Black Water: A Merci Rayborn Novel

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.

On a beautiful day in Orange County, California, Gwen Wildcraft is found dead, inside the bathroom of her expensive home. Archie Wildcraft, Gwen's husband and an Orange County deputy, is found shot to the head and in critical condition, on the outside of the Wildcraft home. Police immediately come to the conclusion that there has been a murder-suicide attempt.Merci Rayborn is the cop assigned to investigate the Wildcraft crime. And, while she isn't convinced that Archie is guilty, she doubts her own convictions. Thanks to a mistake in judgement in a previous case (Parker's RED LIGHT), Merci no longer trusts herself. Nor, do the cops around her. Merci will start an investigation, with her partner Zamora, that will have her believing in Archie's innocence, and in his guilt. And, since Archie escaped a hospital, with a bullet still lodged in his head, his guilt seems even more likely.While reading this fascinating page-turner, one might wonder in Archie's innocence or guilt, also. As we peer into the lives of the Wildcrafts, we meet family and friends, and enemies. Trying to figure the whole thing out, makes the book a page-turner. And, following Merci and Zamora as they solve this crime, is what makes it so fascinating. Adding to the mystery, is the interesting characterizations of Merci and Zamora, and even Gwen and Archie. T Jefferson Parker's BLACK WATER is a compelling read.

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.

T. Jefferson Parker keeps getting better & better ! This is a wonderful book that has an interesting and exciting plot, excellent police investigative detail, and, most of all, very real & compelling characters. There were sequences that brought a lump to my throat as I read them, & there were sequences when the pages just turned themselves. This book is wonderful ! (Note: it helps to have read "The Blue Hour" & "Red Light")

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.