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A Thousand Steps
A Thousand Steps is a gripping thriller, an incisive coming-of-age story, and a vivid portrait of turbulent time and place by three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker.
Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment.
Matt Antony is just trying get by.
Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom's a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother's fighting in Nam . . . and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she's just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn't believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach.
All Matt really wants to do is get his driver's license and ask out the girl he's been crushing on since fourth grade, yet it's up to him to find his sister. But in a town where the cops don't trust the hippies and the hippies don't trust the cops, uncovering what's really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast.
If it's not already too late.
Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment.
Matt Antony is just trying get by.
Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom's a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother's fighting in Nam . . . and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she's just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn't believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach.
All Matt really wants to do is get his driver's license and ask out the girl he's been crushing on since fourth grade, yet it's up to him to find his sister. But in a town where the cops don't trust the hippies and the hippies don't trust the cops, uncovering what's really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast.
If it's not already too late.
358 pages, Hardcover
First published January 11, 2022
357 people are currently reading
10213 people want to read
About the author
T. Jefferson Parker
96 books848 followersT. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of 26 crime novels, including Edgar Award-winners SILENT JOE and CALIFORNIA GIRL. Parker's next work is coming-of-age thriller, A THOUSAND STEPS, set for January of 2022. He lives with his family in a small town in north San Diego County, and enjoys fishing, hiking and beachcombing.
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December 29, 2022
1968 was certainly an interesting time. Laguna Beach was an interesting place, an artist colony and tourist destination of about 13,000 residents, and, these days anyway, about six million visitors a year for a current local population of a bit over 20,000. So, even with a temporal discount it had to have been a lot back then too. T. Jefferson Parker lived there for a stretch. It inspired his first, very successful, novel, Laguna Heat, so he knows the territory into which he places his young hero.
Sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony is a hard-working, pretty decent kid. Holds down a paper route for money, building muscle and character on his Schwinn Heavy-Duti bike. Single mom, Julie, holds down a crappy job at a Jolly Roger restaurant. (Might be better named Davey Jones’ Locker?) His older brother, Kyle, is a short-timer in ‘Nam, terrified that something will happen to him in his remaining weeks. Their father, Bruce, a former cop, has been mostly out of the picture for years, but maintains occasional contact. Mom has issues with substances, which are dramatically available in southern Orange County, and her issues are growing more alarming. Matt’s body is going through some changes, which is always a joyous experience. And then his sister, Jasmine, a recent High School graduate, gorgeous, straight-A student, in-crowd, rebellious toward the usual authorities, goes poof! Stayed out overnight (not alarming in itself) but has remained MIA and the local fuzz are uninterested.
T. Jefferson Parker - image from Laguna Beach Independent - photo by Rita Parker
The thousand steps of the title is a notable waterfront location, but it might also be what Matt sets himself to take on, in the absence of official interest. The plot is Matt continuing to search for his missing sister, continuing to turn up clues, continuing to pester the cops to do their job, while trying to cope with chaos at home, and while coming of age, physically, socially, and emotionally. Although it may be less of a journey for Matt than other teens. He is a pretty grounded kid. And then there is the local color. A holding pen of new agers, con-men, regular crooks, a biker gang, drug dealers, drug abusers, and feckless teens. There are enough shady goings on here to blot out the sun.
Mystic Arts World is a bookstore/head-shop/local institution that offers classes on meditation, among other things. Johnny Grail, the owner, is a bit of a local legend, a slippery sort, well able to keep a step or two ahead of the police, (who are desperate to catch him holding or doing anything illegal) to the delight of area residents. The whole New Age thing was not particularly popular with the constabulary. Go figure. But despite their clear prejudice, they actually may have something. Johnny is about as clean as a public crash pad.
Mystic Arts World (1967-1970), a head shop in Laguna Beach, was ground zero for psychedelic culture in southern California during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was there that a loosely organized group of artists interested in alternative culture, mystical experience and the transformation of society, “The Mystic Artists”, congregated and exhibited their art. Their artistic expression ranged from Beat assemblage to figuration to psychedelic art. – image and text from The Brotherhood of Eternal Love site
Local color extends to the presence of Timothy Leary, offering lectures at the MAW, and a Swami who has attracted a bit of a following. He offers increasing levels of instruction to his followers. Some reside at his compound, a former seminary. Matt and his brother used to play there when they were kids and it was unused.
The town hosts an annual tableaux vivants, i.e. classic paintings brought to life with people dressed up as characters in the works, and sets made to bring the paintings to life. A few characters in the novel are in it. Matt likes this. He is a budding artist and draws a passel of scenes from his experiences to help police in their frail attempts to look for his sister, and address other crimes. He is particularly fond of the work of Edward Hopper.
Working class life contrasts with the lifestyles of the rich, corrupt, and horny. We get a peek at some excusive locations hosting some very dodgy goings on. Matt fishes less for recreation than for a supply of protein, which mom cannot always provide. They live in a clapboard rental, for which Mom struggles to make rent, Matt sleeping in the garage. But we see great wealth on display as well. There is a part of town called Dodge City, for its casual relationship with the law, general run-down-ness and general hostility toward people toting badges. Get out of Dodge? Sure, ASAP. But up-slope and down-slope have plenty of criminal intent in common.
So what happened to Jazz? Is she still alive? As the days pass the odds seem worse and worse. Is Matt’s mom serious about stopping her drug use? He gathers help where he can, and pedals on, but we wonder if he might be wasting his time. Why does Mom want to move to Dodge City? Will his father ever show up to help? He keeps promising. And even if he does, would he be more hindrance than help? Is the Swami as nice and wise as he seems? Girls are becoming more a part of his life, and maybe even some activities that often accompany such associations. Will Matt’s permanent crush on Laurel ever go anywhere?
I am roughly the same age as Matt, so can relate to being a teen in that era. It never hurts to add that into the reading enjoyment mix. On the other hand, my east coast experience was quite different from his Cali life, including the degree of drug exposure. My older brother was in the army too, but not in Viet Nam. My father was around. My mom’s drugs of choice were Tareytons and tea. But still, we all go through adolescence, so there is the coming-of-age element to relate to. Sounds like Matt skipped the parts where your voice goes to hell, your face resembles a moonscape, and embarrassing body parts pop up for no discernible reason, for all to see. Whatever. It is impossible not to love Matt. There is one gripe I have about him, though. For someone who was so smart and intrepid about tracking down his sister, he is startlingly blind about some items, which I will not spoil here, that were jumping up and down and screaming from the pages. Yeah, he is just an unworldly teen, so could easily miss some things, but he seems pretty sharp about other stuff, so it rankled.
Matt’s bike - image from TJP’s Twitter cache
Parker has been at this for a while. Steps is his 27th book. His first, Laguna Heat, was an instant success, and was brought to the screen by HBO. His work includes multiple series, and has earned him THREE EDGAR AWARDS! So, no slouch. He started his writing career as a cub reporter. In the Internet Writing Journal interview Parker was asked how his journalism background informed his writing.
I read this one at bedtime, 20-30 pps a night, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending. Every day I was reading this book I was eager, very eager to tuck my lower half under the covers,
(also good for hiding the cloven hoofs) crank up the laptop for my notetaking, switch on the lights to make reading my hardcopy ARE possible, and reveled. You all know that feeling when you are truly enjoying a book, and look forward to getting back to it every day. Well, presuming that you do not just scarf down the entire thing in one ginormous gulp. I prefer to spread out that joy. So, a couple weeks, and it delivered every night.
Bottom line is that I totally enjoyed this book. Appreciated the portrait of a time and place well known to the author, loved the lead character, and had fun trying to figure out who had committed (was committing?) which crimes, how, and why. A few of those will quickly succumb to your investigative instincts, but the rest will keep you guessing. Mystery, suspense, thriller, coming-of-age? Use whatever adjective suits or mix and match. Doesn’t matter. Whatever you call it, A Thousand Steps will remain a pretty good read. You will not need any LSD or opiated anything to get off on or get into this book. Go ahead. Be a tourist in Laguna Beach for a bit. It’s a trip you won’t want to miss.
Review posted – January 7, 2022
Publication dates
----------Hardcover - January 11, 2022
----------Trade paperback - December 27, 2022
This review has been cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
I received an ARE of A Thousand Steps from Macmillan’s Reading Insiders Club program in return for a couple of hits of that sweet product. Righteous, man.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the Parker’s personal, FB, GR, and Twitter pages
-----Mark Gottlieb Talks Books - Three-Time Edgar Award-winner and New York Times Bestselling Author T. Jefferson Parker
-----2007 – Bookpage - Only in California by Jay MacDonald
-----The VJ Books Podcast - T. Jefferson Parker - A Thousand Steps by Roger Nichols
-----2018- Bookbrowse - An interview with T Jefferson Parker
-----The Internet Writing Journal - A Conversation With T. Jefferson Parker by Claire E. White
-----2002 - Orange County Register - THE VIEW FROM ELSEWHERE by Amy Wilson
Songs/Music
-----The Rollingstones - Satisfaction
-----Cream - Tales of Great Ulysses
-----Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
-----Jimi Hendrix - Foxy Lady - Hendrix performs in front of an audience of the sitting dead in Miami
-----The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man
Items of Interest
-----The Brotherhood of Eternal Love - their site
-----Brotherhood of Eternal Love - Laguna Beach – Wet Side Story - a bit of Laguna Beach history
-----All That’s Interesting (ATI) - An interesting article about the BEL in the 1960s
-----Wiki on Timothy Leary
-----Wiki on the Pageant of the Masters, an annual event held in Laguna Beach, featuring tableaux vivants, i.e. classic paintings brought to life with people dressed up as characters in the works, and sets made to bring the paintings to life. A few characters in the novel are in it. Here is a nifty video promoting the event today.
Sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony is a hard-working, pretty decent kid. Holds down a paper route for money, building muscle and character on his Schwinn Heavy-Duti bike. Single mom, Julie, holds down a crappy job at a Jolly Roger restaurant. (Might be better named Davey Jones’ Locker?) His older brother, Kyle, is a short-timer in ‘Nam, terrified that something will happen to him in his remaining weeks. Their father, Bruce, a former cop, has been mostly out of the picture for years, but maintains occasional contact. Mom has issues with substances, which are dramatically available in southern Orange County, and her issues are growing more alarming. Matt’s body is going through some changes, which is always a joyous experience. And then his sister, Jasmine, a recent High School graduate, gorgeous, straight-A student, in-crowd, rebellious toward the usual authorities, goes poof! Stayed out overnight (not alarming in itself) but has remained MIA and the local fuzz are uninterested.
I was fourteen-years old in 1968 so I experienced the strange, beguiling world of Laguna Beach as a very impressionable, wide-eyed, wonder-struck boy. When it came time to create a hero/protagonist for A Thousand Steps, I just aged myself—that fourteen-year old boy—into a sixteen-year old on the cusp of getting his driver's license, and let him take off in his mother's hippie van! - from the Mark Gottlieb interviewBill Furlong personifies that disinterest, a large officer, with an interest in Julie for things other than possession of illegal substances. Brigit Darnell is the good cop, young, a mom, willing to listen to Matt. It may or may not matter. He knows his sister. Does not accept that she had simply run off. And one more piece. Bonnie Stratmeyer, 18, missing two months, posters proclaiming the fact up all around, has just been found at the bottom of the stairs at the Thousand Steps Beach. (Last time Parker actually went up, or down, or both, he counted 224, but the number changes with each attempt. It’s 219 in the book.) Bonnie had not taken the usual route down. Thus Matt’s panic about Jazz.
T. Jefferson Parker - image from Laguna Beach Independent - photo by Rita Parker
The thousand steps of the title is a notable waterfront location, but it might also be what Matt sets himself to take on, in the absence of official interest. The plot is Matt continuing to search for his missing sister, continuing to turn up clues, continuing to pester the cops to do their job, while trying to cope with chaos at home, and while coming of age, physically, socially, and emotionally. Although it may be less of a journey for Matt than other teens. He is a pretty grounded kid. And then there is the local color. A holding pen of new agers, con-men, regular crooks, a biker gang, drug dealers, drug abusers, and feckless teens. There are enough shady goings on here to blot out the sun.
Mystic Arts World is a bookstore/head-shop/local institution that offers classes on meditation, among other things. Johnny Grail, the owner, is a bit of a local legend, a slippery sort, well able to keep a step or two ahead of the police, (who are desperate to catch him holding or doing anything illegal) to the delight of area residents. The whole New Age thing was not particularly popular with the constabulary. Go figure. But despite their clear prejudice, they actually may have something. Johnny is about as clean as a public crash pad.
Mystic Arts World (1967-1970), a head shop in Laguna Beach, was ground zero for psychedelic culture in southern California during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was there that a loosely organized group of artists interested in alternative culture, mystical experience and the transformation of society, “The Mystic Artists”, congregated and exhibited their art. Their artistic expression ranged from Beat assemblage to figuration to psychedelic art. – image and text from The Brotherhood of Eternal Love site
Local color extends to the presence of Timothy Leary, offering lectures at the MAW, and a Swami who has attracted a bit of a following. He offers increasing levels of instruction to his followers. Some reside at his compound, a former seminary. Matt and his brother used to play there when they were kids and it was unused.
The town hosts an annual tableaux vivants, i.e. classic paintings brought to life with people dressed up as characters in the works, and sets made to bring the paintings to life. A few characters in the novel are in it. Matt likes this. He is a budding artist and draws a passel of scenes from his experiences to help police in their frail attempts to look for his sister, and address other crimes. He is particularly fond of the work of Edward Hopper.
Working class life contrasts with the lifestyles of the rich, corrupt, and horny. We get a peek at some excusive locations hosting some very dodgy goings on. Matt fishes less for recreation than for a supply of protein, which mom cannot always provide. They live in a clapboard rental, for which Mom struggles to make rent, Matt sleeping in the garage. But we see great wealth on display as well. There is a part of town called Dodge City, for its casual relationship with the law, general run-down-ness and general hostility toward people toting badges. Get out of Dodge? Sure, ASAP. But up-slope and down-slope have plenty of criminal intent in common.
So what happened to Jazz? Is she still alive? As the days pass the odds seem worse and worse. Is Matt’s mom serious about stopping her drug use? He gathers help where he can, and pedals on, but we wonder if he might be wasting his time. Why does Mom want to move to Dodge City? Will his father ever show up to help? He keeps promising. And even if he does, would he be more hindrance than help? Is the Swami as nice and wise as he seems? Girls are becoming more a part of his life, and maybe even some activities that often accompany such associations. Will Matt’s permanent crush on Laurel ever go anywhere?
I am roughly the same age as Matt, so can relate to being a teen in that era. It never hurts to add that into the reading enjoyment mix. On the other hand, my east coast experience was quite different from his Cali life, including the degree of drug exposure. My older brother was in the army too, but not in Viet Nam. My father was around. My mom’s drugs of choice were Tareytons and tea. But still, we all go through adolescence, so there is the coming-of-age element to relate to. Sounds like Matt skipped the parts where your voice goes to hell, your face resembles a moonscape, and embarrassing body parts pop up for no discernible reason, for all to see. Whatever. It is impossible not to love Matt. There is one gripe I have about him, though. For someone who was so smart and intrepid about tracking down his sister, he is startlingly blind about some items, which I will not spoil here, that were jumping up and down and screaming from the pages. Yeah, he is just an unworldly teen, so could easily miss some things, but he seems pretty sharp about other stuff, so it rankled.
Matt’s bike - image from TJP’s Twitter cache
Parker has been at this for a while. Steps is his 27th book. His first, Laguna Heat, was an instant success, and was brought to the screen by HBO. His work includes multiple series, and has earned him THREE EDGAR AWARDS! So, no slouch. He started his writing career as a cub reporter. In the Internet Writing Journal interview Parker was asked how his journalism background informed his writing.
The best thing about journalism is that it teaches a young person how the world works. It's not the writing itself, because that is fairly straightforward and desirably formulaic. It's the exposure that's valuable. When I was 23 I was covering cultural events, movies, books, city hall, school board, fires, police -- everything but sports and business. It was a crash course on civics, human nature, bureaucracy. It was also a crash course on how the press and the government and business all interact. Those relationships are at the core of what we are as a republic.He knew he was not a journalistic long-timer, but being a reporter did hone his skills, and also allowed him a venues in which he could collect plenty of details to include in his fictional writing. His craft has grown as well. Keep an ear out for the soundscape Parker has incorporated. It enriches the reading experience.
I read this one at bedtime, 20-30 pps a night, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending. Every day I was reading this book I was eager, very eager to tuck my lower half under the covers,
(also good for hiding the cloven hoofs) crank up the laptop for my notetaking, switch on the lights to make reading my hardcopy ARE possible, and reveled. You all know that feeling when you are truly enjoying a book, and look forward to getting back to it every day. Well, presuming that you do not just scarf down the entire thing in one ginormous gulp. I prefer to spread out that joy. So, a couple weeks, and it delivered every night.
Bottom line is that I totally enjoyed this book. Appreciated the portrait of a time and place well known to the author, loved the lead character, and had fun trying to figure out who had committed (was committing?) which crimes, how, and why. A few of those will quickly succumb to your investigative instincts, but the rest will keep you guessing. Mystery, suspense, thriller, coming-of-age? Use whatever adjective suits or mix and match. Doesn’t matter. Whatever you call it, A Thousand Steps will remain a pretty good read. You will not need any LSD or opiated anything to get off on or get into this book. Go ahead. Be a tourist in Laguna Beach for a bit. It’s a trip you won’t want to miss.
Review posted – January 7, 2022
Publication dates
----------Hardcover - January 11, 2022
----------Trade paperback - December 27, 2022
This review has been cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
I received an ARE of A Thousand Steps from Macmillan’s Reading Insiders Club program in return for a couple of hits of that sweet product. Righteous, man.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the Parker’s personal, FB, GR, and Twitter pages
What does the T. stand for?Interviews
Not a thing. No, really. Nada. Zip. Nothing. Jeff's mom always explained it by saying she thought the T. would look good on the President's door. - from the Bookbrowse interview
-----Mark Gottlieb Talks Books - Three-Time Edgar Award-winner and New York Times Bestselling Author T. Jefferson Parker
-----2007 – Bookpage - Only in California by Jay MacDonald
-----The VJ Books Podcast - T. Jefferson Parker - A Thousand Steps by Roger Nichols
-----2018- Bookbrowse - An interview with T Jefferson Parker
-----The Internet Writing Journal - A Conversation With T. Jefferson Parker by Claire E. White
-----2002 - Orange County Register - THE VIEW FROM ELSEWHERE by Amy Wilson
Songs/Music
-----The Rollingstones - Satisfaction
-----Cream - Tales of Great Ulysses
-----Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
-----Jimi Hendrix - Foxy Lady - Hendrix performs in front of an audience of the sitting dead in Miami
-----The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man
Items of Interest
-----The Brotherhood of Eternal Love - their site
-----Brotherhood of Eternal Love - Laguna Beach – Wet Side Story - a bit of Laguna Beach history
-----All That’s Interesting (ATI) - An interesting article about the BEL in the 1960s
-----Wiki on Timothy Leary
-----Wiki on the Pageant of the Masters, an annual event held in Laguna Beach, featuring tableaux vivants, i.e. classic paintings brought to life with people dressed up as characters in the works, and sets made to bring the paintings to life. A few characters in the novel are in it. Here is a nifty video promoting the event today.
January 11, 2022
***HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY***
“When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius”. —- Lyrics the 5th Dimension
I felt as though this book was written just for my generation, we are older now but this book brought all the feels from 1968 back. I was a young teen but very into music, The Beatles, The Stones, The Beach Boys, everything was about the paradise that Southern California promised. Then there were the stories about San Francisco, hippies and Timothy Leary promising LSD was the enlightenment that he wanted everyone to experience. But there were nefarious things going on too.
In Laguna Beach, Matt Anthony, aged sixteen, has been taking care of things for his constantly stoned mom for a while now. His brother is fighting in Vietnam, his dad had left years ago! He has two paper routes to make some money but he is still always hungry. He is also caught up in his first unrequited young love but when his 18 y/o sister doesn’t come home for 3 and then 4 nights he is feeling desperate. A YOUNG WOMAN HAS BEEN FOUND DEAD ON A NEARBY BEACH!!!
The police aren’t much help, there is a general feeling that Jazz is just another runaway hippie girl. There is one woman detective who takes him more seriously than the others she wants to help Matt. But they need proof that she was kidnapped, being held against her will. All Matt has are his sketches, beautiful and detailed but not proof.
This novel is a coming-of-age story with some historical facts from those days, and great characters. The author described the atmosphere beautifully. It also morphs into a thriller in the second half. The story really flowed beautifully.
Even if you’re too young to remember the 60’s and the yearning to get to California where the sun always shines, you’ll still love this book!!!
MATT IS THE KIND OF YOUNG MAN WE CAN ALL ROOT FOR!!!!!!
I had a lot of fun with this one and I think you will too!
It was my pleasure to read and review this great title. I had never read T. Jefferson Parker before but I will now be checking his back list!! And check out the gorgeous cover, WOW
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher Macmillan, through Edelweiss. #Macmillan Influencer Program
“When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius”. —- Lyrics the 5th Dimension
I felt as though this book was written just for my generation, we are older now but this book brought all the feels from 1968 back. I was a young teen but very into music, The Beatles, The Stones, The Beach Boys, everything was about the paradise that Southern California promised. Then there were the stories about San Francisco, hippies and Timothy Leary promising LSD was the enlightenment that he wanted everyone to experience. But there were nefarious things going on too.
In Laguna Beach, Matt Anthony, aged sixteen, has been taking care of things for his constantly stoned mom for a while now. His brother is fighting in Vietnam, his dad had left years ago! He has two paper routes to make some money but he is still always hungry. He is also caught up in his first unrequited young love but when his 18 y/o sister doesn’t come home for 3 and then 4 nights he is feeling desperate. A YOUNG WOMAN HAS BEEN FOUND DEAD ON A NEARBY BEACH!!!
The police aren’t much help, there is a general feeling that Jazz is just another runaway hippie girl. There is one woman detective who takes him more seriously than the others she wants to help Matt. But they need proof that she was kidnapped, being held against her will. All Matt has are his sketches, beautiful and detailed but not proof.
This novel is a coming-of-age story with some historical facts from those days, and great characters. The author described the atmosphere beautifully. It also morphs into a thriller in the second half. The story really flowed beautifully.
Even if you’re too young to remember the 60’s and the yearning to get to California where the sun always shines, you’ll still love this book!!!
MATT IS THE KIND OF YOUNG MAN WE CAN ALL ROOT FOR!!!!!!
I had a lot of fun with this one and I think you will too!
It was my pleasure to read and review this great title. I had never read T. Jefferson Parker before but I will now be checking his back list!! And check out the gorgeous cover, WOW
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher Macmillan, through Edelweiss. #Macmillan Influencer Program
October 20, 2021
In
A Thousand Steps
by T. Jefferson Parker, the author blends historical fiction, a thriller, and a coming of age story in a gripping tale set in 1968 in Laguna Beach, California. The protagonist, Matt Anthony is 16 and lives with his mom, Julie, and his sister, Jasmine (Jazz). His father occasionally writes or calls, but Matt hasn’t seen him in six years. His mother is hooked on drugs. Matt has a paper route, is always hungry, and seems to be the only responsible one in the house. When 18-year-old Jazz doesn’t come home the police think she’s just run away from home. Matt doesn’t believe that and seems to be the only one looking for her. At the same time, he wants to ask Laurel out on a date and is looking forward to his brother Kyle returning home from the war.
Matt is an appealing, determined, and likeable character. (One of the few in the novel.) He takes on responsibilities that the adults in his life should have. Instead, they’re irresponsible and undependable. Despite this, the characters felt authentic.
This novel is extremely well-written and is often heart-wrenching and distressing. The author does a great job of depicting the times and place. The prevalence of drugs as well as the attitudes of the times toward hippies, the police, and the Vietnam War are vividly portrayed. I was stunned by some of the comments Matt’s father made to him on the phone. I was also angry at his mother. No child should be treated like that.
Overall, I am glad that I read this novel, but it wasn’t always an easy read.
Macmillan-Tor/Forge – Forge Books and T. Jefferson Parker provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for January 11, 2022.
Matt is an appealing, determined, and likeable character. (One of the few in the novel.) He takes on responsibilities that the adults in his life should have. Instead, they’re irresponsible and undependable. Despite this, the characters felt authentic.
This novel is extremely well-written and is often heart-wrenching and distressing. The author does a great job of depicting the times and place. The prevalence of drugs as well as the attitudes of the times toward hippies, the police, and the Vietnam War are vividly portrayed. I was stunned by some of the comments Matt’s father made to him on the phone. I was also angry at his mother. No child should be treated like that.
Overall, I am glad that I read this novel, but it wasn’t always an easy read.
Macmillan-Tor/Forge – Forge Books and T. Jefferson Parker provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for January 11, 2022.
February 10, 2022
A Thousand Steps by T Jefferson Parker is a 2022 Forge Books publication.
Set in Laguna Beach during the late sixties, this novel follows a teenage Matt Antony as he searches for his older sister, Jasmine, aka, Jazz, who has suddenly vanished.
Matt has a lot on his plate- his brother is winding up his tour in Vietnam, hoping to make it home alive, and his mother is falling deeper and deeper into the drug scene, leaving Matt to fend for himself.
Fearing his sister has met the same fate as a popular girl whose body was recently found after having gone missing, Matt navigates the LSD fueled world of Timothy Leary, dubious law enforcement, and odd religious temples, searching for his sister, while going through the usual teenage angst of a guy his age.
When I added this book to my reading list, I thought it was strictly a mystery/thriller. A missing girl, the usual stuff for this trope, etc., but I got more than I bargained for with this one. This is just as much a coming-of-age story as it is a mystery/thriller.
Matt’s character pulls at the heartstrings, his desperation nearly palpable. His physical hunger is juxtaposed against his emotional starvation, but he really is one cool kid, as he is forced to progress from being naïve and somewhat innocent to becoming older and wiser than his years.
The mystery is mired in the strange cultural shifts of the late sixties, and the author did a terrific job of bringing the era to life- not the mythologized version- but the wild, gritty, underbelly of it.
Overall, this is a well-executed combination of both historical fiction and mystery, with a poignant coming-of-age element that stands out and sticks with you. The historical setting, the war, drugs and the cult-like groups will bring back memories for some. While it is a little before my time, I’m wondering if people still feel as nostalgic about that time now, especially when viewing it through Parker’s lens.
4 stars
Set in Laguna Beach during the late sixties, this novel follows a teenage Matt Antony as he searches for his older sister, Jasmine, aka, Jazz, who has suddenly vanished.
Matt has a lot on his plate- his brother is winding up his tour in Vietnam, hoping to make it home alive, and his mother is falling deeper and deeper into the drug scene, leaving Matt to fend for himself.
Fearing his sister has met the same fate as a popular girl whose body was recently found after having gone missing, Matt navigates the LSD fueled world of Timothy Leary, dubious law enforcement, and odd religious temples, searching for his sister, while going through the usual teenage angst of a guy his age.
When I added this book to my reading list, I thought it was strictly a mystery/thriller. A missing girl, the usual stuff for this trope, etc., but I got more than I bargained for with this one. This is just as much a coming-of-age story as it is a mystery/thriller.
Matt’s character pulls at the heartstrings, his desperation nearly palpable. His physical hunger is juxtaposed against his emotional starvation, but he really is one cool kid, as he is forced to progress from being naïve and somewhat innocent to becoming older and wiser than his years.
The mystery is mired in the strange cultural shifts of the late sixties, and the author did a terrific job of bringing the era to life- not the mythologized version- but the wild, gritty, underbelly of it.
Overall, this is a well-executed combination of both historical fiction and mystery, with a poignant coming-of-age element that stands out and sticks with you. The historical setting, the war, drugs and the cult-like groups will bring back memories for some. While it is a little before my time, I’m wondering if people still feel as nostalgic about that time now, especially when viewing it through Parker’s lens.
4 stars
February 18, 2022
Somehow, I’ve managed to miss reading any of T. Jefferson Parker’s 26 prior books. While this is the first, it won’t be the last.
The story takes the reader back to Laguna Beach, 1968. It’s all free love, peace and drugs. Matt Anthony is sixteen. He’s a good kid with a paper route, working to help his mom pay the bills since she seems to use most of her money to buy drugs. When his 18 year old sister goes missing, he’s the only one to care enough to seriously search for her. The police disregard him, no matter how much proof he brings them.
I found Matt to be a great character, coming across as totally real. He’s caught in a bad spot and has no idea what to do. And the adults around him are either undependable or don’t have his best interests at heart. My heart just went out to him.
Parker also does a great job giving us a sense of the time and place. He manages to weave the protests, the Vietnam War, the drugs and the search for mystical meaning into a tableau that took me right back to those days. The book moves at a brisk pace. Some events felt a little unrealistic, but as a whole, it totally worked.
My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan/Forge for an advance copy of this book.
The story takes the reader back to Laguna Beach, 1968. It’s all free love, peace and drugs. Matt Anthony is sixteen. He’s a good kid with a paper route, working to help his mom pay the bills since she seems to use most of her money to buy drugs. When his 18 year old sister goes missing, he’s the only one to care enough to seriously search for her. The police disregard him, no matter how much proof he brings them.
I found Matt to be a great character, coming across as totally real. He’s caught in a bad spot and has no idea what to do. And the adults around him are either undependable or don’t have his best interests at heart. My heart just went out to him.
Parker also does a great job giving us a sense of the time and place. He manages to weave the protests, the Vietnam War, the drugs and the search for mystical meaning into a tableau that took me right back to those days. The book moves at a brisk pace. Some events felt a little unrealistic, but as a whole, it totally worked.
My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan/Forge for an advance copy of this book.
January 20, 2022
EXCERPT: He skids to a stop on the sidewalk and props his bike against the wall of the corner surf shop. Hustles past the vehicles to the stairs leading down to the beach. Jams his hands into his poncho against the chill and joins the T-Street Surf Boys, who have gathered to watch the cops. Matt recognizes two of the surfers as just-graduated seniors from his high school - cool guys, friends of his sister - but they ignore him, wetsuits slung over their shoulders and boards at their sides, all their attention on the dark beach below. Their waves break almost invisibly, with overlapping echoes that end abruptly then repeat.
It's hard for Matt to see what's going on down there. But he's a curious sixteen year old, so he clambers down the stairs to the beach, his rock-worn sneakers slapping on the concrete then thudding in the sand. He gets up close. Where he sees, through a knot of Laguna Beach cops standing in a loose circle, a pale girl lying face-up on a slab of rock. Her arms are spread and her hair is laced with seaweed.
ABOUT 'A THOUSAND STEPS': Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment.
Matt Antony is just trying get by.
Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom's a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother's fighting in Nam . . . and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she's just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn't believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach.
All Matt really wants to do is get his driver's license and ask out the girl he's been crushing on since fourth grade, yet it's up to him to find his sister. But in a town where the cops don't trust the hippies and the hippies don't trust the cops, uncovering what's really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast.
If it's not already too late.
MY THOUGHTS: I really wanted to love this. I was thirteen in 1968. I know all the music, the bands. I remember the Vietnam war, the protests. The fashion I embraced; the drugs and free love I observed from afar, and longed to be hip enough to join in. But I really just couldn't connect to this story.
I felt nothing for any of the characters except antipathy
for the way both Julie and Bruce abandoned their children, each in their own way.
I found the writing to be repetitive, especially in the first two thirds of the book. I skimmed a great deal from the 40-60% mark. Then it got a tad more interesting. But in the end? Let's throw in a gunfight, OK Corral style, so that we can call this a thriller. Bad move.
I did love the phrase 'the under 30 lagunatics' - that cracked me up. But I did have to wonder why anyone would want to shoot doves!
A Thousand Steps wasn't mysterious, suspenseful or thrilling. I was majorly disappointed. And, at times, bored.
⭐⭐.5
#AThousandSteps #NetGalley
I: @tjefferson2220 @macmillanusa
T: @TJParkerAuthor @MacmillanUSA
#crime #familydrama #historicalfiction #mystery
THE AUTHOR: T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of 26 crime novels. He lives with his family in a small town in north San Diego County, and enjoys fishing, hiking and beachcombing.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing a digital ARC of A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review is also published on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
It's hard for Matt to see what's going on down there. But he's a curious sixteen year old, so he clambers down the stairs to the beach, his rock-worn sneakers slapping on the concrete then thudding in the sand. He gets up close. Where he sees, through a knot of Laguna Beach cops standing in a loose circle, a pale girl lying face-up on a slab of rock. Her arms are spread and her hair is laced with seaweed.
ABOUT 'A THOUSAND STEPS': Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment.
Matt Antony is just trying get by.
Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom's a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother's fighting in Nam . . . and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she's just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn't believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach.
All Matt really wants to do is get his driver's license and ask out the girl he's been crushing on since fourth grade, yet it's up to him to find his sister. But in a town where the cops don't trust the hippies and the hippies don't trust the cops, uncovering what's really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast.
If it's not already too late.
MY THOUGHTS: I really wanted to love this. I was thirteen in 1968. I know all the music, the bands. I remember the Vietnam war, the protests. The fashion I embraced; the drugs and free love I observed from afar, and longed to be hip enough to join in. But I really just couldn't connect to this story.
I felt nothing for any of the characters except antipathy
for the way both Julie and Bruce abandoned their children, each in their own way.
I found the writing to be repetitive, especially in the first two thirds of the book. I skimmed a great deal from the 40-60% mark. Then it got a tad more interesting. But in the end? Let's throw in a gunfight, OK Corral style, so that we can call this a thriller. Bad move.
I did love the phrase 'the under 30 lagunatics' - that cracked me up. But I did have to wonder why anyone would want to shoot doves!
A Thousand Steps wasn't mysterious, suspenseful or thrilling. I was majorly disappointed. And, at times, bored.
⭐⭐.5
#AThousandSteps #NetGalley
I: @tjefferson2220 @macmillanusa
T: @TJParkerAuthor @MacmillanUSA
#crime #familydrama #historicalfiction #mystery
THE AUTHOR: T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of 26 crime novels. He lives with his family in a small town in north San Diego County, and enjoys fishing, hiking and beachcombing.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing a digital ARC of A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review is also published on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
February 28, 2022
Laguna Beach
1968
16 yr old Matt is a good boy, from a broken home.
Dad left years ago, Mom is drug user, brother Kyle is in Vietnam, and his sister Jasmine has just gone missing.
This is a bit of a thriller, and also a story of Matt’s family.
Matt is trying so hard to find his sister.. and the cops are more interested in busting drug dealers. I just love Matt’s character!
It was very cool reading about this time period…I was 10 yrs old that year, but I remember all the things about those years.
I enjoyed this!
1968
16 yr old Matt is a good boy, from a broken home.
Dad left years ago, Mom is drug user, brother Kyle is in Vietnam, and his sister Jasmine has just gone missing.
This is a bit of a thriller, and also a story of Matt’s family.
Matt is trying so hard to find his sister.. and the cops are more interested in busting drug dealers. I just love Matt’s character!
It was very cool reading about this time period…I was 10 yrs old that year, but I remember all the things about those years.
I enjoyed this!
November 22, 2022
Laguna Beach, in Southern California, is an enticing place. I spent a few days there at the end of a long road trip a few years back and was enchanted by its laid back atmosphere and it’s beautiful beaches and coastline. But what I didn’t know is that in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s this small coastal city was the epicentre of America’s drug trafficking surge. A group calling themselves The Brotherhood of Eternal Love based themselves here, their headquarters being a shop on the Coast Highway called Mystic Arts World. The self-declared ‘prophet’ of psychedelic drugs at that time was a psychologist and writer called Timothy Leary and he was famously arrested for possession of marijuana at Laguna in 1968.
Jefferson T. Parker, a long-time resident of the city, uses the above as the background to his story and incorporates much of this history into his tale. It’s told from the perspective of Matt, a sixteen year old boy who lives with his drug taking mother and elder sister, Jazz, in a cheap and draughty rented house. Matt’s dad is long gone, he ran off with another woman some six years ago and now keeps in touch only through occasional phone calls. Matt’s brother is a soldier – a tunnel rat - fighting in Vietnam, he’s due to return soon but the letters Matt receives tell of his brother’s concern that his luck might run out before that date arrives. And then one night Jazz fails to return home.
There had been a row between Jazz and her mother and it’s possible that she has just hunkered down somewhere and will return within the next day or so. But this doesn’t happen and as days pass Matt becomes increasingly worried about the fate of his sister - this being exacerbated by the body of another girl of similar age being discovered on the beach one morning. So this story is about Matt’s quest to find his sister, but it’s also about his own development – both physically and emotionally – growing up amongst the turbulent events associated with this time and this place.
Matt is central to everything here, when he’s not looking for his sister he’s fishing to provide food for himself and his family or he’s completing an energy sapping paper round, delivering to houses in the seaside resort and the surrounding hills. His wages supplement his mother’s scant income as a waitress in a local restaurant and his occasional task of delivering of books and other paraphernalia for the folk at Mystical Arts World provide a small amount of additional cash. Even so, his mother's drug habit ensures that there's barely enough money to pay the rent and food is in short supply It’s all clearly a struggle and I quickly found myself rooting for Matt and those close to him.
This is a book I found hard to put down. Though the action is somewhat drawn out and the plot perhaps a little fanciful, the vibe it gives off really drew me in. It’s a heart-warming and sometimes gripping tale of love and endeavour. Parker paints brilliant pictures of the Laguna of the 1960’s and provides a good cast of characters to flesh out the story. Moreover, he made me care about the fate of Matt and his family. It’s a book I was disappointed to finish, something that's happened far too seldomly of late and which causes me set aside any minor misgivings I might have had along the way. It's four and a half stars for me, rounded up to five.
My thanks to McMillan-Tor/Forge for supplying a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Jefferson T. Parker, a long-time resident of the city, uses the above as the background to his story and incorporates much of this history into his tale. It’s told from the perspective of Matt, a sixteen year old boy who lives with his drug taking mother and elder sister, Jazz, in a cheap and draughty rented house. Matt’s dad is long gone, he ran off with another woman some six years ago and now keeps in touch only through occasional phone calls. Matt’s brother is a soldier – a tunnel rat - fighting in Vietnam, he’s due to return soon but the letters Matt receives tell of his brother’s concern that his luck might run out before that date arrives. And then one night Jazz fails to return home.
There had been a row between Jazz and her mother and it’s possible that she has just hunkered down somewhere and will return within the next day or so. But this doesn’t happen and as days pass Matt becomes increasingly worried about the fate of his sister - this being exacerbated by the body of another girl of similar age being discovered on the beach one morning. So this story is about Matt’s quest to find his sister, but it’s also about his own development – both physically and emotionally – growing up amongst the turbulent events associated with this time and this place.
Matt is central to everything here, when he’s not looking for his sister he’s fishing to provide food for himself and his family or he’s completing an energy sapping paper round, delivering to houses in the seaside resort and the surrounding hills. His wages supplement his mother’s scant income as a waitress in a local restaurant and his occasional task of delivering of books and other paraphernalia for the folk at Mystical Arts World provide a small amount of additional cash. Even so, his mother's drug habit ensures that there's barely enough money to pay the rent and food is in short supply It’s all clearly a struggle and I quickly found myself rooting for Matt and those close to him.
This is a book I found hard to put down. Though the action is somewhat drawn out and the plot perhaps a little fanciful, the vibe it gives off really drew me in. It’s a heart-warming and sometimes gripping tale of love and endeavour. Parker paints brilliant pictures of the Laguna of the 1960’s and provides a good cast of characters to flesh out the story. Moreover, he made me care about the fate of Matt and his family. It’s a book I was disappointed to finish, something that's happened far too seldomly of late and which causes me set aside any minor misgivings I might have had along the way. It's four and a half stars for me, rounded up to five.
My thanks to McMillan-Tor/Forge for supplying a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
January 5, 2022
A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker is part historical thriller and part a coming of age story. The novel is set in Laguna Beach, California in the year 1968 with the main character being a young adult but the content is definitely adult.
Sixteen year old Matt Antony does his best just to survive and help out his family. Matt’s older brother is off in Vietnam counting his days down until he will be able to return home. Matt’s mother words as a waitress and spends her time off dabbling in drugs that are readily available and his father hasn’t been around in years.
One day Matt notices that his sister Jazz hasn’t made it home by that morning which is unlike her. Matt’s mother writes it off as they had an argument but Matt isn’t so sure that would keep his sister away. Matt begins to track just where his sister had been and find out what happened to her when it seems he is the only one that will look for Jazz.
So… 1968 is before my time but it really did seem like A Thousand Steps and T. Jefferson Parker really did a good job of bringing that time to life in the story. I couldn’t help but become engaged in the main character’s story after learning of his surroundings and how he took charge of his sister’s disappearance. The story did get a tad repetitive which is why this isn’t five stars for me but despite that I was completely hooked to the story and couldn’t wait to see what happened.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
Sixteen year old Matt Antony does his best just to survive and help out his family. Matt’s older brother is off in Vietnam counting his days down until he will be able to return home. Matt’s mother words as a waitress and spends her time off dabbling in drugs that are readily available and his father hasn’t been around in years.
One day Matt notices that his sister Jazz hasn’t made it home by that morning which is unlike her. Matt’s mother writes it off as they had an argument but Matt isn’t so sure that would keep his sister away. Matt begins to track just where his sister had been and find out what happened to her when it seems he is the only one that will look for Jazz.
So… 1968 is before my time but it really did seem like A Thousand Steps and T. Jefferson Parker really did a good job of bringing that time to life in the story. I couldn’t help but become engaged in the main character’s story after learning of his surroundings and how he took charge of his sister’s disappearance. The story did get a tad repetitive which is why this isn’t five stars for me but despite that I was completely hooked to the story and couldn’t wait to see what happened.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
January 15, 2022
4 Laguna Beach Stars
I’m not quite sure how to categorize this one, it’s definitely a coming-of-age story and it feels like historical fiction, but not sure if the 1960s count as historical? There’s also a mystery in this one – all that to say I enjoyed my first book by this prolific writer.
Set in Laguna Beach in the late 1960s our main character, Matt, is 16 and can’t seem to catch a break. He’s always hungry, his mom is hooked on drugs, he’s always short on cash, his brother is fighting in Viet Nam, his dad left the family, and now his sister has disappeared. He’s got a paper route and he’s always willing to do odd jobs for cash – I appreciated his ambition!
He starts to look for his sister on his own since it seems like the cops aren’t interested in finding her. They’d rather find out where all the drugs in the community are coming from. And there are a lot of drugs in Laguna Beach – LSD, dragon balls, cocaine, and hash. And they would love Matt’s help with figuring this piece out.
His search takes us to every nook and cranny in Laguna Beach, from the beaches to the centers for enlightenment, and Matt even starts a house-to-house search with his girlfriend. Nothing seems to be shaking loose.
I definitely rooted for Matt to succeed in many ways – with his girlfriend, finding his sister, getting the police off his back, maybe getting his family back on track, and finding enough food!
I thought the author did an excellent job describing the times, hippies, attitudes toward the war, the California lifestyle, fishing in the ocean – all of it!
Thank you to Forge Books for the copy of this one to read and honestly review. Now available!
I’m not quite sure how to categorize this one, it’s definitely a coming-of-age story and it feels like historical fiction, but not sure if the 1960s count as historical? There’s also a mystery in this one – all that to say I enjoyed my first book by this prolific writer.
Set in Laguna Beach in the late 1960s our main character, Matt, is 16 and can’t seem to catch a break. He’s always hungry, his mom is hooked on drugs, he’s always short on cash, his brother is fighting in Viet Nam, his dad left the family, and now his sister has disappeared. He’s got a paper route and he’s always willing to do odd jobs for cash – I appreciated his ambition!
He starts to look for his sister on his own since it seems like the cops aren’t interested in finding her. They’d rather find out where all the drugs in the community are coming from. And there are a lot of drugs in Laguna Beach – LSD, dragon balls, cocaine, and hash. And they would love Matt’s help with figuring this piece out.
His search takes us to every nook and cranny in Laguna Beach, from the beaches to the centers for enlightenment, and Matt even starts a house-to-house search with his girlfriend. Nothing seems to be shaking loose.
I definitely rooted for Matt to succeed in many ways – with his girlfriend, finding his sister, getting the police off his back, maybe getting his family back on track, and finding enough food!
I thought the author did an excellent job describing the times, hippies, attitudes toward the war, the California lifestyle, fishing in the ocean – all of it!
Thank you to Forge Books for the copy of this one to read and honestly review. Now available!
September 22, 2025
“This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.” - The Fifth Dimension
This is a trippy coming-of-age mystery about a brother’s quest to find his sister that has disappeared the same day a teenage girl is found dead.
A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker, is blissfully atmospheric and culturally accurate leaving me immersed from the start.
His sublime writing style and use of vivid sensory details transported me into the purple haze of 1968, while the aroma of Coppertone and a mixture of incense and stoned hippies swirled around me like a kaleidoscope.
As the plot of this engaging thriller intensified so did the suspense, ultimately crescendoing to an ending that served as the turning point for the protagonist and satisfaction for the reader.
Smooth flowing chapters written with a relaxed hand, made this the perfect end of summer read😎📕
This is a trippy coming-of-age mystery about a brother’s quest to find his sister that has disappeared the same day a teenage girl is found dead.
A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker, is blissfully atmospheric and culturally accurate leaving me immersed from the start.
His sublime writing style and use of vivid sensory details transported me into the purple haze of 1968, while the aroma of Coppertone and a mixture of incense and stoned hippies swirled around me like a kaleidoscope.
As the plot of this engaging thriller intensified so did the suspense, ultimately crescendoing to an ending that served as the turning point for the protagonist and satisfaction for the reader.
Smooth flowing chapters written with a relaxed hand, made this the perfect end of summer read😎📕
December 13, 2021
Sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony is trying to navigate his way through Southern California in 1968 despite having a stoner mother and an absent father. His older brother is fighting in Vietnam. The book opens with Matt seeing the dead body of a girl who disappeared two months ago. As the police work to cover up her bikini-clad body, people wonder if it was an accident, suicide, or murder. When his sister Jasmine, (Jazz) goes missing, Matt can’t help but feel there might be a connection between the dead girl and his missing sister.
Matt keeps busy with his paper route, pedaling up and down hilly streets, burning calories that he can’t afford to replenish on the meager paper route salary. He does as much fishing as he can to keep his hunger at bay, but he also has a hunger to create art, and those supplies also cost money. But when his sister disappears, after 48 hours he and his mother go to the police to report her missing. The cops are dismissive, assuming she’s a runaway. He knows he can’t count on the cops because all they care about is busting the marijuana-smoking hippies.
It’s painful that so much of what this book describes are still issues we face today. Cops in some states still trouble themselves with something as benign as marijuana use instead of actual crime. In this book, there is LSD, but also far more serious drugs like opiates. That whole pesky opioid crisis hasn’t gone away yet because we keep targeting the users not the big pharma suppliers. I just watched a documentary on NetFlix called Fantastic Fungi, which is also a book, and, like the book How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, they all talk about how psilocybin (magic mushrooms) can help with depression, PTSD, and addiction, but because taking any drugs at all in the 60s was considered to be part of the anti-Vietnam movement, Nixon decided that all drugs were equally terrible for you and began the disastrous War on Drugs. Think how many people could have been helped if scientists could have continued to study these mushrooms and marijuana. How many cops could focus on things far more serious than possession of a stupid joint. How many tax dollars could have been saved if we didn’t spend epic amounts of money incarcerating people who used weed to relax or whatever. It’s infuriating.
Matt’s father, who left six years earlier, has worked as a cop, at least when he can keep a job. He’s a right-wing fanatic who hates all liberals and gay folks. Matt’s mother once just smoked weed but has found her way to opioids. Her job as a waitress wasn’t bringing in big bucks, but missing shifts because of her addiction certainly doesn’t help.
With the help of his long-time crush, Matt decides it’s up to him to find his sister. There is one young female cop who seems to believe him, and so he trusts her, but he’s wary of the other cops, although he’s also not one to hate cops and chant “pig” and other things when they’re in the area.
This book gets faster paced at the end. I really wanted to know if his brother makes it home alive or in a body bag from Nam, and I wanted to know what the heck happened to Jazz. Before that there is a lot of detail about doing his paper route, going door to door looking for Jazz, and going fishing that dragged for me, but the story does put you in that era. Sadly, while the chants and drugs might have altered some, so many other issues seem excruciatingly unchanged.
Matt offers an intriguing perspective on this time in history, and his missing sister is a compelling mystery.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 11, 2022.
Matt keeps busy with his paper route, pedaling up and down hilly streets, burning calories that he can’t afford to replenish on the meager paper route salary. He does as much fishing as he can to keep his hunger at bay, but he also has a hunger to create art, and those supplies also cost money. But when his sister disappears, after 48 hours he and his mother go to the police to report her missing. The cops are dismissive, assuming she’s a runaway. He knows he can’t count on the cops because all they care about is busting the marijuana-smoking hippies.
It’s painful that so much of what this book describes are still issues we face today. Cops in some states still trouble themselves with something as benign as marijuana use instead of actual crime. In this book, there is LSD, but also far more serious drugs like opiates. That whole pesky opioid crisis hasn’t gone away yet because we keep targeting the users not the big pharma suppliers. I just watched a documentary on NetFlix called Fantastic Fungi, which is also a book, and, like the book How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, they all talk about how psilocybin (magic mushrooms) can help with depression, PTSD, and addiction, but because taking any drugs at all in the 60s was considered to be part of the anti-Vietnam movement, Nixon decided that all drugs were equally terrible for you and began the disastrous War on Drugs. Think how many people could have been helped if scientists could have continued to study these mushrooms and marijuana. How many cops could focus on things far more serious than possession of a stupid joint. How many tax dollars could have been saved if we didn’t spend epic amounts of money incarcerating people who used weed to relax or whatever. It’s infuriating.
Matt’s father, who left six years earlier, has worked as a cop, at least when he can keep a job. He’s a right-wing fanatic who hates all liberals and gay folks. Matt’s mother once just smoked weed but has found her way to opioids. Her job as a waitress wasn’t bringing in big bucks, but missing shifts because of her addiction certainly doesn’t help.
With the help of his long-time crush, Matt decides it’s up to him to find his sister. There is one young female cop who seems to believe him, and so he trusts her, but he’s wary of the other cops, although he’s also not one to hate cops and chant “pig” and other things when they’re in the area.
This book gets faster paced at the end. I really wanted to know if his brother makes it home alive or in a body bag from Nam, and I wanted to know what the heck happened to Jazz. Before that there is a lot of detail about doing his paper route, going door to door looking for Jazz, and going fishing that dragged for me, but the story does put you in that era. Sadly, while the chants and drugs might have altered some, so many other issues seem excruciatingly unchanged.
Matt offers an intriguing perspective on this time in history, and his missing sister is a compelling mystery.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 11, 2022.
May 3, 2023
My introduction to T. Jefferson Parker is A Thousand Steps. Parker was born, raised, schooled, and has lived and worked in Orange County, California all his life, starting as a reporter for the Newport Ensign in 1978 covering police and city hall. His first novel, Laguna Heat, was adapted into a movie by HBO in 1987. Published in 2022, A Thousand Steps feels like a book that had been percolating deliciously in the coffee urn of the county sheriff. Set in Laguna Beach in the summer of 1968, its more coming of age story than thriller, in which a sixteen-year-old boy goes in search of his missing sister and becomes an adult.
Matt Anthony lives day to day on a paperboy's salary, delivering the Orange County Register from his bicycle. His mother Julie exists in a state of arrested development. With her waitress hours at the Jolly Roger cut (the beach town's burgeoning hippie population scare away tourists and don't tip) it's often left to Matt to feed himself. His brother Kyle is on short time finishing his tour of duty in Vietnam, while his father Bruce has been AWOL for six years, a rugged individualist who struggles to hold down a job in law enforcement but is also infuriated by the drug culture that pervades Laguna Beach.
Matt is developing into a painter and a fisherman. He doesn't experiment with drugs like Julie but does spend time at a head shop called Mystic Arts World, where Timothy Leary and a variety of characters hang out. The store is owned by the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a legally registered church rumored to be illegally smuggling hashish. Matt finds this scene "funny and crazy and maybe a little dangerous," while his eighteen-year-old sister Jasmine, who cultivates a cool and removed vibe, calls the shop "horny." After watching police pull the body of his sister's classmate Bonnie Stratmeyer out of the surf, Matt is concerned that Jazz didn't come home last night.
Out in the garage, Matt stashes his fishing gear and takes off the poncho for the warming June day. He leaves the big door up to let in some sun. The garage has two windows, the heavy spring-loaded door for cars, and a narrow convenience door for people.
His mattress, sleeping bag, and pillow are on the floor. There are orange-crates stacked for his books and painting supplies, a desk and a chair. One overhead light operated by a wall switch. There's a pulsing blue lava lamp, a gift from Jazz. His current painting is a mess of a seascape, half-done if that, propped on a wounded thrift-store chair. Matt keeps his garage clean but creatures get in under the doors, mice sometimes, earwigs and spiders, and once in a while, a scorpion.
Now his mother stands just outside the garage, framed in sunlight. Julie's wearing her Jolly Roger Restaurant waitress uniform--a red wench's blouse with a plunging neckline and off-the-should sleeves, black pantaloons, red socks, and hideous black buckled slippers. Her dark hair up, Matt thinks she looks too young to be his mom.
"I'm off to work, Matty. Are you copacetic with what you saw?"
"I've never seen a dead person before."
The dead frogs in biology were bad enough. The smell of formaldehyde. Bonnie looked so cold.
What's dynamite about A Thousand Steps is how Parker charts Matt's development into an adult with his investigation into his sister's disappearance. His childhood has already left the station. Matt lives in a garage, works full-time and scraps for his next meal. But any hope for an endless summer evaporates quickly. Jazz's disappearance defines Matt's relationship with his absentee parents, his sweetheart Laurel Kalina and the authorities who want Matt to snitch. He can't remain a kid and follow his sister down whatever hole she's fallen into. The mystery forces him to confront big questions about who he is and what he believes.
Parker writes in historic present tense, which I don't believe I've encountered before. This is a vivid and casual narrative choice that seems cut from Parker's background as a journalist. I was thrown into the story, invited in, like a movie script would do. Since I prefer action-oriented novels that I can picture moving across a screen, I liked this choice.
With a jump of heart, Matt recognizes the Kalina sisters, Laurel and Rose. Laurel is his age and he's had a crush on her since fourth grade. He's gone to school with her all his life. Rose goes to college but Matt doesn't know where. Laurel told him once that they are part Hawaiian and part German-English. They're olive-skinned and dark-haired and to Matt, thrilling. One of this first fourth-grade cursive sentences was, She's beautiful!, which he tore off and wadded up and put in his pocket the second he'd written it.
Whereas every character in an Elmore Leonard novel feels like someone I could run into at the hardware store, the Lagunians in this book didn't seem like people Matt would. They seemed more like characters he'd encounter on a TV show, colorful but superficial. Maybe this is how teenagers view adults, but it left me wanting more depth. As far as the kidnapping plot, I could only hope that child abductions followed a script like this. Because I do live in Southern California and am always looking for a good L.A. novel, I appreciated the panache Parker carried this off with and how tender it was, a welcome vacation from the hard-edged cops or private eyes of other mysteries.
Matt Anthony lives day to day on a paperboy's salary, delivering the Orange County Register from his bicycle. His mother Julie exists in a state of arrested development. With her waitress hours at the Jolly Roger cut (the beach town's burgeoning hippie population scare away tourists and don't tip) it's often left to Matt to feed himself. His brother Kyle is on short time finishing his tour of duty in Vietnam, while his father Bruce has been AWOL for six years, a rugged individualist who struggles to hold down a job in law enforcement but is also infuriated by the drug culture that pervades Laguna Beach.
Matt is developing into a painter and a fisherman. He doesn't experiment with drugs like Julie but does spend time at a head shop called Mystic Arts World, where Timothy Leary and a variety of characters hang out. The store is owned by the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a legally registered church rumored to be illegally smuggling hashish. Matt finds this scene "funny and crazy and maybe a little dangerous," while his eighteen-year-old sister Jasmine, who cultivates a cool and removed vibe, calls the shop "horny." After watching police pull the body of his sister's classmate Bonnie Stratmeyer out of the surf, Matt is concerned that Jazz didn't come home last night.
Out in the garage, Matt stashes his fishing gear and takes off the poncho for the warming June day. He leaves the big door up to let in some sun. The garage has two windows, the heavy spring-loaded door for cars, and a narrow convenience door for people.
His mattress, sleeping bag, and pillow are on the floor. There are orange-crates stacked for his books and painting supplies, a desk and a chair. One overhead light operated by a wall switch. There's a pulsing blue lava lamp, a gift from Jazz. His current painting is a mess of a seascape, half-done if that, propped on a wounded thrift-store chair. Matt keeps his garage clean but creatures get in under the doors, mice sometimes, earwigs and spiders, and once in a while, a scorpion.
Now his mother stands just outside the garage, framed in sunlight. Julie's wearing her Jolly Roger Restaurant waitress uniform--a red wench's blouse with a plunging neckline and off-the-should sleeves, black pantaloons, red socks, and hideous black buckled slippers. Her dark hair up, Matt thinks she looks too young to be his mom.
"I'm off to work, Matty. Are you copacetic with what you saw?"
"I've never seen a dead person before."
The dead frogs in biology were bad enough. The smell of formaldehyde. Bonnie looked so cold.
What's dynamite about A Thousand Steps is how Parker charts Matt's development into an adult with his investigation into his sister's disappearance. His childhood has already left the station. Matt lives in a garage, works full-time and scraps for his next meal. But any hope for an endless summer evaporates quickly. Jazz's disappearance defines Matt's relationship with his absentee parents, his sweetheart Laurel Kalina and the authorities who want Matt to snitch. He can't remain a kid and follow his sister down whatever hole she's fallen into. The mystery forces him to confront big questions about who he is and what he believes.
Parker writes in historic present tense, which I don't believe I've encountered before. This is a vivid and casual narrative choice that seems cut from Parker's background as a journalist. I was thrown into the story, invited in, like a movie script would do. Since I prefer action-oriented novels that I can picture moving across a screen, I liked this choice.
With a jump of heart, Matt recognizes the Kalina sisters, Laurel and Rose. Laurel is his age and he's had a crush on her since fourth grade. He's gone to school with her all his life. Rose goes to college but Matt doesn't know where. Laurel told him once that they are part Hawaiian and part German-English. They're olive-skinned and dark-haired and to Matt, thrilling. One of this first fourth-grade cursive sentences was, She's beautiful!, which he tore off and wadded up and put in his pocket the second he'd written it.
Whereas every character in an Elmore Leonard novel feels like someone I could run into at the hardware store, the Lagunians in this book didn't seem like people Matt would. They seemed more like characters he'd encounter on a TV show, colorful but superficial. Maybe this is how teenagers view adults, but it left me wanting more depth. As far as the kidnapping plot, I could only hope that child abductions followed a script like this. Because I do live in Southern California and am always looking for a good L.A. novel, I appreciated the panache Parker carried this off with and how tender it was, a welcome vacation from the hard-edged cops or private eyes of other mysteries.
November 18, 2021
The writing style of this book is much like a short story in a literary magazine -- shorter, choppier, with no huge rush to get to the end. Which works for this story.
Set in the '70s in the LSD, hippie crowd, it focuses entirely on the experiences of one teenage boy, Matt, and how he processes the fact that his sister is missing and what he does about it. It feels as if I sat and listened to a drummer beat very slowly and then pick up speed chapter by chapter, until there's a big-deal, drumline ending.
I liked the realism; the descriptions of nature, houses, and first loves; the lack of bedroom scenes. All in all, my takeaway is that this was very well written and immersive, and I wouldn't be surprised if it picks up an award or two.
Set in the '70s in the LSD, hippie crowd, it focuses entirely on the experiences of one teenage boy, Matt, and how he processes the fact that his sister is missing and what he does about it. It feels as if I sat and listened to a drummer beat very slowly and then pick up speed chapter by chapter, until there's a big-deal, drumline ending.
I liked the realism; the descriptions of nature, houses, and first loves; the lack of bedroom scenes. All in all, my takeaway is that this was very well written and immersive, and I wouldn't be surprised if it picks up an award or two.
February 12, 2022
My first T. Jefferson Parker book which won't be my last.
It is June 1968 in Laguna Beach, California. The summer of love is about to go into full swing. Peace, love, happiness, surfing, good LSD trips....
Not so fast. There is an undercurrent of something else, something going on starting with the death of Bonnie, someone our hero Matt Antony knows. He connects it mentally with the disappearance of his sister Jasmine and thus begins his uphill battle to find his sister, while battling the fear his brother Kyle won't return home from Vietnam, and watching over his stoner mother, Julie, who is spiraling into more than just marijuana.
This is a mystery and historical novel that takes the reader into this place in California in the 1960's. Some authors can describe places, but T. Jefferson Parker can take you there.
Some well-known characters and places pepper the story, such as Timothy Leary and Mystic Arts World.
The reader comes to know there is more to the characters than just the tie-dye love and we feel and root for Matt as he journeys to find his sister and overcome modern-day trials and tribulations within that period of time.
It is June 1968 in Laguna Beach, California. The summer of love is about to go into full swing. Peace, love, happiness, surfing, good LSD trips....
Not so fast. There is an undercurrent of something else, something going on starting with the death of Bonnie, someone our hero Matt Antony knows. He connects it mentally with the disappearance of his sister Jasmine and thus begins his uphill battle to find his sister, while battling the fear his brother Kyle won't return home from Vietnam, and watching over his stoner mother, Julie, who is spiraling into more than just marijuana.
This is a mystery and historical novel that takes the reader into this place in California in the 1960's. Some authors can describe places, but T. Jefferson Parker can take you there.
Some well-known characters and places pepper the story, such as Timothy Leary and Mystic Arts World.
The reader comes to know there is more to the characters than just the tie-dye love and we feel and root for Matt as he journeys to find his sister and overcome modern-day trials and tribulations within that period of time.
January 16, 2022
A boy, a bike, and a paper airplane in 1968 Laguna Beach California
“A Thousand Steps” is about a boy, his bike, and the beach, a simple premise in a richly complicated story. It is an immersive experience; readers witness events in real-time along with the characters. There are two main stories whose characters are irrefutably intertwined. The first is the city of Laguna Beach, California in 1968, a time when things are beautiful, artistic, absurd, natural, and wild. Laguna is home to old money and the newly rich, dedicated surfers and outlaw bikers, free-living hippies and duplicitous hypocrites. Cultural differences are both celebrated and despised. It is home to the legal, the illegal, and everything in between.
The second story is about a boy, his bike, and a paper airplane. Events unfold from the viewpoint of sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony who has one foot entrenched in childhood and the other reaching for maturity. He is living in this trendy beach city, without functional parents, with a sister who is missing, and a brother in danger every day in the war in Vietnam. Readers follow along as he struggles with completing his daily paper routes, looking for his missing sister, and finding paper airplanes. Matt is both an observer and a participant; he is an evaluator of events and the instigator of them. He is growing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually with and without the help of those around him.
Parker presents readers with a portrait of a unique time, place, and people. His skill with words makes simple events come to life. There is not just music but notes falling from the air like rain. The sky is gray-orange with the sun a perfect half-circle above the horizon. People watch, their figures almost colorless in the vanishing light. The night sky has a waxing gibbous moon. Thoughts blur like bike spokes on a downhill run.
“A Thousand Steps” is so much more than just a “coming of age” story; it is the transformation of a boy into a man while struggling to hold his world together in the midst of chaos. I received a review copy of “A Thousand Steps” from T Jefferson Parker, Macmillan-Tor, and Forge Books. The story depicts people in a time and place that is like no other; time flies past in seconds but events are not gone, just shelved, like books, like drawings in a pad that one can open and study. When I finished reading it, I knew I might never read a more memorable book.
“A Thousand Steps” is about a boy, his bike, and the beach, a simple premise in a richly complicated story. It is an immersive experience; readers witness events in real-time along with the characters. There are two main stories whose characters are irrefutably intertwined. The first is the city of Laguna Beach, California in 1968, a time when things are beautiful, artistic, absurd, natural, and wild. Laguna is home to old money and the newly rich, dedicated surfers and outlaw bikers, free-living hippies and duplicitous hypocrites. Cultural differences are both celebrated and despised. It is home to the legal, the illegal, and everything in between.
The second story is about a boy, his bike, and a paper airplane. Events unfold from the viewpoint of sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony who has one foot entrenched in childhood and the other reaching for maturity. He is living in this trendy beach city, without functional parents, with a sister who is missing, and a brother in danger every day in the war in Vietnam. Readers follow along as he struggles with completing his daily paper routes, looking for his missing sister, and finding paper airplanes. Matt is both an observer and a participant; he is an evaluator of events and the instigator of them. He is growing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually with and without the help of those around him.
Parker presents readers with a portrait of a unique time, place, and people. His skill with words makes simple events come to life. There is not just music but notes falling from the air like rain. The sky is gray-orange with the sun a perfect half-circle above the horizon. People watch, their figures almost colorless in the vanishing light. The night sky has a waxing gibbous moon. Thoughts blur like bike spokes on a downhill run.
“A Thousand Steps” is so much more than just a “coming of age” story; it is the transformation of a boy into a man while struggling to hold his world together in the midst of chaos. I received a review copy of “A Thousand Steps” from T Jefferson Parker, Macmillan-Tor, and Forge Books. The story depicts people in a time and place that is like no other; time flies past in seconds but events are not gone, just shelved, like books, like drawings in a pad that one can open and study. When I finished reading it, I knew I might never read a more memorable book.
September 20, 2021
T. Jefferson Parker is a hometown guy! Lived in Tustin (where I live) moved from LA when he was 5 years old and attended local schools as well as college. Then moved to nearby Laguna Beach and worked in Irvine. He now lives in Fallbrook in North San Diego County. Many of his stories are based in SoCal.
There is more about T. Jefferson Parker in this link ~ that is if you are interested ~
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...
This story is Laguna Beach in 1968 ~ BTW There actually is a beach in South Laguna called “The 1000 Step Beach ~
https://www.californiabeaches.com/bea...
Matt Anthony is a teen living in beautiful Laguna Beach; however, his life isn’t so beautiful.
His mother, Julie is a mess usually strung out on weed, his father, Bruce an ex-cop is nowhere to be seen.
He works hard trying to earn money as a paper-boy and also catching fish and selling to a local market.
When his sister Jasmine goes missing, and is thought by authorities as a runaway; Matt, of course, thinks the worst when a girl’s body is found on the beach.
Some nasty stuff is going on with “The Vortex of Purity” a cult that lures teens to a life of inner peace with LDS. (Aww yes ‘The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’ was very much like “The Vortex of Purity”. The Brotherhood branched out across the country were known as the weed smuggling “Hippie Mafia”)
Oops back to the story ~ Dad comes back and gets involved and things get exciting.
This was a great story for me. Laguna Beach is nearly in our back yard! It is known now for its beautiful shoreline, fantastic restaurants, fun shops, the amazing Pageant of the Masters that include three summer-long art festivals, and everyone wants ‘The Greeter’ to wave at them but there was a ‘hippie time!
Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 11, 2022
There is more about T. Jefferson Parker in this link ~ that is if you are interested ~
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...
This story is Laguna Beach in 1968 ~ BTW There actually is a beach in South Laguna called “The 1000 Step Beach ~
https://www.californiabeaches.com/bea...
Matt Anthony is a teen living in beautiful Laguna Beach; however, his life isn’t so beautiful.
His mother, Julie is a mess usually strung out on weed, his father, Bruce an ex-cop is nowhere to be seen.
He works hard trying to earn money as a paper-boy and also catching fish and selling to a local market.
When his sister Jasmine goes missing, and is thought by authorities as a runaway; Matt, of course, thinks the worst when a girl’s body is found on the beach.
Some nasty stuff is going on with “The Vortex of Purity” a cult that lures teens to a life of inner peace with LDS. (Aww yes ‘The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’ was very much like “The Vortex of Purity”. The Brotherhood branched out across the country were known as the weed smuggling “Hippie Mafia”)
Oops back to the story ~ Dad comes back and gets involved and things get exciting.
This was a great story for me. Laguna Beach is nearly in our back yard! It is known now for its beautiful shoreline, fantastic restaurants, fun shops, the amazing Pageant of the Masters that include three summer-long art festivals, and everyone wants ‘The Greeter’ to wave at them but there was a ‘hippie time!
Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 11, 2022
February 12, 2022
It took me nearly two weeks to finish this 355-page book. You have to get at least two-thirds of the way in before it gets really interesting. Still, if you're old enough to be jonesing for a nostalgic trip back to late-1960s Southern California, this could be just the ticket to that groovy vibe. Relive the magic of your psychedelic shenanigans.
January 4, 2022
A THOUSAND STEPS by T. Jefferson Parker
Published: January 11, 2022 by Macmillan - Tor/ Forge Books
A veritable historical mystery - thriller. A coming-of-age story of sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony unfolds in 1968, Laguna Beach, California …. in the Age of Aquarius, surrounded by hippies, drug addicts and surfers and just after the “Summer of Love”. He is engulfed in a culture of hallucinogenic drugs and “weed”, although he maintains a daily paper route to help support his family of “hippie” mother Julie and astoundingly smart and popular sister Jasmine, better known as “Jazz”. His older brother, Kyle, is a “Tunnel Rat” sequestered in Vietnam, approaching the end of his tour …. and per his letters, fearing a more likely death as the end is near. The family crowds around the television at night, hearing the nihilistic news of Walter Cronkite and constant war footage, of helicopters buzzing through the jungles under constant barrage of fire. They live in a drafty, uninsulated, post World War II bungalow with surprisingly low rent for Laguna Beach. Matt lives out back in a small garage, amongst the sometimes scampering mice and rats. He manages to fish daily, supplementing the families limited food supply. Julie dons her ridiculous costume daily while working at the Jolly Roger Restaurant. Her uniform consists of of red wench’s blouse with plunging neckline and off-the-shoulder sleeves, seemingly coordinated with black pantaloons and hideous black buckled slippers. His father, Bruce left when he was age ten, with another women, and in search of another law enforcement job in Texas. His father despised the developing culture of California and “the youth of today”
Matt’s life takes an abrupt departure of normalcy when Bonnie Stratmeyer’s body suddenly appears on a rock on the beach, cold and lifeless with seaweed in her hair. She has been missing for two months. Several nights later, his beloved sister Jazz fails to come home. In the ensuing days of her absence … it appears that the cops are doing little, and are resigned to the fact that “many kids her age … simply run away”. Matt takes it upon himself to exhaustively investigate his sister’s disappearance. He uncovers her last whereabouts …. at the Sandpiper Nightclub, where she was watching the performance of popular rocker and acidhead, Austin Overton. He learns she left the club with Austin. He leaves no stone unturned in his extensive personal investigation. …. following the breadcrumbs of her trail. As the fruitless days mount, Matt’s thoughts keep returning to a possible connection to Bonnie Stratmeyer’s disappearance.
Parker crafts a masterful narrative, filled with poetic prose, as he accurately recreates the turbulent time of 1968 Laguna Beach. Brimming with distrust of the establishment and suspicion of the military-industrial complex of America. In the background the soundtrack of “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Foxy Lady” peeks out, amongst the increasing usage of “Orange Sunshine” (LSD tablets) and “dragon balls” (hashish frosted with opium). The side stage is surrounded by the likes of Dr. Timothy Leary and Johnny “Grail” ( Johnny Griggs, the founder of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love). Both Johnny Grail and the psychedelic artist, Christian Clay, worked out of the Mystic Arts World …. a convenient gathering place for hippies, artists, and drug freaks. Everyone was flocking to Laguna Beach to seek peace, love and a higher level of consciousness.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan - Tor / Forge Books for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.
…. at readers remains.com ….. and Mystery and Suspense Magazine ….
Published: January 11, 2022 by Macmillan - Tor/ Forge Books
A veritable historical mystery - thriller. A coming-of-age story of sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony unfolds in 1968, Laguna Beach, California …. in the Age of Aquarius, surrounded by hippies, drug addicts and surfers and just after the “Summer of Love”. He is engulfed in a culture of hallucinogenic drugs and “weed”, although he maintains a daily paper route to help support his family of “hippie” mother Julie and astoundingly smart and popular sister Jasmine, better known as “Jazz”. His older brother, Kyle, is a “Tunnel Rat” sequestered in Vietnam, approaching the end of his tour …. and per his letters, fearing a more likely death as the end is near. The family crowds around the television at night, hearing the nihilistic news of Walter Cronkite and constant war footage, of helicopters buzzing through the jungles under constant barrage of fire. They live in a drafty, uninsulated, post World War II bungalow with surprisingly low rent for Laguna Beach. Matt lives out back in a small garage, amongst the sometimes scampering mice and rats. He manages to fish daily, supplementing the families limited food supply. Julie dons her ridiculous costume daily while working at the Jolly Roger Restaurant. Her uniform consists of of red wench’s blouse with plunging neckline and off-the-shoulder sleeves, seemingly coordinated with black pantaloons and hideous black buckled slippers. His father, Bruce left when he was age ten, with another women, and in search of another law enforcement job in Texas. His father despised the developing culture of California and “the youth of today”
Matt’s life takes an abrupt departure of normalcy when Bonnie Stratmeyer’s body suddenly appears on a rock on the beach, cold and lifeless with seaweed in her hair. She has been missing for two months. Several nights later, his beloved sister Jazz fails to come home. In the ensuing days of her absence … it appears that the cops are doing little, and are resigned to the fact that “many kids her age … simply run away”. Matt takes it upon himself to exhaustively investigate his sister’s disappearance. He uncovers her last whereabouts …. at the Sandpiper Nightclub, where she was watching the performance of popular rocker and acidhead, Austin Overton. He learns she left the club with Austin. He leaves no stone unturned in his extensive personal investigation. …. following the breadcrumbs of her trail. As the fruitless days mount, Matt’s thoughts keep returning to a possible connection to Bonnie Stratmeyer’s disappearance.
Parker crafts a masterful narrative, filled with poetic prose, as he accurately recreates the turbulent time of 1968 Laguna Beach. Brimming with distrust of the establishment and suspicion of the military-industrial complex of America. In the background the soundtrack of “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Foxy Lady” peeks out, amongst the increasing usage of “Orange Sunshine” (LSD tablets) and “dragon balls” (hashish frosted with opium). The side stage is surrounded by the likes of Dr. Timothy Leary and Johnny “Grail” ( Johnny Griggs, the founder of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love). Both Johnny Grail and the psychedelic artist, Christian Clay, worked out of the Mystic Arts World …. a convenient gathering place for hippies, artists, and drug freaks. Everyone was flocking to Laguna Beach to seek peace, love and a higher level of consciousness.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan - Tor / Forge Books for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.
…. at readers remains.com ….. and Mystery and Suspense Magazine ….
January 17, 2022
Laguna Beach, California, 1968 - Hippies, Psychedelic Music and Drugs, Peace Signs, Free-Love, Vietnam War, Politics, Anti-War Protesters vs. Police - the dawning of the perfect storm. Author T. Jefferson Parker experienced life in the area and has now written A Thousand Steps, a book of fiction, incorporating the historical events of the era into a story about sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony's life and search for his missing sister during a time when the police considered most missing teenagers to be hippie runaways. The author's expertise with narrative translates into an entertaining coming-of-age thriller that explodes on the pages with all the psychedelic color and sounds of the times while highlighting an often overlooked darker, ominous side where people like Timothy O'Leary preached free love and mind-altering drugs to thousands of young people tripping high on LSD, and con-men, predators and drug dealers helped themselves to the easy pickings. The entire situation set up the perfect storm for young girls to be spirited away from their families only to disappear without a trace.
A Thousand Steps is a portrait of the times in 1968 - especially in California upon which thousands of young people from across the country converged believing it to be the land of dreams and opportunities. Through his masterful descriptive prose, Parker has nailed the tone, mood, highs and lows, and good and bad of the era. He's tapped into the darker side of the hippie movement through the voice of young Matt on his journey of teenage dawning - a sixteen-year-old male whose body is awakening to the wonders of the opposite sex, feeling the stirrings of first love with all the longings associated with his first girlfriend. A young male toting a lot of responsibility for a teenage boy being challenged to provide for his dysfunctional family (absent dad, stoner mom, brother serving in 'Nam, sister Jazz). When Jazz fails to come home after several nights, Matt knows in his gut something bad has happened, and it's on him to find her. When yet another missing girl is found brutally murdered at the bottom of the Thousand Steps, Matt's world implodes with visions of his sister's battered body haunting his dreams. After being brushed off by police saying she probably ran away, Matt begins his own search and investigation, often skirting around the edges of perverted gangs and groupies - using his artistic talents and sketch pad to move unnoticed among suspicious groups and possible suspects. He intends to find his sister - dead or alive.
In A Thousand Steps, Matt is on a coming of age journey - navigating a thousand steps down his own road to adulthood. Whether the author means for Matt's journey to mirror the famous Thousand Steps down to the beach or not, the parallel is notable. Matt's thrown into the perfect storm and like readers is charged with discovering the fate of the missing Jazz (and potentially hundreds of other missing teenagers) while maneuvering through the mirrors and smoke and psychedelic explosions all around town. The author does an excellent job weaving the many threads together while keeping the focus of the book on Matt and his experiences growing up in a time of great social and cultural conflict. For me, the mystery is somewhat secondary, serving as a catalyst for the historical background and coming of age story although I did enjoy the suspense of figuring out what happened to Jazz. Support characters are well developed and help flesh the story out which concludes with what I suspect many will consider a satisfactory ending.
All in all, A Thousand Steps is a good fictional depiction of a time of extreme unrest in our country when many young people moved west with unrealistic visions of what the promise land was like. I love that Parker used young Matt as a protagonist, showcasing his growth throughout the story which is impressive while also highlighting a darker side of the time period. Before I go, I have to mention the beautiful cover that shimmers with all the psychedelic colors recalled by this story and era. I highly recommend A Thousand Steps to anyone who grew up in the time period - what a walk down memory lane. I also recommend it to fans who love historical fiction with a heavy side of mystery and suspense.
*Special thanks to Forge Books for an arc of this book.
**Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine
***Review post at Cross My Heart Reviews
A Thousand Steps is a portrait of the times in 1968 - especially in California upon which thousands of young people from across the country converged believing it to be the land of dreams and opportunities. Through his masterful descriptive prose, Parker has nailed the tone, mood, highs and lows, and good and bad of the era. He's tapped into the darker side of the hippie movement through the voice of young Matt on his journey of teenage dawning - a sixteen-year-old male whose body is awakening to the wonders of the opposite sex, feeling the stirrings of first love with all the longings associated with his first girlfriend. A young male toting a lot of responsibility for a teenage boy being challenged to provide for his dysfunctional family (absent dad, stoner mom, brother serving in 'Nam, sister Jazz). When Jazz fails to come home after several nights, Matt knows in his gut something bad has happened, and it's on him to find her. When yet another missing girl is found brutally murdered at the bottom of the Thousand Steps, Matt's world implodes with visions of his sister's battered body haunting his dreams. After being brushed off by police saying she probably ran away, Matt begins his own search and investigation, often skirting around the edges of perverted gangs and groupies - using his artistic talents and sketch pad to move unnoticed among suspicious groups and possible suspects. He intends to find his sister - dead or alive.
In A Thousand Steps, Matt is on a coming of age journey - navigating a thousand steps down his own road to adulthood. Whether the author means for Matt's journey to mirror the famous Thousand Steps down to the beach or not, the parallel is notable. Matt's thrown into the perfect storm and like readers is charged with discovering the fate of the missing Jazz (and potentially hundreds of other missing teenagers) while maneuvering through the mirrors and smoke and psychedelic explosions all around town. The author does an excellent job weaving the many threads together while keeping the focus of the book on Matt and his experiences growing up in a time of great social and cultural conflict. For me, the mystery is somewhat secondary, serving as a catalyst for the historical background and coming of age story although I did enjoy the suspense of figuring out what happened to Jazz. Support characters are well developed and help flesh the story out which concludes with what I suspect many will consider a satisfactory ending.
All in all, A Thousand Steps is a good fictional depiction of a time of extreme unrest in our country when many young people moved west with unrealistic visions of what the promise land was like. I love that Parker used young Matt as a protagonist, showcasing his growth throughout the story which is impressive while also highlighting a darker side of the time period. Before I go, I have to mention the beautiful cover that shimmers with all the psychedelic colors recalled by this story and era. I highly recommend A Thousand Steps to anyone who grew up in the time period - what a walk down memory lane. I also recommend it to fans who love historical fiction with a heavy side of mystery and suspense.
*Special thanks to Forge Books for an arc of this book.
**Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine
***Review post at Cross My Heart Reviews
January 8, 2022
It's 1968 and 16-year-old Matt Anthony is dealing with many adult issues while trying to enjoy life in Laguna Beach, California. His mother is caught up in the world of drugs barely making ends meet, his older brother is fighting in Vietnam and his father, a former policeman, walked out on the family years ago and rarely stays in touch. Matt acts responsibly earning money with a regular job delivering papers, enjoys fishing and spends time working on his drawings. He's also getting closer to his first real crush. After a missing teenage girl turns up dead on the beach, his world is turned upside down when his older sister Jasmine disappears. When the police fail to take immediate action, Matt starts his own search. He finds himself looking for her within the local drug scene and those seeking enlightenment.
A Thousand Steps is a well-done journey back in time. It takes place when there was a major shift in our culture. War was raging on and was watched nightly on everyone’s television sets. A counterculture was formed. Hippies not only protested the war but experimented with mind-altering drugs to escape. Laguna Beach attracted a group of hippies calling themselves the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. Timothy Leary and others encouraged them to use LSD to turn on and drop out.
Author T. Jefferson Parker portrays the period with realism through this coming-of-age story which includes a compelling mystery. Whether you lived through this time of great change or heard your family talk about the 60s, this is a book worth checking out.
Many thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Forge Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this entertaining, atmospheric book in advance of its January 11, 2022 publication.
Rated 4.25 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
A Thousand Steps is a well-done journey back in time. It takes place when there was a major shift in our culture. War was raging on and was watched nightly on everyone’s television sets. A counterculture was formed. Hippies not only protested the war but experimented with mind-altering drugs to escape. Laguna Beach attracted a group of hippies calling themselves the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. Timothy Leary and others encouraged them to use LSD to turn on and drop out.
Author T. Jefferson Parker portrays the period with realism through this coming-of-age story which includes a compelling mystery. Whether you lived through this time of great change or heard your family talk about the 60s, this is a book worth checking out.
Many thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Forge Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this entertaining, atmospheric book in advance of its January 11, 2022 publication.
Rated 4.25 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
December 17, 2021
4.5 A Time Experienced Stars
* * * * 1/2 Spoiler Free- A Quick Review
Time flys and before you know it, books are being written during the "times" you have lived through. I have always believed in "Truth in Advertising" and have joked with new friend requests that, yes, my profile pic is me, just many many many decades ago. So because I could really relate in a way to the times presented in this book, it really brought back so many memories, good and not so great.
As in life, not all of the characters are likable, not all of the decisions by adults are smart, kind, or responsible. What is a gift is that our young guy at 16 has the sense he has and is the main one who we root for. His insights into all that is going on in his family, in his community, and in the country are the driving force...and also add on, he is in the midst of a crush of a girl he is interested in. Complicated times.
Every once in a while I highlight someone's review that nails the book so much better than I ever could. I happened to see Dorie - Cats&Books :)'s Reviews of A Thousand Steps and was blown away. Please go there now and experience what a review for this book can be:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Thousand Steps
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A gifted copy was provided by Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Forge Books via NetGalley for an honest review.
For more Reviews, Free E-books and Giveaways
* * * * 1/2 Spoiler Free- A Quick Review
Time flys and before you know it, books are being written during the "times" you have lived through. I have always believed in "Truth in Advertising" and have joked with new friend requests that, yes, my profile pic is me, just many many many decades ago. So because I could really relate in a way to the times presented in this book, it really brought back so many memories, good and not so great.
As in life, not all of the characters are likable, not all of the decisions by adults are smart, kind, or responsible. What is a gift is that our young guy at 16 has the sense he has and is the main one who we root for. His insights into all that is going on in his family, in his community, and in the country are the driving force...and also add on, he is in the midst of a crush of a girl he is interested in. Complicated times.
Every once in a while I highlight someone's review that nails the book so much better than I ever could. I happened to see Dorie - Cats&Books :)'s Reviews of A Thousand Steps and was blown away. Please go there now and experience what a review for this book can be:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Thousand Stepshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A gifted copy was provided by Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Forge Books via NetGalley for an honest review.
For more Reviews, Free E-books and Giveaways
January 12, 2022
What I really liked about this novel was how well it was conceived and put together--the setting, the characters and the plot were perfectly in tune with the hippie days of 1968 in Laguna Beach, California. Parker chose to tell the story in the third person point of view of 16-year-old Matt Anthony who is desperate to find his older sister who left home after a quarrel with their mom and hasn't returned. He's just seen the dead body of a teen girl on the beach--another local girl who'd gone missing weeks earlier. Is there a connection here?
Matt is struggling to deal with his weird druggie mother and the hippie drug scene of Laguna Beach in general, with his absent father, with the uncertainty of where he will live, with not having enough food and money, and with his awakening sexuality. He's developing a strong sense of what's right and wrong and is doggedly determined to find his sister, without much help from the local police. Whenever a story is told from a young person's pov, there's always that sense that they don't really understand everything that's going on in the crazy mixed-up world around them. Matt is a very special kid. I enjoyed seeing him grow and develop, both physically and through experience, while keeping his head on straight.
This was my first taste of T. Jefferson Parker's writing and I will definitely look forward to reading more. I received an arc of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity.
Matt is struggling to deal with his weird druggie mother and the hippie drug scene of Laguna Beach in general, with his absent father, with the uncertainty of where he will live, with not having enough food and money, and with his awakening sexuality. He's developing a strong sense of what's right and wrong and is doggedly determined to find his sister, without much help from the local police. Whenever a story is told from a young person's pov, there's always that sense that they don't really understand everything that's going on in the crazy mixed-up world around them. Matt is a very special kid. I enjoyed seeing him grow and develop, both physically and through experience, while keeping his head on straight.
This was my first taste of T. Jefferson Parker's writing and I will definitely look forward to reading more. I received an arc of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity.
July 25, 2021
This was an awesome and totally bitchen book (and I'm allowed to say that since it was my era)! It's 1968 in Laguna Beach and Matt's sister, Jasmine disappears one night and doesn't come home. In between his paper route and fishing, Matt is determined to find her but the police are little help. In addition The Vortex of Purity opens, encouraging young people to follow them and discover inner peace. Timothy Leary is also in town pushing LSD as a way to expand consciousness. Everything gets dicey when Matt's dad--estranged from his drug-addicted mom gets involved. Lots of great action, tense moments, twists and turns, just the way I like my T. Jefferson Parker books!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
February 18, 2025
More of a 3.8 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed this, it could've been more, but it was alright for what it was. I wouldn't mind reading T. Jefferson Parker again.
Matt Anthony is a teenager living in Laguna Beach in 1968, a time of great change. His older brother Kyle is off in the Vietnam War, his mother Julie high on every drug imaginable, and his semi-absent, bigoted father Bruce is off in Oklahoma despising everything in California. Matt just lives his life, delivering papers, drawing, and waiting for Kyle's return. However, his sister Jasmine hasn't returned home after a night out and after another girl is found dead, his mother and him become worried. They tell the police she's missing, but they aren't much help, so Matt takes upon himself to find Jasmine. He ends up finding himself in a world of hippies, useless cops, drugs abundance, and his own frustrations and desires as a teenage boy.
A Thousand Steps is billed as thriller and a coming-of-age story on the jacket, but to be honest it's more of the latter. While I did not finding it thrilling necessarily, the mystery behind Jasmine's disappearance was interesting. My suggestion to anyone interested in reading this is to think of it more of a coming-of-age story with a mystery plot paralleling it. The mystery plot is never forgotten, it is Matt's main drive throughout the book, but the main focus is ultimately Matt's growth into adulthood.
I quite liked Parker's writing style. It was very accessible and the pacing was fast, but not too fast. Parker has a way of detailing Matt's feelings that made him genuinely feel like a teenage boy. Matt is a fleshed-out boy and we can see and feel what makes him happy, sad, angry, etc. However, I don't think it would've hurt if Parker could've gone a bit deeper with Matt, coloring his interiority just a bit more. Throughout the story, Matt's transformation from teenage boy to young man is quite the journey and you can see just how every event he encounters shapes him. One thing that this journey showed me, as someone born way after the 1960s, is that being a teenager in this time period was rough. That might be an understatement--again, I didn't live through the era--but it really does feel that way. Matt is sandwiched between so many different sides. His conservative father lectures him about the horrors of living in California; he's not totally wrong, but he's still a bigot. His mother, however, is almost always on drugs, making her mentally not present and leaving Matt to fend for himself in their already dire financial situation and on his own in the search for Jasmine. Yes, she's not bigoted like her ex-husband, more on them both in a bit, but she's left her sixteen-year-old child to defend for himself! Likewise, Matt is stuck between the strict, moralistic police officer Furlong, hellbent on locking every hippie and drug user up, and his friends at the Brotherhood of Eternal Love and the Vortex of Purity. Matt is clearly disgusted by the drug problem plaguing Laguna Beach, and his mother, but he absolutely hates Furlong; and for good reason because you will too.
Seriously, Furlong was such an asshole, using every single wordplay and coercion he could to get Matt to drop him some intel on the Brotherhood of Eternal Love in exchange for some, hopeful, leads on finding Jasmine. Obviously, wanting to find his sister and having very little other help, Matt (partially) agrees to help. Matt hate Furlong, I hated Furlong, and you will hate him too.
Anyway, Matt has no problem with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love seeking spiritual relief from the crazy world they all live or having their own path to God or whatever divinity they seek, but Matt clearly is suspicious of how much drugs they take, and what kind, and given that Jasmine was closely associated with some of them before her disappearance. Matt hates that the Vietnam War is happening, but he doesn't hate his brother. What can he do? Well, basically he does every, little thing he can in order to get some sort of information to find Jasmine.
The other characters Matt meets throughout the book are all mostly memorable, though I think Parker could've fleshed some of them out a bit more too. I particularly liked Matt's crush Laurel . She was very sweet and supportive. Furlong was not totally one-dimensional, he voiced his reasons for what he did, but he was still an ass. Then there was Officer Darnell, a slightly nicer cop who helped Matt a bit more out. She was a bit of a complicated character. She actually believe Matt and tried to help him, but the rules of her job required her to only do so much and certain things at certain points. And now, I need to speak about Matt's parents. So, yes, Bruce is a bigoted conservative, but he does care about his family. He does eventually return to Laguna Beach to help find Jasmine. He's some much needed muscle and grounding for Matt, but Matt is adverse to some of his beliefs and ideals. Likewise, although she's a drugged-up hippie, Julie does genuinely care about Matt and Jasmine and Kyle .
I don't see this as form of "both-sidesism," but more of just a kid who wants his whole family back, but has to make do with what he has. Family can be complicated, trust me I know. However, I mostly applaud Parker on writing Julie and Bruce this way, at first seeming one-dimensional but actually complex despite their different ideals, because that's the way most people are. Complex. At the end of the day, Bruce is still conservative, but dammit without him Matt wouldn't make more progress in his search for Jasmine. Yes, Julie is still a hippie too, but she was looking out for Matt's best interests through it all. No, that doesn't forgive them of the wrong they've done, but given with what Matt was doing and what he was up against, they really were the best options he had.
As for the mystery aspect of the story, again, it wasn't bad, but I think Parker could've done more. Some of the intended "thrilling" scenes could've been more tense. At their worst, they feel casual and at their best they are fun to see. The most interesting part of the story was Matt's mental and emotional development. Although not everything went the way he wanted, he ended up realizing that life is often like that, something we adults know all too well.
If you do want to read this, remember that it's mostly a coming-of-age story over a mystery one. This wasn't a bad read and it was a nice break from the SFF I usually read. I had fun!
Matt Anthony is a teenager living in Laguna Beach in 1968, a time of great change. His older brother Kyle is off in the Vietnam War, his mother Julie high on every drug imaginable, and his semi-absent, bigoted father Bruce is off in Oklahoma despising everything in California. Matt just lives his life, delivering papers, drawing, and waiting for Kyle's return. However, his sister Jasmine hasn't returned home after a night out and after another girl is found dead, his mother and him become worried. They tell the police she's missing, but they aren't much help, so Matt takes upon himself to find Jasmine. He ends up finding himself in a world of hippies, useless cops, drugs abundance, and his own frustrations and desires as a teenage boy.
A Thousand Steps is billed as thriller and a coming-of-age story on the jacket, but to be honest it's more of the latter. While I did not finding it thrilling necessarily, the mystery behind Jasmine's disappearance was interesting. My suggestion to anyone interested in reading this is to think of it more of a coming-of-age story with a mystery plot paralleling it. The mystery plot is never forgotten, it is Matt's main drive throughout the book, but the main focus is ultimately Matt's growth into adulthood.
I quite liked Parker's writing style. It was very accessible and the pacing was fast, but not too fast. Parker has a way of detailing Matt's feelings that made him genuinely feel like a teenage boy. Matt is a fleshed-out boy and we can see and feel what makes him happy, sad, angry, etc. However, I don't think it would've hurt if Parker could've gone a bit deeper with Matt, coloring his interiority just a bit more. Throughout the story, Matt's transformation from teenage boy to young man is quite the journey and you can see just how every event he encounters shapes him. One thing that this journey showed me, as someone born way after the 1960s, is that being a teenager in this time period was rough. That might be an understatement--again, I didn't live through the era--but it really does feel that way. Matt is sandwiched between so many different sides. His conservative father lectures him about the horrors of living in California; he's not totally wrong, but he's still a bigot. His mother, however, is almost always on drugs, making her mentally not present and leaving Matt to fend for himself in their already dire financial situation and on his own in the search for Jasmine. Yes, she's not bigoted like her ex-husband, more on them both in a bit, but she's left her sixteen-year-old child to defend for himself! Likewise, Matt is stuck between the strict, moralistic police officer Furlong, hellbent on locking every hippie and drug user up, and his friends at the Brotherhood of Eternal Love and the Vortex of Purity. Matt is clearly disgusted by the drug problem plaguing Laguna Beach, and his mother, but he absolutely hates Furlong; and for good reason because you will too.
Seriously, Furlong was such an asshole, using every single wordplay and coercion he could to get Matt to drop him some intel on the Brotherhood of Eternal Love in exchange for some, hopeful, leads on finding Jasmine. Obviously, wanting to find his sister and having very little other help, Matt (partially) agrees to help. Matt hate Furlong, I hated Furlong, and you will hate him too.
Anyway, Matt has no problem with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love seeking spiritual relief from the crazy world they all live or having their own path to God or whatever divinity they seek, but Matt clearly is suspicious of how much drugs they take, and what kind, and given that Jasmine was closely associated with some of them before her disappearance. Matt hates that the Vietnam War is happening, but he doesn't hate his brother. What can he do? Well, basically he does every, little thing he can in order to get some sort of information to find Jasmine.
The other characters Matt meets throughout the book are all mostly memorable, though I think Parker could've fleshed some of them out a bit more too. I particularly liked Matt's crush Laurel . She was very sweet and supportive. Furlong was not totally one-dimensional, he voiced his reasons for what he did, but he was still an ass. Then there was Officer Darnell, a slightly nicer cop who helped Matt a bit more out. She was a bit of a complicated character. She actually believe Matt and tried to help him, but the rules of her job required her to only do so much and certain things at certain points. And now, I need to speak about Matt's parents. So, yes, Bruce is a bigoted conservative, but he does care about his family. He does eventually return to Laguna Beach to help find Jasmine. He's some much needed muscle and grounding for Matt, but Matt is adverse to some of his beliefs and ideals. Likewise, although she's a drugged-up hippie, Julie does genuinely care about Matt and Jasmine and Kyle .
I don't see this as form of "both-sidesism," but more of just a kid who wants his whole family back, but has to make do with what he has. Family can be complicated, trust me I know. However, I mostly applaud Parker on writing Julie and Bruce this way, at first seeming one-dimensional but actually complex despite their different ideals, because that's the way most people are. Complex. At the end of the day, Bruce is still conservative, but dammit without him Matt wouldn't make more progress in his search for Jasmine. Yes, Julie is still a hippie too, but she was looking out for Matt's best interests through it all. No, that doesn't forgive them of the wrong they've done, but given with what Matt was doing and what he was up against, they really were the best options he had.
As for the mystery aspect of the story, again, it wasn't bad, but I think Parker could've done more. Some of the intended "thrilling" scenes could've been more tense. At their worst, they feel casual and at their best they are fun to see. The most interesting part of the story was Matt's mental and emotional development. Although not everything went the way he wanted, he ended up realizing that life is often like that, something we adults know all too well.
If you do want to read this, remember that it's mostly a coming-of-age story over a mystery one. This wasn't a bad read and it was a nice break from the SFF I usually read. I had fun!
January 19, 2022
Disappearances at Laguna Beach in the late 60’s
The horrific death of a sixteen year old missing girl he’s seen around the traps, has Matt Anthony, also sixteen, nervous about his sister Jasmine. Jasmine is missing—only a couple of days true! Still the death of Bonnie Stratmeyer has him worried. Living in the Californian Laguna Beach area in 1968, Matt is the product of a separated family. He and his mother and sister work as they can for food and rent. Matt supplementing their diet with his fishing offerings.
Matt’s mother Julie is a product of the 60’s. Matt is surrounded by the ‘happening’ era. The free thinking, experiments with pysycholdic drugs, heroin, hash and of course weed. Timothy Leary gets more than a mention. The Vietnam War is raging, the Peace Movement is out in force, Hippies chill out and life’s cool. VW vans are part of the scene. (OK, I had one and loved it! Still miss it!)
There’s your obligatory swami and the beautiful people searching for evolution to a higher plane. There’s a rock star, regular parties (drugs and sex) for “rich old men” hidden behind high fences and security guards. Where there’s drugs and sex, there’s porn and crime. No surprises here.
I’m fascinated by Matt’s search for his sister, his ability to blend into situations, to observe the small details. Matt is a talented artist, intelligent and adventurous. He’s on the cusp of manhood, of girlfriends and dating.
Jasmine’s disappearance takes on a fantasy life of it’s own—except there’s nothing fantastical about the fact that she’s gone. Sinister is more like it. Matt is desperate. The police seem to be ignoring things so it’s up to Matt to find his sister.
A pretty full on story, I’m amazed by Matt’s ability to coordinate his search, the help he has from various friends and the weird circle his search draws through the Laguna Beach of these times.
An exceptional murder thriller with ooomph!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
The horrific death of a sixteen year old missing girl he’s seen around the traps, has Matt Anthony, also sixteen, nervous about his sister Jasmine. Jasmine is missing—only a couple of days true! Still the death of Bonnie Stratmeyer has him worried. Living in the Californian Laguna Beach area in 1968, Matt is the product of a separated family. He and his mother and sister work as they can for food and rent. Matt supplementing their diet with his fishing offerings.
Matt’s mother Julie is a product of the 60’s. Matt is surrounded by the ‘happening’ era. The free thinking, experiments with pysycholdic drugs, heroin, hash and of course weed. Timothy Leary gets more than a mention. The Vietnam War is raging, the Peace Movement is out in force, Hippies chill out and life’s cool. VW vans are part of the scene. (OK, I had one and loved it! Still miss it!)
There’s your obligatory swami and the beautiful people searching for evolution to a higher plane. There’s a rock star, regular parties (drugs and sex) for “rich old men” hidden behind high fences and security guards. Where there’s drugs and sex, there’s porn and crime. No surprises here.
I’m fascinated by Matt’s search for his sister, his ability to blend into situations, to observe the small details. Matt is a talented artist, intelligent and adventurous. He’s on the cusp of manhood, of girlfriends and dating.
Jasmine’s disappearance takes on a fantasy life of it’s own—except there’s nothing fantastical about the fact that she’s gone. Sinister is more like it. Matt is desperate. The police seem to be ignoring things so it’s up to Matt to find his sister.
A pretty full on story, I’m amazed by Matt’s ability to coordinate his search, the help he has from various friends and the weird circle his search draws through the Laguna Beach of these times.
An exceptional murder thriller with ooomph!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
July 19, 2021
Review TK
May 22, 2022
“God up there, Matt here. Show me what to do. I tried to find my sister and failed. Summer will be over and fall is cold in the canyon. The halibut will only last a few more days. Furlong will arrest me and I’ll lose my job, my school, my family, Mystic Arts, Laurel and Sara, fishing and drawing. They’ll lock me in a cage with a bunch of ugly, stinky, stupid teenagers who think they’re tough. Maybe they are tough. Show me what to do. I promised you I’d do anything you want if you let me get away from Furlong, and you delivered me from him and I now repeat my holy vow to do anything you want. But you have to show me what it is. I know you can help me. Since I was small I’ve asked you to make Mom and Dad not mad, and to help me catch lots of fish, and for Laurel to like me and for Jazz to get over the pneumonia and Kyle the mono. Sometimes you said yes and sometimes it was no. Show me what to do. I’m tired of my fear and your silence. I need to hear you, or see a sign. It doesn’t have to be a miracle."
*****
I've struggled to love the work of T. Jefferson Parker over the decades, and now that I've read A THOUSAND STEPS, I know why: For all his breezy muscularity and poetic meditations on the sun-blasted darkness of Southern California, all the razzle and dazzle and light and coolness and heat and blood and surf and fury seemed to distract from the emotional vacancy at the center of the six or seven novels of Parker's that I've read. The more saturated his colors — the more saturated his violence, to the point of torture porn and beyond — the more pallid his heart, at least on the page. I finished each book feeling full of empty calories.
A THOUSAND STEPS, in its summary and its reviews, seemed like a different beast, and I got the impression that Parker took a little extra time between books, given his usual scatter-gun pace, to find a little extra within himself as he stares into his senior-citizen years, to plumb his memories, his childhood, for a way to balance his books, so to speak, to build a bridge between his storyteller's brain and his eternal child's heart. If so, he's succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. I get the feeling he was speaking to himself, a little maybe, when a character tells another: “I like you. If you were a story I’d sit up in bed tonight and read you.”
It's 1969 in Laguna Beach, California, and Matt, a budding artist, is alone in the world, despite having a mother, father, brother and sister. His father checked out years before to wander the country in desultory dissolution; his mother is increasingly unable to hide her drug addictions; his brother is a short-time soldier in Vietnam. And his sister is missing, apparently kidnapped, vanished among the hordes of hippies, druggies, shamans and sexual opportunists who seem to be everywhere the teenage Matt looks. All the while, about an inch and a half from being on the streets alongside the freaks himself.
But Matt is made of strong enough stuff to handle having to take care of himself, and he does, while exploring his peace side and his love side and searching, literally in every house in town, for Jasmine. His persistence makes him a target, however; his friends want to use him as a drug mule, and the police seem less interested in searching for a "runaway" than they are in using Matt to get an edge on the psychedelic drug trade. Between them and two girls who show interest in him in different ways, he's desperate to assert his agency and his adultness.
Lots of stuff happens, in a paisley-wheel whirl of pretty colors and garish beach sunshine, and it all makes sense, and it's all emotionally rich and satisfying, no time more so than when his father turns up, disgusted by everything Laguna Beach seems to be about but determined to help, and the two become something of a two-man wrecking ball as the clues to Jazz's disappearance lead them to the only place in town they haven't searched every square inch of. Suddenly, everything shifts up a couple of gears, in a scream of intensity and a splatter of blood, and ... wow. A THOUSAND STEPS is the rare crime novel that earns its ending, but contains the rare ending that earns everything that came before it.
And in Matt, Parker shows an emotional nakedness I've never seen before, and his vulnerability is tremendously appealing. He's tough, but he's constantly being knocked down. But being tough, he gets back up again, again and again. And so he earns everything he eventually gets.
Beyond that, one thing A THOUSAND STEPS has in common with other novels in the Parker oeuvre is his eye for the colorful Southern California detail that never seems clichéd. Savor some of the sea-salted, period-pungent delicacies below:
"They have mod, over-the-ear haircuts and baggy white bell-bottom suits. Midthirties maybe. Matt wonders for the millionth time why old men are so eager to look ridiculous."
“Stay out of trouble, Matt. Say no to the drug pushers and the queers and girls who only want shiny objects and oceanfront homes.”
“Matt, we’ve had some bum trips at work. Um, the summer tourists haven’t picked up because of the June gloom and all the hippies scaring them off.
"Grail hands Matt the duster and heads out through the meditation room. Matt hears a door close, then takes up dusting the beaker bongs with the psychedelic paint jobs, the bubble-based vapor bongs, the double-recyclers, the dab-rigs, quartz bangers, and the Gandalf pipes. He picks up a beaker bong and examines the paint job, sees he could probably do as good with the right materials. It’s beautiful—red roses on clear glass. Wonders how a mini-tableau of Laurel and Rose in the Gauguin would look. The smoke would swirl around behind them like fog and you’d have a werewolf kind of trip."
"I’m forty-four days short today. It’s weird, little brother. I feel like I’m standing on a bridge with a noose around my neck and waiting for someone to push me over. Sarge reminds me that the shorter you are the safer you are, statistically, since you’ve made it this far. Much better chances than the day you arrived, he says. But this isn’t a statistical problem. It’s war, which presses a man’s fate into a smaller and smaller container."
"Waiting for Laurel, Matt showers thoroughly, shaves his chin, straightens up his old room, makes up Kyle’s bed, puts a few stolen City Hall roses in vases in the living room, and splashes on some of Kyle’s Hai Karate."
“This is just freaky cool, Matt. You, a sixteen-year-old paperboy chasing kidnappers down PCH on foot!”
"As you know, Laguna Beach is awash in Afghan dragon balls."
“Mark these words, Matt—Khrushchev says they’ll feed us little bits of socialism until America becomes communist. He says we will fall like overripe fruit into their hands. Son, anybody who doesn’t see that Vietnam, civil rights, the riots, and assassinations are all parts of the world communist conspiracy is not a man. He is a naive boob. We have nukes for a reason. Moscow should know that. President Johnson just doesn’t have the nuts to use them.”
“Your mother is right. I’d hate it here. It’s the new Sodom. Look at those people. Weak, materialistic. Plump, pleasure-seeking, end-of-empire Romans. Ignorant of the Soviet world threat, ignorant of Christian-American history. Ignorant of self-defense, oblivious to the responsibility of owning firearms. But they’re against a necessary war they don’t understand. Well, isn’t that just great? Kyle over there in the tunnels and these pathetic hippie homos are waving signs before they head home to get stoned and watch Let’s Make a Deal.”
*****
I've struggled to love the work of T. Jefferson Parker over the decades, and now that I've read A THOUSAND STEPS, I know why: For all his breezy muscularity and poetic meditations on the sun-blasted darkness of Southern California, all the razzle and dazzle and light and coolness and heat and blood and surf and fury seemed to distract from the emotional vacancy at the center of the six or seven novels of Parker's that I've read. The more saturated his colors — the more saturated his violence, to the point of torture porn and beyond — the more pallid his heart, at least on the page. I finished each book feeling full of empty calories.
A THOUSAND STEPS, in its summary and its reviews, seemed like a different beast, and I got the impression that Parker took a little extra time between books, given his usual scatter-gun pace, to find a little extra within himself as he stares into his senior-citizen years, to plumb his memories, his childhood, for a way to balance his books, so to speak, to build a bridge between his storyteller's brain and his eternal child's heart. If so, he's succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. I get the feeling he was speaking to himself, a little maybe, when a character tells another: “I like you. If you were a story I’d sit up in bed tonight and read you.”
It's 1969 in Laguna Beach, California, and Matt, a budding artist, is alone in the world, despite having a mother, father, brother and sister. His father checked out years before to wander the country in desultory dissolution; his mother is increasingly unable to hide her drug addictions; his brother is a short-time soldier in Vietnam. And his sister is missing, apparently kidnapped, vanished among the hordes of hippies, druggies, shamans and sexual opportunists who seem to be everywhere the teenage Matt looks. All the while, about an inch and a half from being on the streets alongside the freaks himself.
But Matt is made of strong enough stuff to handle having to take care of himself, and he does, while exploring his peace side and his love side and searching, literally in every house in town, for Jasmine. His persistence makes him a target, however; his friends want to use him as a drug mule, and the police seem less interested in searching for a "runaway" than they are in using Matt to get an edge on the psychedelic drug trade. Between them and two girls who show interest in him in different ways, he's desperate to assert his agency and his adultness.
Lots of stuff happens, in a paisley-wheel whirl of pretty colors and garish beach sunshine, and it all makes sense, and it's all emotionally rich and satisfying, no time more so than when his father turns up, disgusted by everything Laguna Beach seems to be about but determined to help, and the two become something of a two-man wrecking ball as the clues to Jazz's disappearance lead them to the only place in town they haven't searched every square inch of. Suddenly, everything shifts up a couple of gears, in a scream of intensity and a splatter of blood, and ... wow. A THOUSAND STEPS is the rare crime novel that earns its ending, but contains the rare ending that earns everything that came before it.
And in Matt, Parker shows an emotional nakedness I've never seen before, and his vulnerability is tremendously appealing. He's tough, but he's constantly being knocked down. But being tough, he gets back up again, again and again. And so he earns everything he eventually gets.
Beyond that, one thing A THOUSAND STEPS has in common with other novels in the Parker oeuvre is his eye for the colorful Southern California detail that never seems clichéd. Savor some of the sea-salted, period-pungent delicacies below:
"They have mod, over-the-ear haircuts and baggy white bell-bottom suits. Midthirties maybe. Matt wonders for the millionth time why old men are so eager to look ridiculous."
“Stay out of trouble, Matt. Say no to the drug pushers and the queers and girls who only want shiny objects and oceanfront homes.”
“Matt, we’ve had some bum trips at work. Um, the summer tourists haven’t picked up because of the June gloom and all the hippies scaring them off.
"Grail hands Matt the duster and heads out through the meditation room. Matt hears a door close, then takes up dusting the beaker bongs with the psychedelic paint jobs, the bubble-based vapor bongs, the double-recyclers, the dab-rigs, quartz bangers, and the Gandalf pipes. He picks up a beaker bong and examines the paint job, sees he could probably do as good with the right materials. It’s beautiful—red roses on clear glass. Wonders how a mini-tableau of Laurel and Rose in the Gauguin would look. The smoke would swirl around behind them like fog and you’d have a werewolf kind of trip."
"I’m forty-four days short today. It’s weird, little brother. I feel like I’m standing on a bridge with a noose around my neck and waiting for someone to push me over. Sarge reminds me that the shorter you are the safer you are, statistically, since you’ve made it this far. Much better chances than the day you arrived, he says. But this isn’t a statistical problem. It’s war, which presses a man’s fate into a smaller and smaller container."
"Waiting for Laurel, Matt showers thoroughly, shaves his chin, straightens up his old room, makes up Kyle’s bed, puts a few stolen City Hall roses in vases in the living room, and splashes on some of Kyle’s Hai Karate."
“This is just freaky cool, Matt. You, a sixteen-year-old paperboy chasing kidnappers down PCH on foot!”
"As you know, Laguna Beach is awash in Afghan dragon balls."
“Mark these words, Matt—Khrushchev says they’ll feed us little bits of socialism until America becomes communist. He says we will fall like overripe fruit into their hands. Son, anybody who doesn’t see that Vietnam, civil rights, the riots, and assassinations are all parts of the world communist conspiracy is not a man. He is a naive boob. We have nukes for a reason. Moscow should know that. President Johnson just doesn’t have the nuts to use them.”
“Your mother is right. I’d hate it here. It’s the new Sodom. Look at those people. Weak, materialistic. Plump, pleasure-seeking, end-of-empire Romans. Ignorant of the Soviet world threat, ignorant of Christian-American history. Ignorant of self-defense, oblivious to the responsibility of owning firearms. But they’re against a necessary war they don’t understand. Well, isn’t that just great? Kyle over there in the tunnels and these pathetic hippie homos are waving signs before they head home to get stoned and watch Let’s Make a Deal.”
April 19, 2022
I really liked Matt, the 16 year old who is forced to be the adult of the family. He is always trying to get by so he can eat and is really neglected a lot throughout the book. For a lot of the book I found this disturbing and just couldn’t connect to the story. Matt’s sister Jasmine, called Jazz has gone missing and Matt just knows something terrible has happened. Another girl has been found dead on the beach and it is very uncertain Jazz’ fate.
So, the coming of age part, and the time period with LSD being seen as a path to enlightenment and joining strange ‘spiritual quests’ was a little before my time. I felt the book was meant as a nostalgic look back for the author and those of the same age. I was too young to really remember the politics and radical change occurring. Vietnam is brought up, and it Matt’s brother has been sent there, so that is an additional worry.
So, I just found his mom to be very irresponsible and unavailable for her son. Jazz is missing, but we never got to know her, so I didn’t feel much connection to her. Kyle has already left for Vietnam. The book really picked up for me when Matt’s father comes back to look for Jazz with Matt. They start to have some connection. This was a bit different then your typical thriller and I did like this part. This was a young girl missing and it seemed like for too long Matt was the only one concerned. I wanted him to receive help, especially since it was becoming more unlikely Jazz would be found alive. He needed some mature and grounded people to help him emotionally. I was glad his father seemed to finally get this and his mother does somewhat, too. I didn’t find this time period that glamorous. Music, drugs, hanging out, finding yourself are fine if you are on your own, not parents to three children.
Overall, I liked this book, but I did not love it. Too much of the book was a look back at 1968 and all that entailed. Then nothing much is happening and the parts I enjoyed took a long time to get into.
March 11, 2022
2.5 Stars
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