A THOUSAND STEPS

5 stars out of 5

Dr. Timothy Leary's "Tune in, turn on, drop out" is a mantra I well remember from the late 1960s; even though I was a happy housewife with two small children, the colorful, free-thinking counterculture of California was in many ways appealing to me - and definitely helped change my somewhat sheltered Midwestern thinking. If nothing else, this engaging book brought those old memories to life and provided insights into what really went on back then. 

But it's much, much more than that; it's an up-close-and-personal look into the bittersweet life of 16-year-old Matt Anthony, who tries to make sense of things in Laguna Beach in 1968. It's not easy; most days, Matt has to make do with peanut butter on taco shells or fish he's caught for dinner because his mother is high as a kite and his father is missing in action. Happily, his older brother isn't - he's seeing action in Viet Nam, hoping to stay alive for the last few months of his tour of duty so he can return home. Matt earns a pittance delivering newspapers and tries his best to stay out of the drug scene; but then, his older sister Jasmine disappears without a trace.

His mother deals with the issue by moving into the heart of hippie land, living and working on a commune-style tomato-canning production line. That leaves Matt mostly on his own, having to decide almost on an hourly basis whether finding something to eat or looking for his sister takes precedence. Many of his "friends" straddle the fence between the police and the hippies, and some are willing to slip Matt some munchies (no, not THAT kind) or a job that earns him a few much-needed bucks. As for the cops, a couple seem sympathetic to his sister's disappearance, but Matt doesn't trust that they're really doing anything to find her. And on the other side, some of his best friends are hippies, but since their main focus is on "enlightenment," he doesn't fully trust them, either. So for the most part, he, too, is straddling the fence - all the while growing into a young man for whom life somehow can never be the same.

I'd love to say the story is heart-warming - and in a sense, it is; throughout many of the pages, all I really wanted to do was give Matt a big hug and tell him everything would be all right. In spots, I was near tears; in others, I chuckled. In the end, I think, I was satisfied. To the author, I say thanks for a totally engrossing story that will, like memories of my young-adult years, stay with me for some time. And more thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. This one for sure is a don't miss.

A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker (Forge Books, January 2022); 368 pp.

HALF MOON BAY

4 stars out of 5

This is the third in the series featuring deputy coroner Clay Edison, and having read the previous two, I must say I think this is my favorite so far. Clay is not only competent at his job, but totally likable - as is his psychologist wife, Amy; together, they try to navigate job responsibilities around their infant daughter Charlotte, who isn't fond of sleeping - with Clay working the night shift.

At the beginning, Clay is called to a scene right out of the 1960s. On the Berkeley campus is a park that's mostly occupied by the homeless, but now plans call for renovating the property (read: get rid of the homeless) and erecting a building. In that process - which is loudly protested by the locals - one of the workers unearths small human bones. Clay and his partner, Kat Davenport, determine that it's part of a child's skeleton, raising the obvious question of identity as well as from whence, and when, the body was dumped at the site.

As the investigation begins, Clay gets another call, this time from a businessman who suspects the body might be a sister he never saw but always suspected went missing half a century ago. As the evidence builds up and more is learned about the skeleton, the story necessarily splits in two directions - with Clay investigating both (one officially and the other on his own time). While that adds interest and keeps the story moving along, it also makes for a boatload of characters to keep straight (and made me wonder how Clay, who is sleep-deprived as it is, could spare all those additional, and unpaid, hours). Along the way, he manages to get on the bad side of some very nasty people - not the least of whom are the folks protesting the razing of the park.

In the end, I found this to be a very enjoyable book that held my attention throughout (not that I expected anything less by anyone from the Kellerman clan). Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy. Look forward to the next in this series!

Half Moon Bay by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman (Ballantine Books, July 2020); 368 pp.