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Black Water: A Merci Rayborn Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

by T. Jefferson Parker (Author) "Archie pushed the gearshift into third and set his hand on her knee..." (more)
Key Phrases: livery plates, viewing stones, size sixteen, Archie Wildcraft, Gwen Wildcraft, Orange County (more...)

4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Merci Rayborn, T. Jefferson Parker's stubborn, principled Orange County detective, is almost alone in believing that deputy Archie Wildcraft didn't kill his beautiful young wife and then turn his service weapon on himself. The evidence against Wildcraft--now hospitalized with a bullet lodged in his head--seems overwhelming. But Merci, who's still unpopular for exposing an old police scandal that caused the death of one cop and the ruination of others (The Blue Hour), is resisting pressure from her boss and a headline-hunting D.A. to arrest Wildcraft and charge him with murder.

Then the deputy, who's lost his memory and maybe his mind as a result of his injury, goes missing from his hospital room, intent on tracking down the real killers and managing to stay a step ahead of Merci. Soon, they both begin to realize that Gwen Wildcraft wasn't killed because she got in the way of an attempted hit on her husband--it was the other way around. Parker, whose skills at characterization are as well honed as his expert pacing and intricate plotting, has penned another standout that will keep readers guessing and gasping until the last dramatic page. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
After 10 California noir cop thrillers, Parker may have finally settled on a series character to anchor at least a portion of his work: Merci Rayborn, a single mom consumed by her job as a homicide detective with the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The Blue Hour and Edgar-nominated Red Light both chronicled the professional fall from grace that left Rayborn a black sheep in the department, and she remains a fascinating (if somewhat distressing) character to watch. Without her colleagues' full cooperation, she plows into a thorny double shooting: a beautiful young woman, Gwen Wildcraft, is found dead in her lavish hillside home, while her husband, sheriff deputy Archie Wildcraft, lies in the garden with a bullet in his head. Archie manages to survive, but has little memory of what happened. Growing evidence, however, indicates that he murdered his wife, then failed at trying to kill himself. Despite the media clamoring for answers and political pressure mounting to arrest Archie, Rayborn's instinct tells her this was not a bungled murder/suicide. Instead, the case points her in other directions, toward an upstart biotech company, Russian mobsters and Archie's nearly impenetrable past. Parker takes great strides in unfurling Rayborn's life of quiet desperation and that of her immediate social circle her father, her partner on the force and her young son. Though lacking the kind of explosive finale that marks most of Parker's novels, this latest is a showcase for mood, setting and pace. $150,000 marketing campaign; national author tour.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (March 1, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786890169
ISBN-13: 978-0786890163
Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #328,797 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Archie pushed the gearshift into third and set his hand on her knee. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
livery plates, viewing stones, size sixteen, blue notebook, shop rag, gunshot residue

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Archie Wildcraft, Gwen Wildcraft, Orange County, Deputy Wildcraft, Sergeant Rayborn, Gary Brice, Sean Moss, Newport Beach, Air Glide, Ryan Dawes, Damon Reese, Michelle Howland, Natalie Wildcraft, Sonny Charles, Foot Rite, Sheriff's Department, Trent Gentry, Bar Czar, San Diego, Santa Ana, William Jones, Coast Highway, Ike Sumich, John Stebbins, Merci Rayborn

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 16 books:

The Blue Hour by T.Jefferson Parker in Front Matter, and Back Matter
Red Light by T.Jefferson Parker in Front Matter, and Back Matter
Silent Joe by T.Jefferson Parker in Front Matter, and Back Matter
Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker in Front Matter, and Back Matter
Blue Hour, The by T. Jefferson Parker in Front Matter, and Back Matter

See all 16 books this book cites

8 books cite this book:

Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Blood Is the Sky: An Alex McKnight Mystery (Alex McKnight Novels) by Steve Hamilton in Front Matter
The Guards: A Novel (Jack Taylor Series) by Ken Bruen in Front Matter
Blitz (Inspector Brant Series) by Ken Bruen in Front Matter
Ice Run: An Alex McKnight Novel (Alex McKnight Novels) by Steve Hamilton in Front Matter

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Blue Hour, The by T. Jefferson Parker

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Red Light by T. Jefferson Parker

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Customer Reviews

40 Reviews

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
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Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (40 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Parker Keeps Getting Better and Better, April 24, 2002

By	G. Passantino (Costa Mesa, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Black Water (Hardcover)

This newest entry from Parker was so engrossing that I read it through in one sitting -- and emerged blinking my eyes at the world as it was rather than as I had experienced it in this complex drama of murder and redemption.

Homicide detective Merci Rayborn returns to Parker's pen to solve the murder and attempted murder of a young Southern California golden girl and her husband, Gwen and Archie Wildcraft. Archie is a deputy in Rayborn's Orange County Sheriff's office.

So -- is it a simple home robbery gone bad? or a husband getting rid of his wife and deliberately shooting himself in the head to throw off suspicion? or organized crime gone amok? or someting else entirely?

If you read Black Water for nothing more than the plot, you will be richly rewarded, but you will miss the book's most powerful effect -- the complexity of character that subtly sucks in the reader until the climax becomes as personally devastating to the reader as it is for some of the characters, and as redemptive as it is for Merci.

The delicate balance between work and family, the world and home, the principle and the person is one that Parker has achieved with grace and power. I've followed his books since his first, Little Laguna, and he just keeps getting better. He is among my top 5 favorite authors.

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Police procedure with real emotional impact--great, May 14, 2002

By	booksforabuck "BooksForABuck.com" (Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Black Water (Hardcover)

Homocide Sergeant Merci Rayborn has screwed up before--let made the wrong call in the battle between her emotions and her logic--and she swears she isn't going to in this case. The evidence looks compelling. A local sheriff's deputy is found with a gun in his hand, a bullet in his skull, and a dead wife in his house shot with that gun. Add in a recent fight and a spending pattern that a deputy's pay could never support and it's a clear murder-suicide. Except that Merci thinks that something is wrong. But then, can she even trust her judgement?

Author T. Jefferson Parker does a great job on the details of police procedure, making ordinary detection compelling. Where he really stands out, however, is in his development of character and character emotion. Merci Rayborn, in her third novel, is no longer the young innocent of THE BLUE HOUR. She still believes in what she is doing, but she is no longer so sure of where she is going. BLACK WATER delves deeply into her angst and is somehow more powerful but also more exciting because of it. Archie Wildcraft, the wounded Deputy, is also powerfully drawn as he battles with his loss of memory and especially the loss of feelings caused by brain trauma and the bullet that remains inside his skull.

BLACK WATER certainly stands alone and is a wonderful and powerful book. Fans of T. Jefferson Parker will be overjoyed to see Merci back--and rewarded for the wait. If you aren't familiar with this series, it would be worth a look to find the novels in order (the earlier novels, THE BLUE HOUR and RED LIGHT. Another excellent novel by an exciting novelist.

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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't stop thinking about this book!, April 14, 2002

By	Barbara Hayes (Deerfield Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Black Water (Hardcover)

I read all of the time and I think Black Water is the best book I've read in a long time. How do I know? Because even as I read another book, I keep thinking about this book. Even when I close my eyes to go to sleep, I keep thinking about this book.
I admit that I already have strong feelings about this author. I've read all of his earlier books and I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Black Water. I'm so happy to be able to say that I'm not disappointed. T. Jefferson Parker writes this character (Merci Rayborn, a Sergeant/Detective with the Orange County Sheriff's Department) with amazing insight and sensitivity. She's a wonderfully complex character that we've watched grow through The Blue Line and Red Light. She's experienced enough loss and disappointment to test her confidence. Yet she bravely continues to put one foot in front of the other, bringing herself to a point where the reader is confident that her future is potentially bright.
As for the story, Archie Wildcraft, a Deputy with the OCSD, is found with a bullet in his head. His wife is found shot to death with his gun in their bathroom. It looks like a murder/suicide attempt but to Merci it just doesn't "feel" right. Archie survives and soon walks out of the hospital to investigate for himself, not an easy task since he still has a bullet in his head. Parker gives us amazing insight into the thinking of someone with a brain injury which, as the wife of a brain injury survivor, I know is no easy task! Incredibly, Archie and Merci separately come to the same conclusions about what really happened through the twists and turns of their very different investigations.
This is a well told story with a good plot and what I found to be a hopeful, satisfying ending. It's a book I've recommended to all of my friends by an author that should be read more people. A rare book that's worth even a second read.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great novel by Parker
Jefferson Parker is undoubtedly one of the more interesting and creative authors in the mystery genre. Read more

Published 4 months ago by J. P. Weimer

4.0 out of 5 stars 3rd Times A Charm for Merci Rayborn
Merci Rayborn returns in Black Water for her third go aroung as Parker's lead detective. If you haven't read Blue Hour and Red Light, you might be a little confused, as this... Read more

Published on April 4, 2006 by On The Road

3.0 out of 5 stars So-So
Merci Rayborn is a tough-as-nails female cop with a small son, a suspicious partner and half the department against her because she blew the whistle on some dirty cops a long time... Read more

Published on July 31, 2005 by Lady Naava

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed In This One
Orange County Sheriff Deputy Archie Wildcraft hears a disturbance in his home in the middle of the night. He investigates and is shot in the head. Read more

Published on October 29, 2004 by N. Sausser

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best writers in the genre
One of the best writers of the genre is the 2002 Edgar Award winning author, T. Jefferson Parker. He is capable of, not only writing a superior mystery ,but of writing it in... Read more

Published on March 4, 2004 by Larry Gandle

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Story - But The Kid.....
This is the first one of the Merci Rayburn books I've read. It's a good solid story, albeit a little slow and plodding at times. Read more

Published on March 1, 2004 by Mr. R. H. Thompson

5.0 out of 5 stars MERCI'S LAW
In this latest entry in the Merci Rayborn series, Parker brings her to a more compassionate and understanding, if still feisty, woman. Read more

Published on January 14, 2004 by Michael Butts

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Boring and Tedious
Unlike "Silent Joe", which was a very enjoyable book, this novel takes forever to get to a not-hard-to-guess ending. Read more

Published on January 2, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Angst in Orange County
T. Jefferson Parker is a genius. I read everything he writes, and I have never been disappointed. Black Water reaches his usual standard of excellence, and I will be proud to... Read more

Published on October 15, 2003 by Hugo

5.0 out of 5 stars Parker's Best
I haven't yet finished Black Water, but I believe it's Parker's best to date. Mercie has come into own with Black Water and that alone has made this a real good read. Read more

Published on June 16, 2003 by Jim Baker

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