is an exciting step in a new direction. Less of a novel about catching the killer and more about the effects the murder has on the people around her. Like Lehane with Mystic River and Rozan with Absent Friends, Parker is stepping to the next level with a novel that is every bit a piece of literature as it is a crime novel.
It is work like this that helps remove any posible stigma that comes with the term "genre novel"


Rating:
Summary: Another T. Jefferson Parker Masterpiece
Review: I don't understand why Mr. Parker's books seem to be so underrated by the so-called professional book critics. He is right up there with any modern mystery writer. The plot of California Girl has already been discussed, so I won't repeat it, but the mood of this book is engrossing and the characters seem like real people. I highly recommend this book and any T. Jefferson Parker book!

Rating:
Summary: Review of California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker
Review: I found this novel very intriguing. The story is quite dark, and develops during the 60's, with many noteworthy characters such as Richard Nixon and Charles Manson. It has a similarity to Laguna Heat in many respects. I hope the author writes more novels of southern California during this period of time.

Rating:
Summary: Oranges and Murder
Review: Orange County, California. Most of the story takes place in 1968. I lived in Orange County in 1968. Parker got it right. Except I can't vouch for the drug scene. Didn't do drugs. But the rest. Topless bars. (Or did Parker talk about those?) Miniskirts he talked about. I wrote a poem about miniskirts once. But I digress. John Birch Society. Open spaces. There was a working dairy farm within walking distance of our townhouse in the sixties. Worries about Vietnam. I was in an army reserve unit. Could have been called up. Lucked out.

Four brothers. Three in 1968 because Clay had already been killed in Nam. A pastor, a cop and a newspaper reporter. All had some sort of a relationship with the murdered girl-Janelle. Because of her brothers. Bad people. Lots of characters and complications. Nick, the cop, is in charge of his first murder case. Wants to get it right. Even if he has to flout the law. But I don't want to give anything away.

Celebrity cameos by Dick Nixon, Timothy Leary, even-would you believe-Charlie Mason. Yeah, these guys were all in Orange County in 1968. Anyway, Nick pursues the killer, David pursues his flock with a drive-in church, Andy pursues the stories. Sometimes they have conflicts. But mostly they support each other.

As long as the story stays in California, it's believable. When it goes into Mexico the reader has to give Parker the benefit of the doubt. Comes back to Orange County and everything is okay again. Pages keep turning. Suspense. Action. Driving with the top down. You'll get a feel for Orange County at that time. Including some of the seedier parts. Might not like everything you read about. But you'll keep reading.


Rating:
Summary: California Girl
Review: T. Jefferson Parker has become my favorite author, and he didn't disappoint in this wonderful trip back to memory lane.
I am a native Californian, and although the characters were about ten years older than I was during this time, it was
wonderful to read about California at that time.
The most important thing in the book of course, are the characters, 4 brothers, 3 are the ones most focused on in the book, a beautifulf mysterious girl/woman, who is the one who is murdered later in life and all the brothers felt a piece of their childhood had died with her, and the killer being found
was really one all the brothers tried to do together as they all had some sort of fantasy, or protective feeling toward this beautiful little girl and now woman. And because they knew she
lived in an abusive household with her crazy tempermental brothers, she was always someone that grabbed them and they never forgot about her. This book is about solving a murder, looking with much intimacy at a family and how we dealt with family issues during the sixties. I love that one brother is a minister, one a cop, and the other an investigational reporter.
The other brother is involved in the book, but in a different way. As usual, just when you think you might have figured out what happened to a character, there is a twist. This also shows the world of California polictics, even including Dick Nixon eating dinner with the folks.
I don't want to give to much of the book away, but if you grew up in California during the sixties, or enjoy reading books that really describle the California life style, and love a GREAT mystery, this is your book.
T. Jefferson has just gotten better with his books. I've learned that you have to read to the LAST page, as sometimes
the biggest shock comes after you think you have gotten the
"answer".
Also, I think BOTH men and women would enjoy this book. My husband and I read totally different books, but when he read the
jacket on this book he said, this looks good, and is starting to read.
Thank you Jeff, your books are such a treat for me, and even though I tried not to "save" your books, I am still guilty of reading slowly so the book won't end so soon.
I just hope you keep writing these great mysteries, and for some reasons, I love the cop characters, they really make the mystery even better. Even the "bad" guy at the end, he isn't someone you hate, hes just someone you hope you never let yourself become.
Anyway, this one is a keeper, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and my only question is this, Jeff, when is your next book going to be?
I've become spoiled having at least one book a year, and yours are the best of the best, so I thank you for the hours of enjoyment.
If you are a mystery book reader, this is your book. I also
think you should go back and read the other books he has written
"Silent Joe" for the Raymond Chandler type fans, and the books with a female cop are more of a modern mystery and my favorites.
My all time favorite, or probably tied with California Girl is
Summer of Fear, only because I found out later that the author
was losing his wife to cancer when he wrote this riveting book about a serial killer, and I too lost a husband to cancer and boy did he touch a nerve for me, and it was also a GREAT, scary book. I'm hoping he writes a sequel to that book, as it could be done.
Thank you Mr. T. Jefferson Parker, you never disappoint, and I'm hoping you are feeling very prolific in the next year or so!

Rating:
Summary: Some great writing, but poorly constructed
Review: T. Jefferson Parker has written some of the best thrillers of the last 20 years. California Girl represents some of his best scene-by-scene writing, but I was a little disappointed in how he handles the plot in this one. I'm usually not very good at figuring out the identity of the killer (I don't really even try; I read more for style, the sound of the writer's voice), but in this novel the whodunit is a clinker.

It sounds as though Parker is tinkering with his voice. More incomplete sentences, a different rhythm to his words. But I think longtime readers won't be put off, while new readers should be impressed. Here's a snatch from near the end of the book: "I miss being young. I miss being young and strong. Young and fast. Young and in love. Nothing like it. Old love is good, too. But you get the feeling that the world mainly just wants you out of the way."

The story centers around the murder and gruesome decapitation of a beautiful young girl in 1968. Three brothers who knew her (and her evil brothers) when they were all kids figure into the ensuing investigation: Nick, the homicide detective; Andy, the crime reporter; and David, the preacher. The story captures the '60s milieu brilliantly. Richard Nixon, Charles Manson and Timothy Leary make cameos. And the scene where Nick trips after accidentally taking a hit of LSD is hilarious.

While the murder investigation itself is quite compelling, the book as a whole was put together clumsily, in my opinion. Like a ball pinging around a roulette wheel, I had a hard time settling into the story. Had I not been a big fan of Parker's earlier work, I probably would have tossed California Girl aside. It begins in the present, told by Nick in the first person, then quickly switches to third person as it goes back to 1954 and then 1960 before it gets to the murder in 1968, where the bulk of the novel takes place. Those first 65 pages went down like a horse pill for me -- too many characters, too much time travel. But at page 65, the story takes off. It kept me turning the pages until the very end.

Along the way, however, I realized that Parker was telegraphing things far too much. Because of the pre-murder narrative, I knew the outcome of some critical scenes that would have been more exciting and suspenseful without the prior knowledge (including the death? of a key player in the novel). And, as I said, the killer turns out to be someone I saw coming a mile away, and kind of a cliche of a bad guy at that.

I would recommend California Girl because Parker (along with Elmore Leonard, Lawrence Block, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly and a few others) is one of the very best crime writers around. His writing exudes strength and confidence. It has the air of realism. But this novel had the makings of a classic, and I think he missed a golden opportunity by fumbling the storyline.

Rating:
Summary: California in the 60's
Review: The 1950s and 60s were a chaotic time, in a world that was
undergoing tremendous social change, the youth of California were
not unaffected. The story is about the Becker brothers, Nick (now a
homicide detective), David (a Priest) and Andy (a journalist). The
three boys are mentally transported back to relive their childhood
when Nick is assigned, as his first case, the investigation of the
beheading murder of Janelle Vonn, the younger sister of the violent
Vonn brothers - arch-enemies from the boy's childhood. Andy
recognises that the story of the investigation could lead to his
break into big-time journalism so follows the case closely. Janelle
was abused by her brothers and Nick and Andy had helped her escape
to start a new life, her escape caused a violent encounter between
the two sets of brothers. David, Nick and Andy all investigate the
case from different angles, occasionally co-operating and sharing
their information. As secrets are revealed - careers, lives and
loves are threatened. Are the brothers able to solve the crime
before they become victims of it?

Parker is a very descriptive author, and has used powerful imagery
to portray an investigation that is totally guesswork and hunch
following, does not include computers and modern day forensic
techniques. The era is well researched and brought back memories
of events and fashions of the day. Parker even had well known `real'
characters flitting in and out of the story, such as Richard Nixon
was a friend of the Becker brother's parents. This is my first book
by this author and I found his portrayal of the different characters
to be meticulous, I felt that I knew them all personally by the end
of the book. The plot was good, the characterisation was good and
the writing was excellent.


Rating:
Summary: Dark and Disturbing, but A Moving Story
Review: The world changed in the Sixties, JFK was elected and assassinated. LBJ waged an unpopular war. Demonstrations rocked the land. Drugs invaded the lives of America's youth, turning them into hippys who seemed to be at war with their parents. This book is a story about those times as much as it is a mystery, a thriller, a masterpiece about brothers, life, death, enemies and secrets that are left better buried and forgotten.

This story of brothers haunts us as we learn about Janelle Vonn and how she affected the lives of the four Becker brothers: Clay, who joined the CIA, went to war and never came back; Nick, the haunted (that word again) cop; brother Andy, the hotshot crime reporter; and brother David the minister with charisma and a drive in church. The Beckers first meet Janelle in 1954 when the book opens in Southern California as they fight her brothers in a packing plant in the orange groves. She was only five, but there is something about her that affects Nick.

And it's still bothering him years later in 1968, when he's now a cop and viewing her decapitated body inside that same packing plant that he'd fought her brothers all those years ago. She was only nineteen, but she'd been through child abuse, booze, drugs, been in Playboy and was a beauty queen, the ex-Miss Tustin. This is Nick's first case and he wants to solve it. So too does Reporter Andy who sees a career boost. And Preacher David, who had helped with Janelle's rehab also wants to learn the truth. Along the way the brothers change in this time of hippies and sexual freedom, cheap records and gas, Nixon and war, and they learn that you can't run from the past.

This is a disturbing, dark and unforgetable story. Mr. Parker has the time down to a T. His characters are believable and familiar and he elicits emotion the way few other thriller writers can. Just one fine book if you ask me.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Rating:
Summary: A Dud
Review: Until this book I had been a devoted Parker fan, but this one was a dud for me. The story starts slowly and builds, if that's the right word for it, to a barely lukewarm finish. I put this book down at least half a dozen times in the first hundred-plus pages, intending to not finish it. I kept picking it up again, thinking I had perhaps missed something, hoping the story would become more engrossing. I hadn't, and it didn't. I gave it 2 stars more out of sympathy than because of the quality of the tale. Every author writes a dud now and then. I hope this was Parker's only one.