Flash back to
1968 in Laguna Beach, California--The Age of Aquarius, the Summer of Love, anti-war
protests, hippies, psychedelic drugs, and search for enlightenment—an uneasy
time of social change and a hard time for a young man coming of age. Matt Anthony is sixteen. His older brother is a tunnel rat in Viet
Nam, his father has abandoned the family, his mother has a drug addiction, and
his sister Jasmine (Jazz) has been kidnapped.
Matt survives with the few bucks he makes on his paper route and on the
occasional fish he catches from the ocean.
The cops are focused on illegal drug trafficking and have given up
trying to find Jazz and his parents are preoccupied in their own problems. So Matt takes it on himself, with the help of
his childhood sweetheart, to find his sister.
The adventures he experiences and the dangers he endures all while
coming of age encapsulates his summer.
Laguna Beach
and southern California is a popular setting for many of Parker’s novels but
the coming of age angle is new. The nostalgia
blended into his gift for story telling makes this an unexpected treat.
Thanks to
NetGalley for the advance copy.
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