- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; (Reissue) edition (1 Mar 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006513697
- ISBN-13: 978-0006513698
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11.6 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 491,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Blue Hour, consolidates the achievement of Jefferson Parker's earlier work, while adding a finely honed, lyrical finish to his prose that places the novel as much in the literary field as in that of the psycho-thriller.
Tim Hess is an old-school, hard-nosed detective whose dedication is beginning to wane due a recent cancer diagnosis. Merci Rayborn, however, is at the start of her police career, with every intention of getting to the top--at any price. The ill-matched duo is assigned to track down a brutal serial killer who has been abducting women from shopping malls. All that is left after his horrific crimes is a gruesome signature: purses full of entrails.
But where are the bodies? As Hess and Rayborn track down the "Purse Snatcher," they find their boss seems to have a hidden agenda, which could be creating false leads and allowing a monster to commit more atrocities.
As his two protagonists close in, Parker is particularly adroit at revealing the growing obsession that unites them in their pursuit. In masterful fashion, he goes to the grimmest recesses of the human soul, while balancing this with the humanity and resilience of his principals. Although the book has all the mordant energy the genre demands, it is the carefully chosen, almost poetic prose that brilliantly set off the horrors and creates a highly unusual reading experience: "Terrible sights. Hess had learned to forgive himself for them. Sometimes it made him sad to know he was like this. It was part of what made him good at what he did...but he could never unimagine what he saw." --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
‘Genuinely shocking, but much more shocking than most of the genre’s output’
– Literary Review
‘A superior thriller’
– Mail on Sunday
‘Jefferson Parker is a powerhouse writer’
– New York Times Book Review
‘The crimes are sickening, the killer is a monster and the gadgets of destruction are truly bizarre. It must be another insanely imaginative thriller from Jefferson Parker’
– New York Times
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
That Sunday evening Tim Hess lumbered down the sidewalk to the snack stand at 15th Street. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
That Sunday evening Tim Hess lumbered down the sidewalk to the snack stand at 15th Street. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, despite finding the main character - Merci Rayborn - one of the most unsympathetic people I have ever read about. She's quite unlikeable, but this is intentional on the author's part, as Merci herself admits she doesn't find it easy to get along with people! She's a tough, no-nonsense type, who regards criminals with complete contempt and, at times, can become physically violent to achieve her objectives when questioning a reluctant suspect. On the other hand, her aging partner, Tim Hess, is the 'human' half of the team, and the reader follows his battle against lung cancer throughout the novel.
These two people, seemingly with nothing in common, find themselves hunting a serial killer who abducts young women from shopping malls. Elsewhere, a Romanian immigrant convicted of raping elderly ladies has been 'outed' on national television and his house is put under 24-hour observation. But what - if anything - has a chemically-castrated man whose preferred victims are the elderly have to do with the abduction of beautiful young women?
The two disparate story strands weave their way through the book, and if you're anything like me, you'll wonder how - or if - they've got anything to do with each other. But have no fears, you're in the hands of an author who knows how to keep the plot twisting and turning - and for everything in the novel to be there for a specific reason. I've already picked up the sequel, 'Red Light', and anticipate another enthralling read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first Jefferson Parker I read and I wasn't disappointed. The characters were good and the plot excellent. So why not 5 stars? I felt there was a lttle too much recapping to tell where we were in the development of the plot - and it read a bit like a kindergarten recap, just in case we missed something. Otherwise, it was great in having truly comprehensive characters and introducing Merci Rayborn, who goes on to Red Light. I wasn't actually sure I liked her, but she grew on me in Red Light. The good thing about this book is that you actually feel sympathy for the antagonist as well, not everything in life is black & white. The ending has a twist and is ultimately sad, but if you move on to Red Light you'll see that all is not lost.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm sorry to drag the average rating down here, but this book was a major disappointment.
The story-line was very predictable and the writing was not all that stylish either. I also disliked Parker's very clear deceptions as to what was going on - I've re-read the offending parts and it is clear he over-used his licence to send readers down the garden path!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good cop bad cop
This is the first Jefferson Parker novel that I have read and I enjoyed it enough to give it four stars. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2006 by G. M. Buchanan
Excellent story and a strong woman character
This was the first Jefferson Parker book I've read and I wasn't disappointed, he is an excellent writer. Read more
Published on 7 July 2001 by Fiona Angela Clark
A great, thrilling read
For me "Silence of the Lambs" is the gold standard of the "serial killer" genre. Read more
Published on 26 April 2000
Yet ANOTHER serial killer story...
Reading this I was compelled to look up what James Ellroy wrote about serial killer novels: "silly literary s**t from any standpoint ... Read more
Published on 6 July 1999
Absorbingly creepy. Beautiful, very human protagonists.
Should be considered a new standard within the serial killer fiction genre. Parker captures a creepiness and depravity, while also depicting an unlikely pair of very flawed and... Read more
Published on 16 Jun 1999
Just your usual serial killer novel
I've read Parker's early novels and thought he had promise, so I thought I'd try out his new one. I'm also a connoisseur of serial killer novels so am always hoping for excellent... Read more
Published on 13 Jun 1999
The Blue Hour is a GREAT book.
T Jefferson Parker had me hooked with his previous book, Where Serpents Lie, and The Blue Hour does not disappoint. It is truly a super thriller with an edge of your seat ending. Read more
Published on 11 Jun 1999
Absolutely excellent in its genre.
When I bought The Blue Hour, I had only read one other of Parker's book, Where Serpents Lie, and considered it quite good. The Blue Hour is superb. Read more
Published on 10 Jun 1999
Good writing, terrific characters and dumb, gory plot
I have read 3 or 4 of Parker's books, and he has definitely developed some very interesting char- acters, but not necessarily the villains. Read more
Published on 23 May 1999
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