WHERE THE ORANGE BLOOMS is the compelling story of one man's will to survive and succeed despite the overwhelming obstacles brought on by the war in Viet Nam and its aftermath. Ben Cai Lam's story is a tribute to the individual strength, love and will of the human spirit. His story is a very strong example of why the American effort in this chaotic country was truly a noble cause. The story of this soldier, patriot, ally and hero is a bright, shining truth in an unpopular war which was often negatively and irresponsibly reported. This story stands as undeniable account of the dedication and determination of the honorable and selfless efforts of the South Vietnamese people to attain freedom and democracy in their wartorn homeland. I salute Mr. Lam and the author, Thomas Taylor for making this book available. It is one of the most honest and accurate accounts of the war in Viet Nam that I have had the honor and privilege to read. It is a sterling example of the respect and admiration allied soldiers and commanders have for one another in their unending quest for freedom and righteousness; despite all obstacles, foreign and domestic. It would be most appropriate if this story was reprinted and again made available to all seeking the truth about our efforts in Viet Nam.

from what I remember it was up to date and very accurate. I served with the author while in vietnam, so far in all his books his memory his pretty presise. tom if you get to see this please get me another copy of this book. I had a copy when they first came out, I was to send it to you for you to autography it, never got around. I loaned it out , now after a year I forgot whom I loaned it to.

yours truely

SSG John Pasquale Class of 65-66

I loved this book! Not much more I can say, since it's been awhile since I read it, but this is a truly memorable novel. Blaylock is at his best when he tones down the quirkiness of his characters and presents his unique brand of fantasy in a more down-to-earth setting. This novel reminded me of some of the best work of Tim Powers, a friend of Blaylock's, and someone who is mining this same vein in his writing. Highly recommended!

To me this one marks a small yet noticable difference between the earlier "classic" Blaylock (Paper Grail, Last Coin) and the rest of his stuff. The elements are all here, the regular people going about their lives in a quirky fashion, the fingers of evil magic cloaked in mundanity at the edges of everyone's awareness, it's all here. Something is just . . . different. I don't know what. There seems to be more of an emphasis on the horror aspects of the plot, it's more gruesome than many of his other books had been and a bit more downbeat as well. Walt is a typical Blaylock character, but he lacks just a tiny bit of the quirky charm that makes the others so memorable, you stand up and cheer for him through the story but more because you want the good guys to win. Blaylock has to stop the daffy older relatives thing though, it's getting a bit repetitive, this is the third book in a row I've read that features a weird uncle of some sort who is either an inventor or a dreamer or something else (Uncle Arthur in the Last Coin was by far the most original, though Uncle Roy from the Paper Grail was more enjoyable). The "regular life" stuff seems a bit more forced now, Maggie Biggs has to be the most annoying character I've encountered in a long time (which might be the point) and the rest of the stuff has a been there, done that feeling (except for the addition of the kids, which is handled realistically and face it, they're just darn cute). That said, Blaylock figured out how to make a compromise between poetic prose and a tight plotting, this is indeed a page turner, with brief short chapters advancing the plot almost constantly, there may be a lot of annoying subplots but they shift back and forth so quick that by the time it comes back around again you're almost looking forward to it. His prose is as good as ever and the book is overall really well crafted, I'm not ashamed to say that I finished it in a manner of hours and was quite satisified with the package I got. Yes, it's not "classic" Blaylock and I can't agree with some of the changes he's made in his style but it shows him attempting to do some stuff that's slightly different and if at first you don't succeed perfectly, we all know he'll try again. And I know I'll give him a chance.

What is the cost of making a deal with the devil? What sort of person enters such a deal? Can one slide into into one of these deals slowly without realizing it?

These are the questions this wonderful novel explores. Mr. Blatlock is, in my opinion, the contemporary master of combining fantastical ideas and very real, even mundane characters who tend to remind you of yourself.

I would compare this particular novel with Charles Williams' _Descent Into Hell_, which I read at about the same time. They are both fine descriptions of the road to hell and the people on it, from writers who understand that the danger involved are not just in the realm of fantasy.

Just check it out and see!

Being a Florida native I had always searched for books that capture the true essence of Florida: the residents, the visitors, the violence, the history. When I read Tim Dorsey's Florida Roadkill I thought: Finally, someone is writing about the Florida that I grew up in and know. The Florida where we invented the Home Invasion Robbery and were proud of it. The Florida where even my paperboy carries a pager, a cell phone and a Glock.

I went on to read Hammerhead Ranch Motel and loved it. Once again Tim Dorsey was able to capture Florida with all of its colorful characters and the you-have-to-read-it-to-believe-it crime combined with his amazing sense of humor. Add to the mix Serge Storms; sociopath and Florida history buff. To quote Serge "We're a twenty-four hour, dead-bolted, hair on the back of your neck, free continental breakfast deathwish vacation of a lifetime, not from concentrate..." I dont want to give away too much about his first two books except to say that if you are reading them for the first time you are in for an amazing experience. Serge rocks!

Orange Crush delivers the same humor, mayhem, and true to life image of Florida. Tim Dorsey gives his book a notable and wonderful backdrop: a Florida gubernatorial race. Being a politcal junkie I had always thought enough was not written about Florida politics. With Orange Crush Tim Dorsey takes us behind the scenes of a Florida guberntorial race with all of its intricacies, corruption, humor, and of course Serge Storms who pops up in the least likely place.

As I read Orange Crush I laughed out loud so many times that my roommate kept coming into my room to find out what was so funny. I would read the passage to him out loud and think to myself Orange Crush is truly Tim Dorsey's funniest and coolest book to date.

In his latest book, Tim Dorsey takes his cast of assorted Florida lowlifes and psychotics on a political road trip. The gubernatorial campaign is the backdrop for murder, mayhem and assorted amusing mishaps. A mean spirited and shallow candidate experiences a major paradigm shift after his reserve unit is activated causing him to end up in the middle of a bloody mess in the Balkans. Upon his return he takes to the back roads in an orange RV with a mysterious amnesiac/savant speechwriter and a minority-phobic press secretary in an attempt to find out what the regular people really want. While the press obsesses on the most average person in Florida, a serial killer is writing tourism slogans on his victims and a sociopathic developer is bringing NFL football to new lows. Fast and funny with well crafted characters this dark yet lighthearted comedy is a rapid and rewarding read. Although this is somewhat new territory, fans of Dorsey's earlier work will not be disappointed to find that a familiar character lurks in the foreground. This book is a thoroughly enjoyable view of the underbelly of Florida and the cesspool of politics.
Highly recommended.

Over-the-top? Yes, deliciously so, precisely what is hoped for and expected whenever Dorsey unleashes his blow-torch-humor within the confines of the Sunshine State. In his third book, Dorsey looks at Florida's gubernatorial race, not through glasses colored rose, but jet-black, and the result is political wackiness and sun-splashed mayhem found only in a Dorsey tome. To reveal any of the characters _ needless to say, everyone's favorite homicidal hero, Serge A. Storms, returns to spice up the dysfunctional stew _ and resulting dialogue would be to deprive the reader of Dorsey's myriad gifts _ his keen observatory sense, his mastery of Florida history, and a writing style that is all at once economical, stylish and uproariously funny. There is no fat on the bones of Dorsey's books, merely the lean, enriching meat of a writer familiar with his audience, and one who rarely fails to entertain. Dorsey's first two books, Florida Roadkill and Hammerhead Ranch Motel, gave us a taste. Orange Crush satisfies completely the palate of readers looking for a not-so-outlandish peek at Florida's political process. (Remember the recent Presidential election while you read it!!!) And to all those who think Crush is too far over the top, too nutty, with little reason to care about its characters and content, you can always cuddle up with the phone book.

This is a satisfying read if you appreciate language and character. It is a collection of views and vignettes of the author's life when he lived in Big Sur. Miller's unique personality and interests come through in his language that makes even ordinary things come more to life. It was interesting to discover what seemed like proto-new age thinking in some of this, written in the 1950's. His evocations of character are great and so is the feel of the environment. I read part of the book during a trip that took me through Big Sur, and it deepened my enjoyment of being there. The Henry Miller Library is worth visiting.

This book, and a couple of others by Miller and L. Durrell, was responsible for my husband and me quitting our jobs in LA and going to Greece for a year. And several times in the past decades, I've made pilgrimages to Partington Ridge/cove/trail/creek down the coast of Big Sur to revisit the place Miller lived and to pay homage to a great writer, a great spirit, and a great human being. Each time I stop and look up the trail toward the ridge, I swear I can see stringy, rangy Miller, sweating as he pulls a goat-cart laden with mail and groceries from the drop-off spot by the highway back up to his convict shack near the top.
The book has no real plot; it's just a rambling and random collection of philosophy, character studies, literary/artistic commentary, and journaling - all delivered with Miller's completely unique and quirky mind. I don't believe a more open-minded, curious, brilliant writer has ever lived, and for me, this is his best book, written perhaps during some of his best and most peaceful years of his long and joyful life. At its core, it's a recipe for Life.

I first read this book exactly ten years ago when I was struggling through a profound period of depression. I don't want to say that the book cured me, because that would be too facile and too drastic a declaration, but I will say that Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch was the first real beacon, the first glimmer of light to lead me out of a suffocating psychological cave. I don't know why, exactly, but when I began reading the book, a deep sense of peace came over me for the first time in several months. The book seemed to open up my eyes and my ears and my throat and even my lungs; I found myself sucking in big sweet gulps of air, and I started to detect a freedom and a limitlessness in the world that I had previously failed to recognize. Of course, there is no way that I can promise that you will have the same reaction. Over the years I have passed the book along to various friends: Some of them have fallen in love with it and some of them have been utterly bored. That is understandable. The book has no plot; in fact, it doesn't really pretend to have any forward momentum. The narrative just floats. As other reviewers have noted (both enthusiastically and bitterly), Henry Miller delivers in this book a seemingly random swirl of philosophy, wit, character studies, soaring observations of topography and weather, literary and arty musings, puzzles, koans, epigrams, aphorisms, scripture, historical trivia, astrological forecasts, and jokes. It does not, upon first glance, have any point whatsoever. But that, friend, is the point. What Miller is laying out here (in a unique way, free of the usual hippie jargon) is a meditation on how to live a different life, a vibrant life, a life of the spirit, which is, by his definition, a narrative that refuses to conform to the usual numbing standards of conduct. So if you are looking for a "story," per se, keep driving until you get to Monterey. And if you are looking for some of Henry Miller's famously invigorating foulness and fury, pick up Tropic of Cancer instead. If you are looking for peace, stop here.
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch is for any reader who is in the mood for a beguiling rumination on how a man once tried to bring peace into his life. The story, as such, is this: Henry Miller moves to Big Sur, one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and sets out to create a new home infused with energy, creativity, a sense of community, and an appreciation of nature, while at the same time he copes with intrusions and financial pressures and the charisma and creepiness of other people. That's it. If that sounds dull to you, steer clear. If it sounds seductive to you, plunge in. Because if these are issues that gnaw at your soul (and maybe they should, since our media-saturated culture is becoming more programmed and conformist every day), then you might find this book to be a page-turner as gripping as any of John Grisham's potboilers. I could not put it down. I read it straight through, and afterwards, I felt like every step I took was charged up with a new vitality. Crazy, huh? The way I see it, Henry Miller's big lascivious grin was one of the bravest acts of American rebellion, because it came roaring out of his heart, and the heart is where all true liberation takes place. That's the appeal of this book, for anybody who cares to explore it. In my case, this book said to a depressed man: There is another way to live. Choose it.

Overall, this book was pretty good. It started off to be very interesting, but slowed down in the middle. When the plot focused on The Horridus, I.R. Shroud, and CAY it was engrossing. However, all the extraneous stuff about the main character's personal relationships with women was just tedious reading. The story again speeds up at the end and I found myself reading through the last few chapters very quickly. It was well written and a pretty good read, but I don't understand those who say they couldn't put it down. Maybe they were referring to the last few chapters. If you are from Orange County in California, you will enjoy reading all the references to real life locations. It helped bring the story to life for me.

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.

Orange County has some terrific mystery authors who have produced some extraordinary mystery books. John Shannon's Orange Curtain, Kent Braithwaite's Wonderland Murders, and Carol Lachnit's Janie's Law immediately come to mind. T. Jefferson Parker is the top of the class, and his Where Serpents Lie is one of his darkest and most haunting books. I loved Mr. Parker's mastery of his detailed setting and his capturing the Orange County lifestyle. The reptile store featured in this novel really exists! His plot was fresh. I enjoy the way Parker creates new characters for almost every book. Where Serpents Lie is a dark book. It is well-written. I'm glad I read it.

I'm not sure I've appreciated the full meaning of the California trilogy - I can't help but feel I'm missing something deep. Nonetheless the series is highly enjoyable. KSR has a magnificent ability to convincingly portray near future scenarios. The Gold Coast is brash and packed with technology and science, yet manages to be sensitive and politically aware. I think I prefer Pacific Edge but this is definitely better than The Wild Shore.

I've read most of KSR's books and I've got to say that I think Gold Coast is the best yet. A magnificently written piece with an honest and believable main character. A SF masterpiece, Robinson knows his stuff but doesn't waste space showing off his knowledge, choosing instead to add information subtlely and cleverly.

A must read for any SF fan, or anyone who wants to read a great novel.

To judge from some of the other reviews of this book, many read The Gold Coast expecting more of Robinson's excellent adventure-SF, like the magnificent Mars Trilogy or Antarctica. Those expectations are understandable but do this great book a disservice.

The setting is Orange County in the middle of the 21st Century, with the USSR and the Cold War alive and well. Orange County has largely disappeared into a maze of highways and strip malls. The protagonist, Jim, is a twenty-something still dependent on his parents, who dabbles in Zen, post-modern poetry, works at an insurance agency and teaches night classes at a local community college. He cannot concentrate on anything for too long and tends to see other people as characters in a novel who come and go at random: when Jim's dad taught him about engine mechanics, Jim is interested and sees how the thermodynamics involved can be a metaphor for society, but then he promptly forgets it. When he visits his uncle Tom in a massive retirement home, he is fascinated by the lonely old man's storys of how Orange County used to be and resolves to spend more time with him, but as soon as the visit ends, he gets the heeby-jeebies about the retirement complex and ignores his uncle until he's obligated to visit again. He is in a relationship showing signs of becoming serious, but betrays his girlfriend for a random hook-up with a girl at a party. When Jim's friends tell him that his ex's heart was broken by the betray, he is surprised and rather indifferent.

Eventually Jim realizes how hollow he is and his first attempt to find meaning is to get involved with some saboteurs trying to end America's huge military-industrial complex. Eventually, we see him grow up and develop a mature relationship with an art teacher, and even become reconciled with his parents. He also finds his voice as a history writer who seeks to find out what Orange County used to be like, and how it came to be a suburban nightmare.

Jim is the main character, but Robinson also looks at Jim's parents, friends, and intersperses the fiction with prose meditations on the stages of Orange County's history. The result is a rich journey to a world that is hauntingly like our own. For instance, nobody has a boyfriend or girlfriend, they have "allies", much like the modern term "partner", and while the Cold War may be dead in our world, Robinson does a good job of making our consumer culture take a look in the mirror.

Many people talked about "American Beauty"'s indictment of American suburbia, but ten years before that movie came out, Robinson created a much better examination of suburban culture, without the blatant polemics of American Beauty.

It's different from much of Robinson's other work, but it still has his unique style and is well worth your time.

Jeanette Winterson's first novel is a comical, moving look at an adopted child growing up in the midst of religious fanatics. It is very well-written and the descriptions of people and places are so vivid as to just jump right off the page, taking you along for the ride, to experience the ups and downs of Ms. Winterson's life along with her. It's one woman's realization of her Unnatural Passsions (her mother's name for homosexuality) that are in no way acceptable in the Pentecostal church. The scenes based around this particular aspect of the novel add an ironic tone, which I love. Wit and wisdom can be found throughout the book, making "Oranges..." at times a very thoughtful read. The only flaw in this book, as others have stated, is the awkward fairy tale bits that just didn't seem to belong there at all. Other than that, it's a heartfelt semi-autubiographical novel of a gay woman (though this is by no means a "gay" book...I'm straight and it made not one bit of difference to my enjoyment of it) and also a great humourous look at religion and all of its contradictions and excesses.

This quirky novel tells the story of Jeanette, who is
adpted into a very devout, Evangelical house in
England. As she grows, she begins to realize how
different she is from the people around her, whether
it's the reaction of teachers and students to her
religious views at the public school (the 'Breeding
Ground,' as her mother calls it) or her "unnatural
passion" for young Melanie who works at the fish stall
in the local market.

Her views of God, religion and the search for
perfection are all challenged by her desire to learn
more about herself. At one point, she is locked into
a room for 32 hours to "purge her of the demons" when
her church discovers her relationship with Melanie.
Through all the obstacles, she remains true to
herself.

This book is filled with both humor and drama, as well
as strong characters: the strong-willed Mother whose
ideas of God and religion make an imprint on
Jeanette's view of the world; Elsie, the only woman
who seems to truly understand what Jeanette is going
through and how to deal with it; and Jeanette herself,
a sharp young girl with strong opinions of right and
wrong and learns that it is okay to be different.

I liked this book a lot, too, but it does suffer from what might be identified as a first novel's imperfections - especially the metaphorical fables plunked into the middle of the narrative without any connecting language. The rest of the novel so successfully carries us along in the flow of Jeanette's life that the fables, meaningful or not, are interruptions. This quibble aside, OANTOF is a charming melange of working class comedy, evangelical exposé, and coming of age story. It's not surprising that sexuality, that most fundamental aspect of the human condition, is what wakes Jeanette to her self and leads to the break with her church, yet in her innocence she isn't even aware of the consequences until they are spelled out for her. That is wonderfully well conveyed and believable. Winterson wins my respect for her generous spirit: she treats no character meanly or vengefully, even the most repressive ones. If anything, that's what proves the narrator has risen above the petty proscriptions among which she was raised.

There is much to be learned when you keep your mouth shut. Working as a body guard for his adoptive father horribly scarred silent Joe took everything in. He learned not to talk, but to listen. Joe became an invisible man. This unfortunately served him well, when it came time for him to track the murderers of one crime he did not want to contemplate.

T. Jefferson Parker presents a world of wheeling and dealing politicians ensconced in southern California. They are all ready to sell their souls and then some. It is a creepy surreal world through which silent Joe creeps.

Silent Joe is a wonderful creature, who I hope to see in future books. Joe is a man who should be repulsive, but has that unknown thing which draws women. He is an intricate man, who the reader would gladly follow on endless adventure.

The plot touches on themes of love, redemption, forgiveness and revenge. which of these contradicting emotions might win over? Read Silent Joe and find out.

This is a recommended book for lovers of hard-boiled mystery.

SILENT JOE by Jefferson Parker

This is a writer who was a new discovery for me. Jefferson Parker's good, actually for this book he was better than good.

This is the story of an orphan, Joe Trona who grew into a very capable, polite and to the people who knew him a very agreeable, if disfigured figure. His natural father threw acid into his face when he was an infant and his mother left him at the same time. The traumatic experience shaped Joe's life from that point on. He was known as the 'acid baby' for a long time. Will and Mary Ann Trona adopted him when he was five in spite of his dreadfully scared face. Joe started out worshiping his adopted parents.

Later, after schooling, when he was 20 Will got Joe a job as a deputy for the county Police Force. He worked a five-year probation as a guard in the jail before they would let him become what he considered a real police patrolman. Meanwhile he eared a black belt in self-defense along with several medals in handgun use. As soon as he earned his drivers license he became Will's driver, confidant and bodyguard. He was a 24 year old, large in size and in good condition, and looked dangerous. People were careful when said around him.

Will, his adopted father was murdered while Joe was with him. Joe loved his father and felt responsible in spite of killing two of the murders out of the five who were there when Will was killed. He devoted the remainder of his time to finding the people who had contracted for the murder of his father and preformed that murder.

Joe used a lot of the police lore like finding fingerprints that Will had taught him. He was a very fast driver and was curious as to how the killers knew where he was taking Will. He found a small transmitter affixed to the underside of the car that he used to drive Will to some of his assignments. From this small beginning and his photographic memory he slowly put the case together to find his father's murders and the multitude of people that were implicated. Joe is very quiet and concentrated as an investigator. His quest for justice makes an excellent book. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

...

I just read T. Jefferson Parker's new book "Silent Joe". What a great book! I've read his other books and enjoyed them, but this one is even better. While it's called a mystery it's really much more.

It's the story of a young man who was horribly scarred as an infant by an abusive father, abandoned by his mother and raised in an institution for the early years of his life. As a young sheriff's deputy he witnesses the murder of the man who adopted him and becomes determined to find the killer. Along the way he finds his past and his future.

The book is remarkable for it's ability to take you into Joe's mind. You feel his thought process, you feel his pain and see how even bad experiences can result in a good man.

I found myself trying to read slowly to savor the words. Days later I can't stop thinking about it. I still think the only bad part was that it had to end.

After 50-some years, Framboise Dartigen, now in her 60's, disguises her real identity and returns to her home village in the south of France to rebuild the burntdown family farmhouse in order to live out the rest of her life there. A sour women despite her sweet name (Framboise means raspberry in French) Framboise has a secret that stems back to her childhood during WWII, living in German-occupied France with her brother, sister and mother. She and her siblings forged a friendship with a German soldier, Tomas, with whom they would trade villagers' secrets for goodies such as chocolates and comic books. A series of events ultimately lead to tragedy and in telling the story Framboise slowly reveals the follies and uncertainties the war brought to their daily lives. Framboise's mother, an emotionally stern woman who kept a diary filled with often undecipherable notes, words, recipes, and secrets and who willed this diary to Framboise upon her death, was frequently taken with debilitating migraines and often spent days at a time in bed. Just prior to the migraine coming on, her mother would think she smelled oranges in the house. The title refers to the way Framboise, at the age of six, would instigate her mother's migraines by hiding orange slices in the house which would send her mother into a debilitated state and would enable Framboise and her siblings to spend the day/night out with Tomas.

The history of this family's dynamics, especially the relationship between Framboise and her mother, is a complicated story well told. Harris uses the sensualities of food - mostly the sweetness of the fruits that the Dartigens grew on their farm - to juxtapose the emotional hardships and hostilities of love and of war and the disenchantedness and consequences that result from this environment. I would have liked to have seen Harris spend a little more time on Framboise's relationship to her own daughters in the present which is touched upon but never really explored. There is also a subplot concerning Framboise's brother and nephew (also in present day), which Harris uses as a catalyst for Framboise to tell her story but which was unnecesarily overwritten and which, for me, distracted from the richer narrative at hand. Overall, a fine book, not an uplifting one but one which does have warmth in unexpected places.

As with Harris's other books, I was captivated. The themes of food and secrets and old stories that run through her books were all again present here, but this time the evils of Nazism (both near and far) lent a darker tone to the book.
Harris's transitions from past to present were less successful than in Chocolat and Blackberry Wine, and I found it difficult to keep the characters straight at times.
But once again, the author manages to surprise, entrance, puzzle, and inform us through our senses as well as through her words.

War is hell, as we all know, but the last word on that still hasn't been said. Now Joanne Harris gives us a book that exposes the ugliness of war from the viewpoint of three neglected children, living in a German-occupied French village during World War II. In "Five Quarters of the Orange," narrator Framboise Dartigen unfolds a chilling tale in which she and her two siblings find themselves collaborating with Nazis, trading secrets about their neighbors for chocolate and comic books.

The great strength of "Five Quarters of the Orange" is Harris' unflinching honesty about childhood--its capacity for treachery and cruelty. Graphic images of Framboise's war against the life of the nearby river underline this theme. After a village girl is bitten and killed by a venomous snake, Framboise nets a dozen snakes, crushes their skulls and leaves them to rot on the river banks.

At the heart of the novel, as in the novelist's early work "Chocolat," is a complicated relationship between mother and daughter. Framboise's mother Mirabelle mistakenly applies the same techniques to child rearing that she applies to growing fruit trees. Prune them severely and they will flower. She discovers too late that children don't respond well to constant scolding and deprivation.

Mirabelle is also plagued by olfactory hallucinations. Prior to her terrible migraines, she thinks she smells oranges. In scenes which make the book worth reading by themselves, Framboise gets revenge on her mother by planting a cut up orange near the stove so that the scent fills the house. These scenes of nine-year-old vindictiveness are where Harris reveals her true genius.

"Five Quarters of the Orange" isn't just another war novel, however. It's also a mystery. Why does Framboise disguise her identity when she returns to her childhood village after an absence of 50 years? A scandal hangs over her head from that earlier time, so many decades ago. A scandal so flagrant she is sure she would never be accepted back into her community if they knew exactly who she was. This unknown scandal, which is gradually unfolded through flashbacks, provides most of the novel's suspense.

To dwell only on the horrors of "Five Quarters of the Orange" would be to do the book an injustice, though. Though Harris' genius shines most truly in her portrayal of how war compromises even the innocent, this book is also rich in charm and whimsy--the same kind of graceful good humor that made the author's previous book "Chocolat" such a big hit and the subsequent movie so well reviewed. Scenes of the grotesque give way to moments of gentle slapstick.

People who are tired of conventional treatments of the elderly in literature will especially enjoy the episode in which the elderly Framboise and her aging neighbor get the better of a 20-something hoodlum terrorizing Framboise's creperie. Their shared triumph sparks an autumnal romance that cannot fail to delight even the most cynical readers. Even for someone like Framboise with skeletons in her closet, it's never too late to make a clean breast of things, never too late to fall in love.

Merci Rayborn is a homicide investigator for the Orange County Sheriff's department. When she's called out to the murder scene of a young, beautiful call-girl it all seems routine. That is, until she discovers that her boyfriend had dinner with the victim just scant hours before the murder. As she delves further, more and more evidence points to the boyfriend as the killer and she's torn between doing her job and trusting the man who loves her.

I've read all of Mr. Parker's novels and this is the first one in which he's brought back a character from another novel. Merci Rayborn was first introduced in The Blue Hour. She seems much different in Red Light, more unsure of herself. However, that's not to her detriment. Like all of Parker's novels his characters are well fleshed out, his dialogue sounds like real people talk, and his police procedure rings true. My only quibble, and it's a small one, is I was able to guess the killer about three-quarters of the way through the book. I have to admit for all the mystery reading I do I'm pretty obtuse when it comes to guessing the killer but this was pretty obvious. It really didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. Mr. Parker is a very good writer, and he just keeps getting better and better. An added bonus for me is that I live in Orange County so I know the areas he talks about in his novels. I might make one suggestion though. To really understand the Merci Rayborn character it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to read "The Blue Hour" first. That too is a very good book.

I was surprised and not so surprised that T. Jefferson Parker brought back Merci Rayborn. After all, the ending for the book that introduced her, THE BLUE HOUR all but demanded that she return.

In this book, Merci is two years older and still mourning the loss of her partner (and father to her son) Tim Hess. She has named her little boy after his father and is now involved with another detective sergeant on the Orange County (CA) Sheriff's department, Mike McNally.

Parker provides the reader with a multi-leveled mystery and police procedure novel that uses spare but biting prose to make its point. In this story, Merci Rayborn, a single mother and crack homicide investigator is involved in two homicide investigations. One is current and may involve her fellow officer and lover, Mike McNally and the other is over thirty years old and involves the murder of a prostitute who had had connections with local political and law enforcement officials.

In the more recent of the murder cases, Merci initially investigates the death of another young prostitute, this one who also had conections, but those closer to home. Initial evidence begins to point to Merci's erstwhile lover and would-be husband. Merci, never one to shy away from pursuing justice or the truth follows the trail of evidence with a dedication bordering on fanatical. More and more, the evidence points at Mike McNally. But is he really the killer or is he being framed? And if so, by whom?

I have read almost all of Parker's previous novels and have enjoyed them all. His common denominator is the setting, Orange County, CA. However, with each new book installment, he shows that he has climbed rapidly into the ranks of true masters in this genre. He is spare with his prose and in this he makes me think of what Hemingway would have been like had he written mysteries and police stories. He gives us flawed but interesting characters. Some we come to like and have hopes for and others we don't. I have to say that I did NOT like Merci Rayborn when I read THE BLUE HOUR. But perhaps motherhood, the loss of Tim Hess and the personal and political problems she faces in the Sheriff's Department have mellowed her to the point that she has become more human and less disagreeable. In RED LIGHT, for all of her flaws and self-doubts, Parker has made her a much more agreeable and yes, a more sympathetic character.

This book has some slow points and then, the plot and the level of action pick up. I do not know if this was a deliberate device by Parker or not but either way, the book does become a page turner. When Merci must decide for herself whether Mike McNally is guilty or being framed is where the book really took off. It is where I knew that Parker had planned and timed the story line for just such a reason.

Parker's intimate knowledge of police procedures is displayed at its best in this novel. His former career as a journalist and his extensive background in the history of Orange County also serve him well in RED LIGHT. Although this is the first time that he has used a recurring character, I hope it will not be his last. Merci Rayborn still has a lot to say and I hope Mr. Parker will let her speak in upcoming works.

Thank you Mr. Parker for many hours of enjoyable reading. I hope you won't dispense with Merci Rayborn just yet. I'd like to think of her as your version of Robert B. Parker's SPENSER. And we all know how many novels he has mined from that character. I look forward with anticipation to your next novel and hope that we will all see one or more adapted for the screen.

Paul Connors

Red Light is more than a continuation of Blue Hour. I was initially surpised that Parker elected to bring back Merci Rayborn, one of his less sympathetic characters, in the follow up to Blue Hour. Having finished reading Red Light, however, I enjoyed being a part of her growth, and truly enjoyed the book.

As always, Parker gives us a story filled with twists and surprises in his skillful, multi-layered approach. Red Light is no exception. Not only was I in doubt about the killer's identity until the end, I was thoroughly entertained along the way. (A tip to those who have not read Blue Hour: Don't read Red Light first, as the killer's identity is disclosed from Blue Hour - and Blue Hour is so good, you don't want any excuse not to read it.)

It is a true tribute to Parker than his characters stand tall above those of other writers of the genre. Rather than the usual attractive and smooth-talking characters we experience in most novels, Parker's characters are clearly flawed, and drawn so deeply that they become very real people. With most books I read, reading is no more than escapist entertainment, forgotten soon after closing the book. With Parker's books, however, I can clearly remember the main characters from books I read long ago. How many books can one say that about?