The Boys from Santa Cruz: A Thriller (E. L. Pender) [Hardcover]

Jonathan Nasaw (Author)

Book Description

Series: E. L. Pender | Publication Date: February 16, 2010

In his four previous novels of suspense, Jonathan Nasaw gave readers a charming and unlikely hero against the forces of evil in former FBI agent E.L. Pender. Now, in The Boys from Santa Cruz, Pender faces his most terrifying foe to date.

Like James Patterson and John Connolly, Jonathan Nasaw has proven time and again that he has an uncanny, almost eerie, knack for getting inside the labyrinthine and horrifying minds of the most deranged serial killers. In Fear Itself, Nasaw first introduced Pender, a rumpled, endearingly flawed investigator who immediately won readers’ hearts. In The Girls He Adored, Pender defeated a perverted psycho named Max, then went on to face The Machete Man in Twenty-Seven Bones, called a “skin-crawling, gory psycho-thriller” by the Scottish Daily Record. When last we left Pender, in Nasaw’s sexually charged thriller When She Was Bad, he took on a pair of mentally insane killers and nearly lost himself in the dark and blood-drenched recesses of their two twisted psyches.

With his lust for terror and a frightening talent for getting deep under his readers’ skins, Nasaw promises to deliver more gripping action and unimaginably gruesome detail as he introduces readers to the bloodthirsty The Boys from Santa Cruz.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Back in 1985, FBI special agent E.L. Pender, who was pursuing a serial killer case in California, helped take down Luke Sweet, killer and maker of snuff films. Sweet and his transgendered partner, Teddy Swantzer, didn't survive, but Sweet's 15-year-old son, Little Luke, did. In Nasaw's engrossing fifth thriller to feature Pender (after When She Was Bad), Little Luke tells his own horrific tale as he moves from one misfortune to another with a trail of bodies and a growing list of adults, including Pender, who must die. Now 25, Luke is presumed dead when an explosion destroys the asylum where he's incarcerated near Santa Cruz. Pender, alarmed when he hears of the murder of Luke's grandparents, returns to California to see if Luke survived. Nasaw throws a curve when a psychopath called Asmador begins going after the names on Luke's list. Pender is both hunter and hunted as he treks to a mountain retreat and a surprising climax. (Feb.)
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About the Author

Jonathan Nasaw is the acclaimed author of Fear Itself and The Girls He Adored, both Literary Guild Selections. He lives in Pacific Grove, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books (February 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416591788
• ISBN-13: 978-1416591788
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #826,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deviant Thriller Surprisingly Good, July 15, 2010

By 

A. Whitney (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boys from Santa Cruz: A Thriller (E. L. Pender) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

First, I must say that I don't go for "thrillers" and would have passed this up had I not been raised in Santa Cruz. So I thought I'd give it a spin to see how my hometown figured into the story. I wasn't suspecting a goulash of snuff films, drug dealing, pre-op transsexuals, sex addiction and demon worship. "The Boys from Santa Cruz" got my attention. At first the story seems like a heap of bad luck has roosted upon teenager Luke Sweet. He is raised in appalling circumstances devoid of affection and in the midst of places that no adult, let alone a child, should be. He has to make do for himself and ends up in the most bizarre and dangerous situations, which he often does not handle well. As the less-than-perfect FBI agent Pender attempts to bring Luke under control, the story takes a more sinister turn.

I found it to be an engaging story with just enough twists to keep me interested. There were also plenty of Santa Cruz settings to make me feel that Nasaw had actually spent time in my hometown, unconventional as it is.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Boys From Santa Cruz, November 17, 2010

By 

P. Bergbauer "Reading Raven" (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boys from Santa Cruz: A Thriller (E. L. Pender) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This is the fifth E. L. Pender book in the series. I have read all of Nasaw's books and I think it is better to read these in order, starting with "The Girls He Adored."
E. L. Pender is a retired FBI agent who was never your typical agent. Noted for his mismatched and colorful clothes, Pender reminds me of a giant teddy bear.
In this novel, the story shifts back to 1985 when Pender was an active agent on a case involving snuff films. During this case, Pender's investigation connects him with a teen, Luke Sweet, whose father was the one linked to the snuff film ring. Luke appears to also be connected with his father's business and eventually ends up in a rehab camp.
The story then brings the reader to 1995. Pender comes across names from the past that remind him of his prior case of Luke Sweet, which brings him back to California to pursue his gut intuition that his older case was never resolved.
Nasaw writes a solid thriller which is fast paced with twists that make this novel hard to put down. I love his Pender character because of his humor, wacky dress code, and his ability to catch the bad guy.
I look forward to reading the next Pender book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Read, April 25, 2010

By 

David K. Watson "DKW" (Ojai, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Boys from Santa Cruz: A Thriller (E. L. Pender) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I have to admit that the fact that I lived in Santa Cruz all but a couple of the years from the late 1960's until 2007 was what attracted me to this particular title. On the other hand, maybe having been there during the "murder capital of the world" era has kept me from being a huge fan of the psycho killer genre, but I have read a few over the years.

I enjoyed The Boys from Santa Cruz: A Thriller. I found it well-paced easy reading with the requisite number of gruesome images and false leads. There is a major plot twist in the second half that I did not see coming, which is always a nice surprise (assuming it makes sense, which it does here). The local geography seems correct, but I did note one minor anachronism: in 1972, the Santa Cruz Town Clock was in storage; it was installed at the current location in time for a bicentennial dedication in 1976 and restoration was finished in 1977.

I thought the development of Pender was a little light, but this made sense when I discovered that Pender had appeared in four previous novels by Nasaw. I expect to go back at some point and read some of the earlier novels and would recommend The Boys from Santa Cruz: A Thriller to any fan of the genre.