Showing Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker

Edgar Award Winner, 2001; Los Angeles Times Book Prize, 2001


With the horrible scars of a childhood tragedy forever burned across his face, Joe Trona is scared in more ways than one. Rescued from an orphanage by powerful California politician Will Trona, Joe grows up to be Will's right hand man -- gopher, driver, confidante, bodyguard, fixer. When Will Trona is gunned down in a dark alley in a hail of bullets, quiet, obedient Joe vows revenge.

Looking through his father's life Joe finds his girlfriends, his deals, his friends and enemies. And Joe realizes how many secrets his father possessed and how many people he had the power to harm. But two leads come to the surface of his private investigation -- a kidnapped girl being held by her own psychotic brother, and two rival street gangs who have joined forces. The truths he learns about his father's murder are shocking. And the final truth he hears about what happened to his own face when he was just a baby in a crib changes his life forever -- and once again.

T. Jefferson Parker is a New York Times bestselling author and three-time Edgar Award winner.


"Sun-drenched L.A. noir." -- People

"Parker has written a page-turner as strong and smart as its protagonist. And, in Joe's case, that's saying something." -- The San Francisco Chronicle

"... an intricately layered story... perhaps Parker's most ambitious work to date." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"It's too bad there are no book awards for originality. If there were, this year veteran crime writer T. Jefferson Parker would win hands down thanks to the title character of his latest book, Silent Joe, a brilliantly conceived and boldly innovative hero who makes this Parker's best work yet." -- Providence Sunday Journal

"T. Jefferson Parker's latest California mystery is worth shouting about." -- People