Customer Reviews

Black Water (Merci Rayborn Series)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This newest entry from Parker was so engrossing that I read it through in one sitting -- and emerged blinking my eyes at the world as it was rather than as I had experienced it in this complex drama of murder and redemption.

Homicide detective Merci Rayborn returns to Parker's pen to solve the murder and attempted murder of a young Southern California golden girl and her husband, Gwen and Archie Wildcraft. Archie is a deputy in Rayborn's Orange County Sheriff's office.

So -- is it a simple home robbery gone bad? or a husband getting rid of his wife and deliberately shooting himself in the head to throw off suspicion? or organized crime gone amok? or someting else entirely?

If you read Black Water for nothing more than the plot, you will be richly rewarded, but you will miss the book's most powerful effect -- the complexity of character that subtly sucks in the reader until the climax becomes as personally devastating to the reader as it is for some of the characters, and as redemptive as it is for Merci.

The delicate balance between work and family, the world and home, the principle and the person is one that Parker has achieved with grace and power. I've followed his books since his first, Little Laguna, and he just keeps getting better. He is among my top 5 favorite authors.

Homocide Sergeant Merci Rayborn has screwed up before--let made the wrong call in the battle between her emotions and her logic--and she swears she isn't going to in this case. The evidence looks compelling. A local sheriff's deputy is found with a gun in his hand, a bullet in his skull, and a dead wife in his house shot with that gun. Add in a recent fight and a spending pattern that a deputy's pay could never support and it's a clear murder-suicide. Except that Merci thinks that something is wrong. But then, can she even trust her judgement?

Author T. Jefferson Parker does a great job on the details of police procedure, making ordinary detection compelling. Where he really stands out, however, is in his development of character and character emotion. Merci Rayborn, in her third novel, is no longer the young innocent of THE BLUE HOUR. She still believes in what she is doing, but she is no longer so sure of where she is going. BLACK WATER delves deeply into her angst and is somehow more powerful but also more exciting because of it. Archie Wildcraft, the wounded Deputy, is also powerfully drawn as he battles with his loss of memory and especially the loss of feelings caused by brain trauma and the bullet that remains inside his skull.

BLACK WATER certainly stands alone and is a wonderful and powerful book. Fans of T. Jefferson Parker will be overjoyed to see Merci back--and rewarded for the wait. If you aren't familiar with this series, it would be worth a look to find the novels in order (the earlier novels, THE BLUE HOUR and RED LIGHT. Another excellent novel by an exciting novelist.

T. Jefferson Parker keeps getting better & better ! This is a wonderful book that has an interesting and exciting plot, excellent police investigative detail, and, most of all, very real & compelling characters. There were sequences that brought a lump to my throat as I read them, & there were sequences when the pages just turned themselves. This book is wonderful ! (Note: it helps to have read "The Blue Hour" & "Red Light")

(this is a corrected version of a review by me that you have already posted -- i inadvertently switched the sequence of the first two merci rayborn books, in two separate references to that sequence; please sub this for the one now posted. tom parsons)

After first encountering Merci Rayborn (and T. Jefferson Parker) in "Blue Hour," and then following
her growth in "Red Light," it is gratifying to see her become a fully engaging person/character in
"Black Water."

The locale is familiar to Parker readers, the L.A. area's polyglot Orange County, and so is Parker's
mix of business people and hustlers, police procedure and character interaction. But a difference
with this book is the focus not on "whodunit" aspects (those are resolved for the reader relatively
early on) but how the case will be disposed of in Merci's complex world of cops under pressure
from sensation-mad media and ambitious prosecutors, and how Merci will handle the resolution.
The climax comes not with discovering "whodunit" but with the wholly surprising denouement of a
suspect and victim. Well done.

As a fan of what I call "L.A. noir" (Harry Bosch is very high on my list), I had found myself engaged
by Tim Hess in "Blue Hour." But I was willing to give his partner in that book, Merci, a chance in
"Red Light." After finishing it, I was dissatisfied -- she was too self-absorbed and had too little
self-awareness to pull me much further into her life.

If I hadn't already bought "Black Water," I don't believe I would have read it on the strength of the
first two Merci books. But, I had bought it, so I did read it, and was pleased to find that Parker has
allowed Merci to develop a more complete, more mature personality. If his slow development of
Merci -- relying primarily on plot rather than the engaging aspects of a character, which were in
short supply in the first two books -- was deliberate, it was a large risk, but it is one that pays off
for persistent readers.

I read all of the time and I think Black Water is the best book I've read in a long time. How do I know? Because even as I read another book, I keep thinking about this book. Even when I close my eyes to go to sleep, I keep thinking about this book.
I admit that I already have strong feelings about this author. I've read all of his earlier books and I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Black Water. I'm so happy to be able to say that I'm not disappointed. T. Jefferson Parker writes this character (Merci Rayborn, a Sergeant/Detective with the Orange County Sheriff's Department) with amazing insight and sensitivity. She's a wonderfully complex character that we've watched grow through The Blue Line and Red Light. She's experienced enough loss and disappointment to test her confidence. Yet she bravely continues to put one foot in front of the other, bringing herself to a point where the reader is confident that her future is potentially bright.
As for the story, Archie Wildcraft, a Deputy with the OCSD, is found with a bullet in his head. His wife is found shot to death with his gun in their bathroom. It looks like a murder/suicide attempt but to Merci it just doesn't "feel" right. Archie survives and soon walks out of the hospital to investigate for himself, not an easy task since he still has a bullet in his head. Parker gives us amazing insight into the thinking of someone with a brain injury which, as the wife of a brain injury survivor, I know is no easy task! Incredibly, Archie and Merci separately come to the same conclusions about what really happened through the twists and turns of their very different investigations.
This is a well told story with a good plot and what I found to be a hopeful, satisfying ending. It's a book I've recommended to all of my friends by an author that should be read more people. A rare book that's worth even a second read.

Merci Rayborn returns in her third investigation after her introduction in The Blue Hour and then Red Light. This book continues the development of Merci's character as she advances through the ranks of the sheriff's department.

The case facing Merci is a difficult one for her because, once again, it involves a sheriff's deputy, bringing back all the mistakes she made investigating a fellow cop in the past. Archie Wildcraft and his wife are shot in the early hours of the morning. Archie's wife, Gwen is killed and Archie is critically wounded. Merci has to work out whether the shooting was an attempted double homicide, or an attempted murder suicide. A third option of whether the scene was set up to look like a murder suicide can not be ruled out either. Merci continues to prove that she is a very thorough and capable investigator as she unravels the facts from the misleading evidence.

Although she's a good investigator and has a strong personality, she is constantly reminded of her past that affects how she deals with the present. It's because of the continual references back to the earlier books that I would strongly recommend reading them before reading this one if at all possible.

I thought the actual investigation in this book was of lower importance compared to the development of Merci Rayborn. The Focus seemed to be more on how the investigation affected her than on reaching any meaningful conclusion. Forunately, both goals were achieved. The case was closed with the important questions answered and Merci's life seems to be stabilising. I can see her character developing even further in future books.

After first encountering Merci Rayborn (and T. Jefferson Parker) in "Red Light," and then following her growth in "The Blue Hour," it is gratifying to see her become a fully engaging person/character in "Black Water."

The locale is familiar to Parker readers, the L.A. area's polyglot Orange County, and so is Parker's mix of business people and hustlers, police procedure and character interaction. But a difference with this book is the focus not on "whodunit" aspects (those are resolved for the reader relatively early on) but how the case will be disposed of in Merci's complex world of cops under pressure from sensation-mad media and ambitious prosecutors, and how Merci will handle the resolution. The climax comes not with discovering "whodunit" but with the wholly surprising denouement of a suspect and victim. Well done.

As a fan of what I call "L.A. noir" (Harry Bosch is very high on my list), I had found myself engaged by Tim Hess in "Red Light." But I was willing to give his partner in that book, Merci, a chance in "The Blue Hour." After finishing it, I was dissatisfied -- she was too self-absorbed and had too little self-awareness to pull me much further into her life.

If I hadn't already bought "Black Water," I don't believe I would have read it on the strength of the first two Merci books. But, I had bought it, so I did read it, and was pleased to find that Parker has allowed Merci to develop a more complete, more mature personality. If his slow development of Merci -- relying primarily on plot rather than the engaging aspects of a character, which were in short supply in the first two books -- was deliberate, it was a large risk, but it is one that pays off for persistent readers.

Orange County Deputy Sheriff Archie Wildcraft lies in a hospital near death from the bullet lodged in his brain while his wife Gwen is already dead. The law enforcement officials detest that one of their brothers killed his wife and tried to commit suicide. Only Detective Merci Rayborn thinks differently though circumstantial evidence targets Archie as the culprit.

Though he does not remember what happened, Archie believes that he never murdered his spouse though the media has convicted him. Archie takes things into his own hands and goes after an unknown killer. Merci chases after Archie. However, as he plays cat and mouse with her, both undergo a paradigm switch from believing Gwen unfortunately took a bullet aimed for Archie to thinking Archie took a bullet aimed for Gwen. Now they separately seek a culprit who wanted Gwen dead and has no qualms about adding two cops to the victim list.

The key to this strong police procedural is the clever way T. Jefferson Parker enables the reader to observe Merci up front and personal without slowing down a fast-paced yet unique cat and mouse story line. Merci's personal life (single mom) and peer ostracization in her professional life due to the aftermath of her previous case (see THE BLUE HOUR) brilliantly intertwine in her hunt for Archie who, in a subplot, seeks the killer. Merci in her third appearance and to a lesser degree Archie make BLACK WATER a must read for fans of the author and those who enjoy a convincing police investigation.

Harriet Klausner

This is the third (and most current) of the Orange County (CA) Homicide Sergeant Merci Rayborn series. The story starts out fast with the near murder of fellow Deputy Archie Wildcraft and the concurrent slaying of his wife. Rayborn and partner Paul Zamorra investigate and all the early clues point to Archie himself as a murder/suicide attempt. Merci won't believe it and away we go. Adding to the suspense, Wildcraft wakes up from the coma induced by the bullet (still there) in his head, checks himself out of the hospital and despite his serious condition, proceeds to investigate the crime himself. So to the usual intensity of Merci's crime solving we add the lovesick revenge hunt by Wildcraft, who of course is himself being hunted result of pressure by the DA to apprehend and charge him, all of which only serves to heighten Parker's compelling and suspenseful story telling. Toward the end we're turning the pages as fast as they will go!

There is a lot to like in this book. Merci definitely improves with age and familiarity, a fact not unnoticed by the potential suitors in the stories. With her a widow of her son Tim's father, Tim Hess Sr., and partner Zamorra a widower to his wife's death a year or so ago of cancer, we get to watch a little love interest grow there as well, although Paul seems to be maybe looking elsewhere? Merci's dad Clark and toddler Tim add some domestic interest, and the unfolding feelings about Merci left over from the scandals she revealed at the end of Book 2 ("Red Light") add to the continuity of the series and expose a wide range of attitudes among the colleagues. We have no doubt this series has a long successful life ahead of it, and we for sure can't wait til the next installment!

Merci Rayborn returns in Black Water for her third go aroung as Parker's lead detective. If you haven't read Blue Hour and Red Light, you might be a little confused, as this woman comes in with ALOT of baggage. While I didn't really care for her in Blue and I couldn't stand her in Red she actually grew on me in this final(?) book that features her. The plot is pretty good and it mirrors circumstances that she dealt with in Red Light so she doesn't want to make the same mistakes again. Overall the story worked for me, but it does get slow from time to time and I have to agree with the others about Tim, the kid, being a little too smart and really annoying but atleast she wasn't looking in the damn backseat every other sentence. I'm loooking foward to reading Cold Pursuit next.