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Silent Joe

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 726 ratings · 81 reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Beginning in the mid-1980s, T. Jefferson Parker has been one America's most intelligent, consistently reliable crime writers. His eight previous novels, which include the Edgar-nominated Red Light, constituted a singular achievement that is enhanced even more by the addition of Silent Joe.

Silent Joe bears a clear -- and clearly acknowledged --

...more The Barnes & Noble Review
Beginning in the mid-1980s, T. Jefferson Parker has been one America's most intelligent, consistently reliable crime writers. His eight previous novels, which include the Edgar-nominated Red Light, constituted a singular achievement that is enhanced even more by the addition of Silent Joe.

Silent Joe bears a clear -- and clearly acknowledged -- resemblance to Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn. Parker's hero, Joe Trona (a spiritual analogue of Lethem's Lionel Essrog), is horribly scarred in infancy when his drunken
father pours battery acid on his face. Joe then spends five years in an orphanage before being adopted by Will and Maryann Trona. When we first encounter him, he is 24 years old and possesses an unshakable loyalty to his adoptive parents. By day, Joe works as a sheriff's deputy. By night, he serves as his father's bodyguard, accompanying Will -- an Orange County supervisor -- on his nocturnal rounds.

Early on, an enigmatic night mission goes spectacularly wrong when unidentified gunmen murder Will Trona. Wracked by guilt, Joe initiates an investigation into his father's secret life and the surprising circumstances behind his death. His investigation encompasses a fraudulent kidnapping, several related deaths, numerous acts of blackmail, and the gradual revelation of a wide-ranging conspiracy involving a powerful cabal of Orange County business and political leaders. Along the way, Joe uncovers previously hidden aspects of his father's character, fumbles his way into the first romantic relationship of his life, and discovers the truth about his
own mysterious origins.

Silent Joe is a remarkable novel that features a compelling and constantly evolving protagonist. Beneath his damaged exterior and well-mannered, carefully constructed persona, Joe Trona conceals a first-rate intellect and a highly developed sensibility, qualities that become increasingly evident as events unfold. Through Joe, Parker examines complex issues of love and loyalty, faith and family, ethics and personal identity, all within the context of a gripping, suspenseful narrative. Silent Joe is contemporary crime fiction at its absolute best. I urge you to give it a try. (Bill Sheehan)

Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. His book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub, At the Foot of the Story Tree, has been published by Subterranean Press (www.subterraneanpress.com).

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Hardcover, 341 pages

Published April 25th 2001 by Hyperion (first published April 2001)

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Dec 30, 2009 jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

t. jefferson parker has a style i like very much. i like the way he constructs his sentences, but i like even better the way he constructs his paragraphs and his pages. i like that he doesn't tell us too much, and if that means that we don't understand everything that goes on at any given time, so be it. i like that the scenes are well constructed and that they are sustained by an inner (aesthetic?) necessity. i like that they give a sense of the characters (or at least the protagonist/s – TJP i...more t. jefferson parker has a style i like very much. i like the way he constructs his sentences, but i like even better the way he constructs his paragraphs and his pages. i like that he doesn't tell us too much, and if that means that we don't understand everything that goes on at any given time, so be it. i like that the scenes are well constructed and that they are sustained by an inner (aesthetic?) necessity. i like that they give a sense of the characters (or at least the protagonist/s – TJP is not a large-canvas writer) without spending almost any time telling us what those characters are like. i like that the weather is such a presence, because i lived in so. ca. for 5 years and even though at this point i have lived in miami longer, so. ca. feels more home to me than miami will ever do (this is not the only reason why i like to be given a sense of the weather and the landscape: you’ve got to see where your characters move.)

joe trona, the protagonist of this novel, is a lovely character. his main physical feature is that half of his face is reconstructed scar tissue as a consequence of an acid burn he sustained when he was 5, but – and this is what i mean – TJP doesn't actually explain this to us until much later in the novel, and by then we have figured it out by ourselves.

there is something really strange about joe trona but that, again, is something you get to understand on your own, as you would a real person no one has told you anything about. for a long while i thought he was mildly autistic, but ultimately i rejected that. the silentness of the title appears in the text only once and in a totally – again – not-explanatory way, yet it captures joe's character well. there's silence at the heart of him, a sort of disconnection from the mundanity of life, an inward focus and single-minded determination to understand life on his own, and i think this is what the novel pivots on.

Silent Joe is a psychological novel as much as it is a mystery, which is probably why i liked it so much. i also like the kind of writing i tried to describe above. what i like most about TJP's novels, though, is the almost preternatural moral fiber of their heroes. maybe this is a genre that lends itself more than others to this feat, but, still, i admire TJP for making his characters good, complex, and interesting at the same time. also, i am very much drawn to stories in which a pure (as in clean and moral and pristine) order is restored to dirty (as in bad and corrupted) chaos. i think (it's not easy to figure these things about oneself) that i dislike the chaos less than i dislike the dirt. i am someone who spends a lot of her time rectifying things, making bad things good again. this seems very important to me. sometimes i do this actively, by intervening in one way or another, but often i do it by taking an event, a person, or a set of circumstances apart in my head and putting it back together with fresh glue, so to speak, so that what holds it is good instead of bad. often you can attribute good but misguided intentions to bad actions. equally as often, you can attribute badness to pain – make badness a consequence of hurt. either way, you get cleanliness out instead of dirt.

in this novel, the main object of joe's disassembling and re-gluing is joe's father, a very good but deeply flawed man. one of the first things you learn in the novel is that joe loves his father absolutely. as the novel develops you think that what will happen is that joe will realize that his father was not the man he thought he was and either come to love him less or come to realize that no one is perfect. either way, he will lose his seemingly naive moral purity.

neither of these things happens. i won't give away plot elements, but if you don't want to know anything at all about the novel you might consider stopping here.

what in fact happens is that we realize that joe knew all along who his father was, and his love for him doesn't change one jot, even though joe's choices are very different from his father's. to reprise my metaphor, joe's disassembling and re-gluing takes place before the novel even starts. so, as the plot thickens and gains in complexity and intrigue, so does our understanding of joe. this parallelism -- between joe's understanding of the events that constitute the novel's plot and our understanding of joe -- strikes me as very skillful and deep on TJP's part.

still, i could not have enjoyed this book this much if the writing had not carried it so well. at the same time, i am not sure one can have complexity without good writing. it's not like writing is simply a vehicle. or maybe it is, it's a vehicle, but the vehicle is just about everything when you are trying to get somewhere difficult.
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Oct 06, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: completed

Silent Joe is an intense novel. Joe really isn't all that silent, but he is one of the most interesting characters I've read in a long, long time.

As an infant, Joe's biological father threw acid on his face and his mother deserted him. Joe is scarred for life. He is adopted by an Orange County sheriff's deputy who eventually becomes a county supervisor. As an adult, Joe becomes his driver whenever his adopted father needs some protection. And, early in the book, Joe is present when his adopted...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Manugw rated it 2 of 5 stars

WARMHEARTED HERO IMMERSED IN A FEEBLE PLOT

This is not a cops suspenseful tale, this book is all about Joe Trona's life, the twenty something weapons master, martial arts expert police deputy with a partly disfigured face, product of the work of a vengeful dissapointed empty-headed father that thrown him acid when he was in his crib after he learned that he was not his seed.
Years later, Will Trona, stepfather of Joe Trona a politician with clout and shady deals, is murdered before Joe Trona's eye...more

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Jan 25, 2011 TBML rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: louanne-picks, mystery-and-suspense

Bittersweet thriller about a man's anguished search for his father's killer. Joe Trona is a dutiful son, but horrible facial scars have made him an outcast. He lived in an orphanage until he was adopted at five by Will Trona, a powerful politician in Southern California's Orange County. As a hulking teenager and later as a young man, Joe became Will's right-hand man running errands, extracting revenge on enemies all the while living a lonely life because of his scars. One night, Joe drops his gu...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Cathy DuPont rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book won the Edgar Award for best book of the year? Astonishing!

Storylines: Just fine. B+

Writing: Very readable. B+

Characters: Lacking. C-

The main character, the protagonist if you will (and I hate that word) didn't seem too bright although he was a black belt many times over (if that can be) and well versed with weapons, shooting with both his left and right hands.

However, his social skills were way at the bottom of the well. He attempted to make up for his facial scars by overcompensatin...more

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Sep 09, 2012 J rated it 4 of 5 stars

I DON'T HIDE MY REVIEWS FOR SPOILERS, BUT I DON'T PUT THEM OUT ANY FEED.

Terrific.

Though I love all that I've ready by T. Jefferson Parker, I feel the writing in "Silent Joe" is of literary quality, somehow beyond the level of his other popular titles (at least the ones I've read.)

The silent Joe, protagonist Joe Trona Jr., is well developed from the inside out. We know his quirks, his fears, his on-target assessments of other people,even those he leaves.

I saw coming, from a long distance off, the...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Jim Crocker rated it 5 of 5 stars

Yunno. This was a compelling read. Joe's a special guy and you can't help but root for him.

Orange County California is a weird, wacky and wonderful place. Sometimes, I actually miss it -- especially Sunset Beach.

Unfortunately, this text was not copy-edited (or it was a poor job). I can't imagine why Parker would put it out like this. There're typos all over the place. Missing quote marks. Goofy words. Try to over-look this stuff -- even laugh at the flops. Concentrate on Joe. He's a piece of wor...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Genie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love this writer's style. It is just effortless and smooth. His characters are flawed (literally or figuratively) but very believable. The story grabs you from the first sentence and it has so much going on in it, so many characters, so many side stories that you would think that you would get bogged down by the details. You don't. Mr. Parker masterfully weaves all the characters and side stories together so that they mesh and flow effortlessly to the final climax. There are no loose ends just...more

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May 14, 2009 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 09, 2011 Kirsty Darbyshire added it · review of another edition

Shelves: paperback

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. [these comments are taken from a mailing list discussion, they're out of context and contain spoilers]

I had trouble finding any sympathetic characters in this book, I think Savannah was probably the only person who felt real to me, but that's probably another question. I didn't like Joe much but I felt that this was all Will's fault. Will was moulding Joe to be a better version of himself and it didn't seem to me that that was what Joe had needed, it seemed rather an abuse of Joe's character to...more

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May 19, 2011 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library

T. Jefferson Parker is an excellent writer; his characters are detailed, complex, and well-drawn; his plots are complicated, twisting, and completely believable; and his prose is wonderfully descriptive without being heavy or tough to read. [return][return]Silent Joe lives up to Mr. Parker's standard. In fact, it is one of my favorites of his books now. I felt bonded with the characters. Silent Joe, the main protagonist, is the adopted son of Will, a tough businessman in a town in California. Jo...more

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Apr 30, 2011 Nikki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: edgar-best-novel-winners, fiction, mysteries, books-set-in-california

I had somehow missed hearing of T. Jefferson Parker until I saw that he had won the Edgar for Best Novel not once, but twice. The first, in 2002, was for Silent Joe. It's a standalone novel of Orange County, California, and one thing that came immediately to mind as I read it was "No wonder they went bankrupt!" The Orange County of Parker's book (and evidently this is his preferred setting) is rife with political corruption, greedy developers, racial tension, gang violence, and people with secre...more I had somehow missed hearing of T. Jefferson Parker until I saw that he had won the Edgar for Best Novel not once, but twice. The first, in 2002, was for Silent Joe. It's a standalone novel of Orange County, California, and one thing that came immediately to mind as I read it was "No wonder they went bankrupt!" The Orange County of Parker's book (and evidently this is his preferred setting) is rife with political corruption, greedy developers, racial tension, gang violence, and people with secrets.

In a way, this is a coming-of-age novel -- a genre I've grown to dislike immensely. But in Parker's hands, with the added attraction of a mystery to solve, it's more than just bearable. Silent Joe Trona, the narrator and protagonist, is a young man who grew up burdened with a horribly disfigured face, the result of his father throwing acid at him when he was a baby. After spending the first five years of his life in a very nice orphanage, Joe is adopted by Will and Mary Ann Trona and learns what a happy childhood can be. Will was originally a sheriff's deputy (with a wealthy wife) and later becomes a county supervisor. Joe has followed in his footsteps and works in the county jail by day, but nearly every night he acts as a combination chauffeur and bodyguard for his father. There is a lot of moral ambiguity involved here as Joe sees money changing hands, evidence that Will is cheating on Mary Ann, and other odd things -- and yet he still hero-worships his father. One night they are trying to retrieve a kidnapped child and things go horribly wrong; Joe spends the rest of the book trying to solve his father's murder and makes some surprising discoveries along the way.

Plot, setting, and character - this book has it all and was richly deserving of its award. It won't be long in my project to read all the Edgar Best Novel winners till I'll be reading Parker's second winner, California Girl and I am looking forward to it. But I must say that, based on this novel, Parker's Orange County is a place I will visit every now and then, but I wouldn't want to read several of his books in quick succession.(less)

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Sep 18, 2010 Jacqui rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller-mystery

I know of no author who writes such unique characters as does T. Jefferson Parker. Joe Trona (the protagonist in Silent Joe) is yet another in Parker's stable of main characters that I loved getting to know. He is the 23-year-old adopted son of a politician who spends his entire life thankful to the father who saved him from a family-less life--picked Joe from among all other children in the Home despite the acid burns that covered half of Joe's face. From that day forward, Trona hones his body...more

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Sep 10, 2007 LJ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense, police_procedural, so_cal_la, contemporary_post_1945

Parker, T. Jefferson – Silent Joe – VG
With the horrible remnants of a childhood tragedy forever visible across his otherwise handsome face, Joe Trona is scarred in more ways than one. Rescued from an orphanage by Will Trona, a charismatic Orange County politician who sensed his dark potential, Joe is swept into the maelstrom of power and intimidation that surrounds his adoptive fathers illustrious career. Serving as Wills right-hand man, Joe is trained to protect and defend his fathers territory...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Mike Vaughnwilliams rated it 2 of 5 stars

The author seems to strive too hard to make this character's differentness a major point of the book and in the process caused this reader to lose interest in his quest to find both himself (and get the girl) and the killer of his father. The story seems too contrived for my taste -- lowly deputy somehow has the skill to track down a whole network of deception while the professionals stand by and let him take the lead. A nice effort by the author but not one of his best.

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Feb 13, 2011 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had never read anything by Parker before, so I didn't know quite what to expect other than this novel in particular garnered a lot of awards. If you like Stephen White or Robert B Parker, chances are you'll like this. His style is is fast-paced but insightful. Lots of dialogue helped keep the plot moving quickly. I guessed the ending way ahead of time, but it didn't take away from the last pages. I plan on adding him to my list of keeper authors.

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Feb 26, 2010 mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: men-s-fiction, relationships, crime

Good book. Silent Joe is sort of like Batman. Good writing. The bad guys are not all bad, the good guys not all good. Silent Joe is twenty-four and a survivor of childhood abuse and a children's home. He is somewhat famous around Los Angeles as the "Acid Baby." He compensates for his scarred face by being extremely polite, and honest, always. He fights crime and corruption, saves the day, and gets the girl. His motto from his "father," (who is murdered) is: "eyes open, mouth shut." Yeah, Silent...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

T. Jefferson Parker really knows his way around a story. I've become really annoyed by formulaic mysteries but his are not like that. His protagonists are flawed but not by some macho special forces b.s. Silent Joe is a young, simple, loyal and deeply principled man who finds himself in a huge mess when his adopted father makes one too many dangerous deals. I am on the lookout for all the T Jefferson Parker books I can find.

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Jul 30, 2012 Gerrigray rated it 5 of 5 stars

Parker won an Edgar Award for this novel in 2002. It is a novel of character deveopment and character revelation. The protagonist is an adopted son who is excetionally grateful because he is a damaged child when he is adopted. He is extrodinarily loyal to his father which makes the time after his death exceptionally painful. This is a crime novel that goes well beyond and intriguing plot. Well above average crime novel.

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Jun 14, 2008 Shawn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I like all the T. Jefferson Parker books (I noted that this is the only one I've seen where they left the T off of the author name), and I liked this one a lot. I bought it at The Book Tree in Khao Lak, Thailand, to read on the beach. On the front of the book, it says "He's scarred for life, and now he wants revenge". So Dotty and I made a lot of fun of that saying things in a deep voice like James Earl Jones announcing CNN: "Silent Joe...he wants revenge...Silent Joe...shut up and drink your co...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Jmrathbone rated it 1 of 5 stars

I won’t bore you with a synopsis of the plot because it was boring, the main character was boring, his love interest was boring. There is also a lot that is just unbelievable. Having driven the toll road 241 in Orange County many times, I just cannot believe that you can drive it at 135 mph unimpeded. I finished the book because it had won an Edgar and I thought it would get better. It didn’t.

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Jun 15, 2012 L rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-mp3-player

Joe Trona is a very interesting character in the Orange county sheriffs department. This is one book that must truly be better in the audio version, since the intonations give you a real feel for Joe's very unique unique character. The book is set in Orange County and is filled with corrupt and unscrupulous politicians, the county board of Supervisors and the Toll road developers.

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Dec 27, 2011 Sheila rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm afraid I must be among the few who do not care for Mr. Parker's style of writing. I believe I've read 2 of his books and called it quits several years ago. I did choose the award winners to read, but it's just the style that set them apart from my usual fare. The story was fine, so give it a try to see if you like the writing style.

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Mar 13, 2011 Bill Turner added it

Silent Joe is a cop with a face disfigured from a childhood tragedy: his dad poured acid on his face. Joe is adopted by a Orange County Supervisor and his family. He becomes his dad's bodyguard and witnesses his fathe' s murder. The story is about him finding his father's murderer's. Well written!

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Aug 17, 2008 Melanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I originally started reading T. Jefferson Parker books becaues they were set in Orange County, CA and because I love suspense. This was one of the best stories with suspense, corruption, redemption, all wrapped into one. Nothing was contrived, everything had good description and feeling. I did enjoy the mentions of places in Orange County (where I grew up) it had a familiar feeling -- but you could definitely love this book regardless of the setting. Also, it was interesting to see how Parker sa...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Jim Kromer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Again I read this several years ago so it's not fair of me to give much of a review other than to say I found Silent Joe to be one of Parker's weaker efforts though he remains a terrific writer. While this novel did not "grab" me, one might find that a "bad" Parker novel is still better than a lot of other crime novels that are available.

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Jun 02, 2009 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very enjoyable mystery-better than average. Acid burned as a child, Joe Trona grows up as the adopted son of Will Trona, ex cop and now OC supervisor. Will is gunned down during a ransom exchange and Joe wants to get to the bottom of it. A good read.

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Dec 16, 2008 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this was a good detective story, well worth the read. At times the story line was somewhat convoluted, but the book overall had a rich atmosphere, good dialogue and interesting characters. It won an Edgar.

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Jun 26, 2012 Jill Manske rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was an odd book with a very unusual major character. It was an interesting mystery and even more interesting to see how the character develops. But it wouldn't rank in the top 100 books on anyone's list.

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Mar 03, 2009 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, all-time-favorites

Insight into the vulnerabilities of a man's soul. Exciting, intelligent, touching and sexy, this story restores my faith that there are books worth staying up into the wee hours to finish.

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About T. Jefferson Parker

T. Jefferson Parker is a bestselling author of thrillers. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in Orange County, and attended college at nearby University of California, Irvine. After graduation, he took a job as a cub reporter at the Newport Ensign, and spent several years as a journalist before writing his first novel, the bestselling Laguna Heat (1985).

He continued writing thrillers through the...more

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