Customer Reviews

California Girl: A Novel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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"

In April 2005, California Girl was awarded the Edgar award for best Novel of 2004, by the Mystery Writers of America.
It is Parker's second Best Novel Edgar, as Silent Joe also won.

Mr. Parker has always been exceptional at characterization, but this book nails real atmosphere as well, and is at the top of my 2004 list, along with The Narrows by Michael Connelly, Memorial Day by Harry Shannon and that new Robert Crais. The 60's seem especially relevent these days (war and all) so the writing really make my skin ripple. Great stuff! Buy it, you won't be disappointed. As usual.

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.

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.

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.

T. Jefferson Parker is one of those writers who quietly and incrementally has been building a loyal following. This hasn't been easy, since Parker has more often than not eschewed the creation of a recurring character. While three of his novels (THE BLUE HOUR, BLACK LIGHT and BLACK WATER) have featured detective Merci Rayborn, most of his books have been stand-alone works, with Parker choosing to let each of his novels rise or fall on its own merits. The result, deliberately or otherwise, is that one truly never knows what is going to happen in a T. Jefferson Parker novel. The only certainty that one has upon cracking the binding of a new Parker book is that it will make that reader's "Best Novel" list for that particular year.

CALIFORNIA GIRL is no exception to this rule. It is a story that spans four decades, from 1960 to the present. The primary focus of the novel, however, is 1968. The setting is southern California, the site of a cultural and political maelstrom that continues to have ramifications to this day. The Becker brothers have taken different vocational paths: one is a homicide detective, one a reporter, and one a minister. Yet their paths are going to cross, and dramatically so, when the mutilated body of Janelle Vonn is discovered in an abandoned warehouse. Vonn was a woman who seemed doomed to a bad end almost from the day she was born, and the crowd that she ran with --- druggies, surfers and musicians --- fed into her seeming penchant for self-destruction. Each of the Becker brothers had their own unique tie, past or present, to Vonn, and thus each tries in his own separate way to find her murderer and bring him to justice.

Parker captures the southern California era of the late 1960s perfectly, and anyone who lived through it will feel a number of familiar tugs while reading CALIFORNIA GIRL. Parker gets those all-important secondary details down nicely --- I had forgotten all about Sugar Rice Crinkles, and would love a bowlful right about now --- making the evocation of the era all the more real. More importantly, however, this is a meticulously crafted mystery, a masterfully told tale of love and passion gone wrong and ultimately made right.

CALIFORNIA GIRL is a haunting work, one that provides a satisfying ending in lieu of a happy one. As with the majority of Parker's novels, there will not be a sequel here, but one is not necessary. It stands alone, and well.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

The Becker and Vonn families share a history that goes back years starting when they rumbled in the old packinghouse because a member of the former threw a hat belonging to the latter to a dog. When the Beckers apologized for the incident, they noticed that five years old Janelle Vonn had a black eye. Years later Janette attended a sermon given by David Becker. Afterward she told David and his two brothers, police officer Nick and reporter Andy, that her siblings forced her to have sex with them.

Nick was able to get her siblings arrested and the Becker clan tried to keep Janellee safe. Nick arrives at that same packinghouse to lead his first homicide investigation, the decapitation of Janellee. As he digs deeper, his two brothers feed him information, which leads to a suspect in Mexico. Across the border a shoot out occurs leaving eight dead and Nick severely injured. Still he thinks he has an open and shut case, but Andy thinks otherwise.

CALIFORNIA GIRL is not the author's ultra dark and foreboding crime thriller though it is bleak, but instead is an intriguing police procedural. Readers come to know the goodness of the Beckers especially since the tale is predominantly told from the perspective of the three brothers (and the badness of the Vonns). This contrast turns into a two edge sword as the rivalry causes adrenaline pumping suspense, but the extremes are too simplistic; then again perhaps if the Vonns told the tale the magnetic poles would switch. T. Jefferson Parker provides an action packed cerebral crime thriller starring a trio of likable siblings.

Harriet Klausner

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.

In 1960s Southern California, Janelle Vonn is a girl who seems to be overcoming a tragic past. Sexually abused, drug-addicted, she rose above those problems to become a beauty queen, then a police informant. Alas, the beautiful woman is found in an abandoned orange packing house, raped and decapitated.

Janelle's life and those of her family members are inextricably bound to another family, the Beckers. Her death will come to affect each of them in a profound way. Nick is the young homicide detective given his first murder. Many are out to prove he's not up to the task of finding Janelle's killer. Andy is the ambitious reporter determined to uncover the truth and get the scoop, which puts him in a delicate situation with his cop brother. David is the minister who once salvaged Janelle's life, pulling her away from drugs and abuse. He has secrets that, if exposed, might ruin his reputation, his church and his family. Then there are the Becker parents, rabid John Birchers, who become unwitting pawns as an FBI agent with an axe to grind uses Janelle's murder to manipulate guilty and innocent alike.

As is to be expected in a T. Jefferson Parker novel, the characters are drawn to perfection and the setting comes to live so vividly that, as someone who remembers the sixties, I found myself recalling things from that era that aren't even in the book. The story was lively, and each time I thought I knew what was going on, the plot twisted again.

If I have one complaint, it's that a lot of real, famous people flitted in and out of the book for no real reason. The Becker parents were friends with Richard Nixon; Janelle hung out with Timothy Leary; one of the brothers had a fight with Charles Manson. The parade of famous characters started to feel like it should have been in Forrest Gump. And there were a few other wink-wink-nod-nod predictions about the "future" that tended to pull me out of the story. But these are miniscule concerns. I still ignored work, TV, and sleep to finish this one.

On the surface, California Girl is a well written crime novel. It will particularly appeal to those who have a familiarity with Orange County, California and are interested in a story that captures the atmosphere of the OC of the 1950s and 60s with its orange groves, hippie culture, and drive-in churches. There are cameo appearances by California icons Timothy Leary, Charles Manson, and Richard Nixon. Just the local interest and plot action are enough to make this a worthwhile read, but the author has gone a step further and woven some thoughtful issues throughout the setting and plot.

Telling the truth can be painfully difficult and this becomes a noticeable theme throughout the novel. This seemingly black and white concept becomes shades of gray when seen in the context of the story and the lives of the characters who find that they may hurt good people and reward the despicable if they tell the truth. A minor, yet not insignificant theme, is the struggle of growing up in a counter culture such as that of the 1960s. Thoughts and ways of life changed rapidly during this period and created much personal and societal upheaval. I appreciated that Parker never trivialized these themes or turned them into cliches.

This was my first T. Jefferson Parker novel and my experience would lead me to seek out other books by this author.