Cold Pursuit [Mass Market Paperback]

T. Jefferson Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2004

Homicide cop Tom McMichael is on the rotation when an 84-year-old city patriarch named Pete Braga is found bludgeoned to death. Not good news, especially since the Irish McMichaels and Portuguese Bragas share a violent family history dating back three generations. Years ago Braga shot McMichael's grandfather in a dispute over a paycheck; soon thereafter Braga's son was severely beaten behind a waterfront bar - legend has it that it was an act of revenge by McMichael's father. McMichael must put aside the old family blood feud, and find the truth about Pete Braga's death. Braga's beautiful nurse is a suspect - she says she stepped out for some firewood, but key evidence suggests otherwise. The investigation soon expands to include Braga's business, his family, the Catholic diocese, a multimillion dollar Indian casino, a prostitute, a cop, and, of course, the McMichael family.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Why isn't T. Jefferson Parker as famous as, say, James Patterson or Robert B. Parker? He's that good, and in some ways better. In Cold Pursuit, his 11th novel, San Diego homicide cop Tom McMichael finds himself investigating the bludgeoning death of Pete Braga, a prominent city patriarch who was also a blood enemy of the McMichael family. It's a complex case fraught with political and economic pressures, ugly family history, police corruption, and multiple red herrings, made more complex by McMichael's romantic attraction to a key suspect.

Parker's writing is a pleasure from the first sentence to the last: intelligent, often quietly poetic, cliché-free, and as crisp and dry as a good Pinot Gris. Here is the book's opening paragraph, which accomplishes several scene-setting tasks while pleasing both ear and brain:

That night the wind came hard off the Pacific, an El Nino event that would blow three inches of rain onto the roofs of San Diego. It was the first big storm of the season, early January and overdue. Palm fronds lifted with a plastic hiss and slapped against the windows of McMichael's apartment. The digitized chirp of his phone sounded ridiculous against the steady wind outside.

At times the book's richly complex plot gets confusing, and some sections aren't especially suspenseful. However, every page is absorbing and affecting, and the ending is a shocker. Peopled by a teeming cast of full-blooded characters and set in a San Diego so vivid you can smell the beach and the blood, Cold Pursuit may be Parker's subtlest, most satisfying tale yet. --Nicholas H. Allison --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Parker, whose Silent Joe won an Edgar in 2001, can turn his hand to many genres: this one is a thriller with elements of family feud, and with a setting-San Diego in an unusually rainy winter-that is wonderfully moody. Homicide cop Tom McMichael is called in on the murder of wealthy old Pete Braga, a legendary local character who was once a tuna fisherman and now moves in the city's top financial circles. The problem is that his Portuguese family and McMichael's Irish one have a rivalry going back two generations. The details of that past, and the picture that emerges of two feisty old men locked into a bitter battle, are the brightest part of the book. The actual plot is more conventional: Braga's attractive nurse is an obvious suspect, so it is unwise for Tom to fall for her. Was the patriarch's killing related to local politics, or perhaps to his changed will? There are numerous red herrings-including a lurid subplot about a crooked cop and a very surprising commodity being smuggled across the border from Mexico-before the violent, rather improbable denouement. It's not unusual for a thriller to begin much better than it ends, but the more eloquent passages of Cold Pursuit make the routine ones doubly disappointing.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch (September 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006059327X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060593278
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of numerous novels, including Storm Runners and The Fallen. Alongside Dick Francis and James Lee Burke, Parker is one of only three writers to be awarded the Edgar Award for Best Novel more than once. Parker lives with his family in Southern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moody police procedural, April 29, 2003

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cold Pursuit (Hardcover)

Edgar Award-winner Parker ("Silent Joe") manages to do something a little different each time out and his eleventh is a police procedural made personal by family feuding. When 84-year-old Portuguese tuna-boat captain turned Ford dealership tycoon, Pete Braga, is bludgeoned to death in his San Diego bayfront home, homicide cop Tom McMichael catches the case. Braga had killed McMichael's grandfather 50 years earlier and gotten off with self-defense. Braga's son was later brain damaged in a beating long ascribed to McMichael's father, but never proven. Then, years later, the feud derailed the first-love passion between McMichael and Braga's headstrong granddaughter.

The initial suspect is the beautiful young nurse whose home is full of items from Braga's various collections, but her alibi pans out and a romance with McMichael heats up. The investigation branches out to include political wrangling and underhanded business-as-usual money deals in a proposed new airport, a Mexican smuggling operation using Braga's new Fords, and, of course, the heirs. The plot is complex (sometimes confusingly so) and McMichael's inappropriate love life comes to the attention of police department politicos, further muddying the waters. While the story is not particularly compelling or suspenseful, Parker's characters are well-fleshed, preserving a touch of human mystery and murk, and the blustery San Diego winter provides a moody backdrop.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Genuine Page Turner, October 24, 2004

By 

Pangloss "soldierblue" (Woodstock, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cold Pursuit (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read many T. Jefferson Parker books and this is one of the best. You see the term "page turner" used a lot but this is one book that really grabs you and keeps you reading until the end. There is murder, a little romance and a dedicated cop who is tracking down a killer while dealing with his own demons. I dare anyone to start this mystery and not finish it in one sitting. It is really quite riveting.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly vivid, compelling mystery., March 22, 2003

By 

Steve "Steve" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Pursuit (Hardcover)

This was my first book by T. Jefferson Parker, & I enjoyed it thoroughly. Being a San Diego native myself, I'll happily vouch for Mr Parker's extremely detailed command of the finer details of our city's geography, climate, & incredibly incestous Port Commission. Overall, an extremely compelling procedural mystery that kept me guessing 'til the end.