Paradise Bay [Hardcover]

James Michael Pratt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2002

The New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author James Michael Pratt brings you to a small, coastal Californian town and delivers a poignant and unforgettable novel woven between the Vietnam War and the present day....

Jack Santos never had a father-or so he believed. All his life, he was told his father was killed in the Vietnam War. Jack was raised by his mother alone, and all his life he was searching for something he couldn't name. A twist of fate changes everything he thought he knew, however. He discovers his father isn't dead after all and that for the past decades he has been suspended between life and death; between dreaming and waking. Jack is hungry for everything he can find out about this father, Levi Harper. And the only link he has to the past is through Levi's journals. It is through these journals that Jack discovers who his father really is: from a small boy in Paradise Bay, California, to an eager young man going off to Vietnam, to a young husband who desperately wants a future for his wife, Levi Harper reveals his loves, dreams, hopes...and secrets. Can Jack discover the truth about his own life? And can he find the love that will always bring him back to Paradise Bay? For anyone who came of age in the 1950s, 60s, or 70s, Paradise Bay is a story that will show you the true meaning of love, and will take you home again.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

New York Times bestseller James Michael Pratt (Ticket Home) returns with a painfully corny tale about a son in search of a connection to a father he never knew in Paradise Bay. Levi Harper, injured in Vietnam, remained in a coma for 30 years and awoke long enough to launch a successful musical career and revive an affair with the love of his life, Janna. When she fell ill, the stress was too much for Levi and he relapsed. Now his son, Jack Santos, seeks to learn about the man (and himself) through Levi's journals. The unbridled sentimentality, wooden dialogue and hokey plot will be hard for even Pratt's fans to endure.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Pratt has a knack for bringing to life stories about love and war, and both are entwined here. Jack Santos always wished he knew his father, but now that Jack knows he is alive, he can't communicate with him. Levi Harper, a "piano man" like his son, suffered a head wound while serving in Vietnam and fell into a coma. Thirty years later he regains consciousness and is amazed to be an old man instead of a young soldier on his last mission before marrying his childhood sweetheart, Jenna, who is not Jack's mother, but Levi only has four years before he goes under again. Fortunately, he leaves Jack the journals he wrote while coping with his traumatic awakening. Soon Jack is immersed in his father's life, beginning with his childhood and moving through his reluctant but heroic service during the Vietnam War, his love for music, and his love for Jenna, a passion that kept him from marrying Jack's mother. Ultimately, Jack learns as much about himself as about his father. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (May 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312266340
• ISBN-13: 978-0312266349
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,488,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Michael Pratt is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling fiction author. Jim recently completed research and co-writing for the documentary and Rex J. Pratt Film, Between Iraq and a Hard Place. He is currently writing a screenplay taken from his regional bestseller, The Good Heart. Called "... a master of moral fiction," by Booklist, his novels are filled with history laden plots, conflict, mystery, and romance.

People Magazine billed Jim's breakout novel, The Last Valentine (1998-1999) "...a return ticket to Bridges of Madison Country territory." It is scheduled for a Hallmark Hall of Fame television "Movie of the Week" in early 2007. The Lighthouse Keeper, (2000-2001) and Ticket Home (2001-2002) hit bestseller charts across the country. Kirkus Reviews called the trio "...the fictionalization of The Greatest Generation," for the vivid portrayal of life and love before, during, and after World War Two.

Paradise Bay, (2002-2003) is a coming-of-age story geographically set between LA and an abandoned fishing hamlet just north of Santa Barbara, CA. Paradise Bay holds secrets for a present day musician son who never knew his Vietnam War hero-father. Sweeping back to the 1950s-60s with social changes, music, horrors of Vietnam, we see a young aspiring "piano man," drafted into the Marines and then seriously wounded. His music sleeps with him for thirty years. He will awaken from a battle induced coma to a strange world with new music, a son he never knew, and a love he had thought lost forever.

The Good Heart, (2005) depicts the entrapping of three troubled lives, one beating heart, and an unsolved mystery. Set in the fast-paced, power-hungry climate of the nation's capital and Tallahassee, FL. Jim's newest novel combines political and medical intrigue with passion and danger while unraveling the mystery behind a brotherly pact that has lain hidden for forty years.

Jim cultivated story-telling from his earliest days of carefree 1960's boy at play in the fields and hills near the old Corriganville Movie Ranch sets in Simi Valley, CA. His father's World War Two combat and two older brother's Vietnam service influenced Jim, at an early age, to study history in gen eral and military history specifically. Fluent in Spanish, he often uses the language and settings of old California and the Southwest where he grew up to add color, realism, and flavor to his stories.

In memoirs created as tributes to everyday parents, Jim reminds the reader in MOM, The Woman Who Made Oatmeal Stick to My Ribs, and DAD, The Man Who Lied To Save the Planet of a time and place when seemingly complex matters of life had simple, straightforward answers colored by time honored and traditional virtues and values. He recently finished two novels in the inspirational category, both available at Amazon.com; The Christ Report and As A Man Thinketh, In His Heart.

As well as author, James Pratt serves as Chairman of PowerThink Publishing, LLC. For more on James Michael Pratt and his writings see: www.jmpratt.com and www.powerthink.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paradise Bay, December 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Paradise Bay (Hardcover)

When I saw this book, I did judge it by the cover, and I thought it would be a pretty good book. So checked it out from the local library and read it. I have to say, I couldn't keep it down, I kept reading till I was done. This book keept me reading from cover to cover. This is an amazingly written book, the idea and plot is unthinkable. This book is worth reading, infact it's worth owning. It would be a pleasure to read it over and over again, which is why I reccomend this book. Rating this book five stars was a mistake, it should be ratied ten stars or a hundred stars, or infinity stars. So if you are looking for a fantastically-great-full of adventure-never put down to stop type of book to read, I more than recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great story but lacking a strong finish., March 26, 2003

By 

Jaha (CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paradise Bay (Hardcover)

A very entertaining read that caught my eye and I couldn't put it down. Pratt weaves a unique story of love, life in the 50-60's and Vietnam. I found the story to be a real page turner and Pratt's simple but effective prose worked wonders. The life of Levi especially during the war was very well done and the characters were colorful and personable yet also innocent at times. The story itself is a compelling tale yet unrealistic at times the story reads extremely fast. I ploughed through it in a couple hours and I am not a fast reader. Each page kept me going. My only problem with the story was it's Hollywood style happy ending. Filled with grief, mourning, and hardships throughout I was shocked to see that in the end Pratt briefly wraps it all up in a simplistic manner and over the course of only a couple pages. had the ending been more realistic and thoroughly portrayed I would have given it a 5 star rating.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An old fashioned love story, July 16, 2002

By 

Terry Bennett - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paradise Bay (Hardcover)

Never having read Mr. Pratt's previous works I decided to give this one a try since my book club reviews praised it highly. Usually I read mysteries and this did have an air of mystery about it. Also I just finished Up Country where I learned a lot about Viet Nam geographically and culturally and was able to place the locations mentioned in this work though nowhere near as detailed as in the former. The beginning was slow and I guess I would have to say the whole pace was slow except for the war episodes. I could relate to all the music and musicians mentioned and life in the 50s to the present. Levi Harper was one loyal loving guy and his Jenna the heart and soul of his being. A love that strong can carry you to heights of delight and excitement and carry you when burdened with imminent death. All the characters, including Jack, were interesting personalities and seeing how their lives were woven together because of love was delightful. Paradise Bay sounds idyllic as does Catalina Island - 26 Miles Across the Sea. Without explicit sex, graphic violence, and foul language, but with religion, love, humor and music James Pratt told a wonderful love story through journals, flashbacks, and characters' insights. It was thoroughly refreshing. Have already bought A Ticket Home!