Laguna Heat [Hardcover]

T. Jefferson Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1985

Laguna...
Where every day the sun makes a promise the nighttime breaks, while the super-rich live out expensive fantasies in posh beach houses and drown their memories in Cuervo Gold margaritas...
Laguna...
Where trouble has swept in like a Santa Ana wind, blowing the cover off a world of torture, murder and blood-red secrets
Laguna...
Where a crazed killer has turned paradise into a Disneyland of depraved violance--with a fiery vengeance--and where homicide cop Tom Shephard unravels a grisly mystery that reaches back across forty years of sordid sex, blackmail, and suicide into the dark corners of his own past, and sweats out a deadly truth in the sweltering..
Laguna Heat

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

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Laguna Heat will linger in the memory long after all the puzzle's pieces are finally in place."
- The Washington Post

"Parker is a potent and irresistible writer." - Los Angeles Times

"Parker writes prose so hard-boiled he might have inherited Raymond Chandler's saucepan." - USA Today

"Slick and elegant..." - Los Angeles Times

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

About the Author

T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of fourteen previous 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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: St. Martins Press; 1st edition (September 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312464347
• ISBN-13: 978-0312464349
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,148,610 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

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superior detective story, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Laguna Heat (Mass Market Paperback)

It pains me to see only 1 other review in this space. I'm fairly new to T. Jefferson Parker, but to my mind he's better than John Sandford, Jonathan Kellerman, and James Patterson, much better than Robin Cook and Patricia Cornwell, and nearly the equal of Michael Connelly. Obviously he needs some better representation. Laguna Heat is a well plotted mystery with plausible twists and ironies. The characters, especially Tom Shepard, are authentic and finely nuanced, full of human frailties and intriguing historical baggage that unfolds along with the murder investigation. This book never overwhelmed me with its power, but consistently impressed me with its competence. Not a sentence rang false. I will eagerly seek out other Parker titles, and recommend this to any fans of the mystery/detective genre.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a Terrific Debut Novel--Loved it!, July 10, 2000

By 

K. Barrett "katibar" (Valley Mills, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Laguna Heat (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read all T. Jefferson Parker's current novels and loving them, I decided to check out his earlier stuff. Laguna Heat arrived and I started it late one afternoon. Immediately, I was drawn into the storyline; but, even more importantly, I was drawn into the mind and character of Tom Shephard. What a well-developed character Parker has given us here. So much is going on in the life of the former-LA cop...trying to live with a righteous shooting from his early-cop days and coping with a new position and murder spree in his hometown, quiet Laguna Beach. And all his father's old friends are involved someway. Too, he is dealing with the heartbreak of divorce, hanging on for dear life. This was just a great read and one I'm so glad I found. I'm only sorry that some of the other early Parkers are out of print and I can't get them. T. Jefferson Parker has become one of my favorite mystery writers and I look forward to starting his latest, Red Light.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A classic "Who done it?", August 26, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Auburn CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Laguna Heat (Mass Market Paperback)

I actually purchased this book by accident at a used book sale. After I started reading it I couldn't stop. Mr. Parker's writing style let the whole story portray in my mind. I could picture the characters and even smell the salt air. Sometimes I would stop and read an entire paragraph over because it was so beautifully poised. The plot has some twists and turns and about three quarters of the way through I had a hunch on solving the mystery and I had to keep reading to see if I was right, but there was a surprise at the end. The only flaw that I saw was from a legal standpoint. In real life it would not have ended this way because of the way our justice system works. I won't give it away but it has to do with correct police interrogation procedure. Of course I'm probably just being picky because of having a law background. After I finished this book I went out and purchased "Little Saigon" and "Pacific Beat". I think that this book would make a heck of a good movie. Keep on pumping out the books Mr. Parker and I'll keep reading them.