Customer Reviews

WHERE SERPENTS LIE

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first discovered T. Jefferson Parker in Silent Joe, a carefully crafted and intriguing story with a twist. Joe, a sweet man with a damaged face, is one of Parker's great heroes. Naughton, in Where Serpents Lie, is another. He's a self-acknowledged flawed character who lives with regret and sorrow and deception while struggling to do his job as head of the Crimes Against Youth division of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. I liked him immensely, perhaps because he is flawed enough to be real. The crimes against children which he investigates make your hair stand on end, partly because you know they really happen. But Parker appears to have done his research and presents the cases and circumstances with compassion while creating a villain who is both monstrous and yet sympathetic. This is an exciting if long read, maybe a trifle overwritten. The novel contains one glaring error that no other reviewer has commented on, so I will. After Naughton sees photos of himself that he knows are doctored, he goes to a friend and asks the friend to doctor some photos himself, of a woman bathing a child, a woman and child who have never actually met. Apparently, Naughton means to use this doctored photo as proof that the photos which resulted in his suspension from CAY were also doctored. As readers we get on board with this idea and wait to see what happens. But we wait in vain, for this entire plot line and the requested doctored photo is never heard of again. The photo never materializes and the friend is never again mentioned. It's an editor's job to catch these things so I blame him or her more than Parker himself for this big ooops. Other than that, Serpent is another winner in the Parker ouevre. I put Parker in the company of Dennis Lehane, James W. Hall, and Carl Hiassen--all gifted writers and good storytellers.

This is a big chunk of a book: 557 pages of thick type, a Stephen King-length piece of modern fiction reading. But "Where Serpents Lie," while following a well-worn path of sociopath criminal novels ("Red Dragon" comes immediately to mind), moves quickly and is very exciting. The reader is spared wordy digressions, long explanations of the obvious. One-dimensional supporting characters also are kept at a minimum. A notable virtue is the author's careful avoidance of excess gore: the book's not an exercise in can-you-top-this gruesomeness. It shows restraint. And yet that does not detract from its power. In fact, the truly awful crimes are hinted at, they are threatened, looming like a distant but approaching summer thunderstorm, with the beginnings of a corkscrew tornado cloud descending. The most disturbing undertone may lie in the protaginist's psyche. A detective leading the investigation of a potential child killer, he's recovering from the death of his own son, in a seeming accident, although the details of that aren't revealed until the shattering final chapters. Indeed, that mystery is the greatest, as the "Horridus" storyline is strictly paint-by-numbers. Thrown in, to great effect, is the possibility that the policeman might have some truly pervese instincts himself. You never are given so much information that you can judge, 'til the smoke clears at the end. Mr. Parker's language is as clear as a reporter's, and he does not insult the reader's intelligence, clearly the biggest fault of most popular crime fiction. I'll be picking up more of his books to see if he's the real thing. With a few more plot twists and refractions on the central storyline, "Where Serpents Lie" could have been a classic. As it is, great potential is the verdict.

What makes T. Jefferson Parker's novels so great are the way that they paint a picture in your head on how twisted people can become.

While being a regular detective/mystery thriller novel, this one leads a little to the darker things in life and some very strange and bizzarre rituals that the 'baddie' involves us in.

Also there are a few sub plots to the book that really display great character development. There are a few instances of real page turners where you the author shocks you and your jaw drops.

What stops this from 5 stars is a slightly 'hokey' climax, and a very quick resloution to one of the sub-plots, but on the whole a very eerie, bordering on supernatural thriller.

It's been well over ten years since I read T. Jefferson Parker's LAGUNA HEAT. I remember that it was a good book. For whatever reason, I didn't follow up on Mr. Parker's other works as he continued to write. That was my mistake! Thankfully, I've rediscovered him. I just finished WHERE SERPENTS LIE and though the novel was written over two years ago, I have to place it on my list of best books that I've read so far in the new millennium. The story deals with Sergeant Terry Naughton, head of the Crimes Against Youth Division of the Orange County Sheriff Department in Southern California, and his hunt for the Horridus, a man who preys on young children. Two years before, Terry suffered the lost of his five-year-old son, Matt, in a swimming accident. He still feels the immense pain of the tragedy, not to mention the sense of failure and regret he experienced when he and his wife could no longer live together after what happened. Terry now pours all of his energy into trying to save as many children as possible from the human monsters out there, who secretly hunt, sexually abuse, and kill these innocents as a means to fulfilling their sick desires. There is one man who calls himself the Horridus, and he's the worst of the monsters. His pleasure comes in the form of kidnapping the children right out of their homes, then using them to complete his dark fantasies before feeding them to his thirty-foot long python. Now, in my opinion, this is definitely a guy you want to do a "Dirty Harry" on. Terry feels the same way. His one goal is to put this predator down the hard way, hopefully before he kills again. As Terry gets deeper into the hunt, he's suddenly sidetracked when mysterious pictures of him having sex with a minor are discovered by members of his department while checking out a crime scene. Terry knows that he is innocent, but few others seem to believe him. The question is who's setting him up for the big fall? Who has the most to gain? Is it the Horridus, or is it possibly one of the members of his department? Terry quickly finds himself on suspension while an investigation is started into the incriminating pictures. He refuses, however, to just sit back and wait, especially while the Horridus is still kidnapping children. With or without the help of his department, he's determined to nail this guy. He simply has to do it before he finds himself in jail on false charges. WHERE SERPENTS LIE will surprise you again and again. Just when you think you know where it's going, there will be a twist that takes you in a completely different direction. You may at times feel sick as Mr. Parker delves into the hideous side of human nature, but at no point will you stop rooting for our hero to put down this evil specimen of humanity. The writing is taunt and the suspense is relentless. Mr. Parker has created a hero with a tormented soul in the character of Terry Naughton, and your heart will go out to him at the ending when he's forced to look at himself and the people around him, realizing that monsters can come in many different disguises. This is certainly the kind of book you will try to read in one day. Don't rush it. Savor the anticipation and excitement of each page, and take your time. Allow yourself at least two days of delightful enjoyment. I'm now getting ready to start Mr. Parker's next novel, THE BLUE HOUR. From the blurb on the back cover, it appears to be every bit as good as this one was.

Parker captures the attention of the reader from page one and does not release you until the end of the book--which ends all too soon for the entralled reader. Naughton is a believable non-hero with a lot of problems and a lot of good in him, too. I cheered for his triumphs, cried over his defeats and read the whole book in less than 24 hours. You must have this book!!!

This was the first book by T. Jefferson Parker that I have read and it was a stunner. An ingenious plot with twists and turns that kept you guessing and intrigued. Character development was excellent - I sympathized or detested almost everyone in the book. I was a little disappointed with the climax regarding the Horridus, but this is minor. One sub-plot involving Terry Naughton's son is wrapped in the final pages and my jaw dropped. This book is generally an easy read, but enthralling. Grab it and devour it!

Wow. The publication date for this book is listed here as "1900" and I find it very impressive that the author was able to both write and publish this book before he was even born.

This was my first experience with this author, and I would recommend this book to everyone. It took me a full 2 weeks to finish, because I found myself not so engrossed in the story through the middle of the book. The final chapters of the book though kept me wanting to find out more. There were plot twists that were unforseeable, to me anyway. I was stupified a couple of times. The characters in this story were believable, although not memorable. Donna Mason, the main character's "mistress" was too supportive, it made me wonder if there was something she was hiding. Come on, no one is that nice!
Over all I give this book a thumbs up and will put it on my to-read-again list.

While the storyteller does an excellent job of weaving 2 seperate plots, he leaves out one important factor. The villian wasn't scary. The villian has to be like a horrible car accident. While it makes your insides shudder and crawl, you still can't look away. All the reviews for this book compare the villian, Horridus, to Hannibal the Cannibal. Not even close. Looking into Hannibal's soul was like looking into a snakes eyes. You are completly mesmorized and cannot look away, even when you know the danger that lurks within them. Don't get me wrong it was a good read but it won't keep you up at night.

This book was recommended to me by a police officer. We both work crimes against children cases and this book is absolutely right on target. The events that take place in this book are the exact same events that take place in our local communities each and every day. We just don't get to hear the details of those. I could not lay this book down! It was right up my alley!