Customer Reviews

Pacific Beat

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having read many of Parker's more recent books, I decided to read Pacific Beat, which was his third book written in 1991. This book clearly demonstrates that even early-on in his career Parker had a strong talent for creating intricate plots, rich characters, lots of atmosphere and believable, tough prose. Pacific Beat is a story of murder and corruption in Newport Beach, CA, and, in typical Parker fashion, has some interesting plot twists and a surprising ending. Two factors, however, kept me from giving this book a 5-star rating (and almost caused me to lower my rating to 3 1/2 stars). One, and the bigger of the two factors, is that it is a little too long and tended to drag at times. For me, this problem would have been overcome, if it was about 50 pages or so shorter. The second factor is that a few of the surprises seemed a bit too contrived. While not Parker's best book (which to me is Where Serpents Lie), Pacific Beat is worth reading.

A beautifully written sensitive portrayal of characters and relationships woven into a good story. One of the best in this genre. Parker has hooked me.

So, why not an A?

For my tastes, it was a little too dark and a little too slow. Sometimes it felt like some of the plot twists were forced on the reader by way of surprise information (to the reader) that all of the characters already knew about, such as the many connections between the land developer and the local politicians.

On the other hand, I was surprised by the ending which, despite the slow parts in the rest of the book, just flew by.

Strong character development, good use of false leads. Solid, solid work.

I loved this book! Icouldn't wait to finish it,but didn't want it to end. It is the first book I've read by T.J. Parker and I am looking forward to reading them all.Pacific Beat has suspense, good, evil and a dash of love as well. I hope I enjoy Parkers' other novels as much.

Jefferson Parker has talent, he writes in the Ross MacDonald manner which is great but he really needs to shorten the books a bit. This one went for 450 pages and I think 300 pages would have been more than enough.

The lead character has just returned from Mexico after a hellish trip there (not too sure why there was a need to push being falsely accused and thrown into jail then mysteriously released, if you aren't going to explain what happened with the release) and is catching up with his family. That night his sister is found murdered.

The novel is based on the mystery of what happened to the sister and in the best private eye tradition, there are deep dark secrets going back many years that come to light during the course of the book.

It is not a bad book just dragged so much.

"Pacific Beat" is T. Jefferson Parker's best book to date. It is filled with suspense, the characters are real and believable, and it is very well written. The ending is sure to surprise! An excellent example of what crime fiction can be when it's in the hands of those like T. Jefferson Parker.

"Pacific Beat" by T. Jefferson Parker is a strong book that I thought a bit too long. He is one of the most descriptive writers (Sample passages: "The silver limousine appeared in the fog as if born from it." "They say we have our memories, thought Jim, but really our memories have us.") and sometimes gets carried away---slowing down the plot movement.

Excellent suspense and a terrific overall plot---with fully fleshed out characters.

As usual, Orange County is a major character. This time it appears someone is dumping chemicals in the harbor. This could ruin property values and allow developers an [inexpensive] price, permitting them to raze everything and create some pricey real estate.

Uncovering a murderer seems to be a major key to locating the illegal waste disposers. I dismissed the murderer as a suspect early on and fell for most of the false leads.

It is a good book that would be great if shorter and more to the point. It's not a page-turner.

T. Jeff is a wonderful writer and storyteller.

I'm a relatively new fan of T. Jefferson Parker's work. I read Silent Joe (Edgar Winner) in 2008 and loved it. I followed that up with Red Light (Edgar Finalist), California Girl (Edgar Winner), and L.A. Outlaws; all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I then decided to go back to the beginning of his published works and see how his writing had started and evolved.

I thought Laguna Heat was very good, Little Saigon just okay, and then experienced disappointment in Pacific Beat. Maybe Parker was experimenting, working on refining his craft. The story frequently dragged, the plot sometimes moving so slowly that I thought he might have been trying to write in slow motion. Every character seemed to have an endless array of internal demons fighting to take control. It actually wore me out, so many depressed people living in such a wonderful place (I once lived in Laguna Beach and spent a lot of time in Newport Beach). Two or three times I considered giving up and moving on to another novel. It took me a long time to finish reading this book. My reading sped up when I started skipping a lot of descriptive narrative that had little to do with the plot. Here's the best summary I can provide: a) the protagonist's best friend is manipulating him, b) the protagonist's ex-girlfriend is manipulating him, c) the protagonist's mother is manipulating him, d) the Newport Beach police department are manipulating the protagonist, and e) in the end the protagonist is willing to forgive them all...which just didn't ring true to me. Additionally, the protagonist doesn't even solve the murder mystery, he just sort of stumbles around while other people figure it out. He's not even the catalyst for the people who do solve the mystery. Going back to his ex-girlfriend seemed like a very stupid decision. In the end we discover that everybody else was two steps ahead of him. I never developed any sympathy for protagonist or personal connection to him. I ended up thinking Jim Weir was naïve and gullible, and not someone I would ever cheer for.

I can't recommend Pacific Beat. Granted, Parker has a good prose style, and developed the characters well. Unfortunately, the story dragged and the ending was a disappointment. I agree with the reviewer who thought this was too dark and too slow.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this book a lot less than I thought I was going to. I enjoyed the details and the characterization, until the latter began to fall apart. People intended to be sympathetic just don't come across that way (I really kept wondering why everyone thought Ann was so wonderful, when she was consistently anything but - and to say I didn't get the appeal of the hero's old flame is putting it mildly), and the ending.... Well, it's difficult to say much without giving away spoilers, but the ending ruined the book for me in terms of enjoyment. It was clever in a technical sense, but not very believable when added to all the misdirection. Ultimately, I just don't like the kinds of mysteries where everyone ultimately rings false and everyone has dark secrets, especially when you are drawn into what you think is the decency of at least some of the characters.