books:

	Red Light T. Jefferson Parker Hyperion, 2000 - 326 pages average customer review:based on 37 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Two years after the death of Tim Hess, her partner and father of her child, Merci Rayborn, the Orange County homicide investigator introduced in Parker's "insanely imaginative" (The New York Times Book Review) The Blue Hour, is back. Merci has finally gotten her life together. She and her son are living with her father, a retired cop, and she is dating Mike McNally, a respected fellow officer. When a young prostitute is found murdered and Mike emerges as the primary suspect, Mercy must do the unthinkable--expose and arrest her lover.

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Tina

I previously bought all the preceding series and this was outstanding just like the others. T. Jefferson Parker should write more books with detective Merci Rayborn's character. Very interesting storylines.


An engaging story of corruption and trust

This is the first book I've read by Jefferson Parker and it was definitely a good read. Having started it there were lots of references to events that had apparently happened before to the main character, Merci Raybourn, and I now discover that there was an earlier book called "The Blue Room". It didn't matter too much that I hadn't read this as pretty much everything necessary was explained - however it did make me realise that this author isn't one for happy endings as evidently the previous book ended rather tragically and this one didn't work out too well for our heroine either.

Merci is a homicide investigator who is called to the murder of a young prostitute whilst also investigating a cold case about the murder of another prostitute. Things go bad quickly as she discovers that her lover and possible-fiancé Mike McNally was involved with the prostitute as a kind of mentor and that he visited her the evening that she was murdered. Merci gathers evidence, partially suppressing some that looks bad for Mike, but as the investigation continues her relationship with him is tested to the limit.

The apparently unrelated murder several decades back turns into something much more immediate when Merci is anonymously sent some leads which reach into the very police department in which she works, including people such as her father and Mike's father. Merci has to make some very difficult decisions, all the while knowing that someone is feeding her information and fiddling with crime scenes.

The book was very well written and moved along quickly. The perpetrator wasn't easy to guess (in fact I didn't guess them before they were revealed) and all the threads were woven together well. My only negative thought about the book was that the characters didn't seem very warm and not really all that three-dimensional and for that reason I've docked a star. It's a good police procedural but perhaps a little dry in terms of emotions and feelings - and that not-happy ending also was a disappointment to me. Still worth a read, though!

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Merci Rayborn is no Kay Scarpetta

On the whole the Red Light is a good read.
However, the plot took too long to develop. Also suspense was lacking, given that most of the book was dedicated to Merci's musings.
The unforeseen climax at the end is worth the time.
I would advise against buying the book(since it isn't close to classic), but rather would suggest borrowing it from the library.
ATTENTION: Red Light is not for people with short attention spans.


Pales In Comparison

In this sequel to The Blue Hour, Merci Rayborn returns to investigate the murders of two prostitutes...one recent and one a cold case, 30 years old. I found the Blue hour the better of these two installments. The two parallel crimes in Red Light are intriguing, but the story tends to lag at times. Merci's inner angst became a drag after awhile. Parker's characters, as always, were an interesting mix. This was a good read, worthwhile for the uplifting conclusion alone. But it pales in comparison with the Blue Hour.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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