Big Red Tequila: Amazon.ca: Rick Riordan: Books

Product Description

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Rick Riordan has loaded his first mystery with lots of genre baggage: this story about a man coming home to San Antonio, Texas, to rescue his old girlfriend and solve the 12-year-old murder of his sheriff father is a virtual homage to James (The Last Good Kiss) Crumley. But Riordan writes so well about the people and topography of his hometown that he very quickly marks the territory as his own. Tres Navarre has put behind him the teenage days when he and his friend Ralph Arguello would cruise through San Antonio, drinking a ferocious mixture of cheap tequila and Big Red cream soda. A University of California Ph.D. in English plus a fascination with t'ai chi ch'uan led Tres naturally enough to work as a private investigator in San Francisco. But one call from the love of his early life--the mysterious and captivating Lillian Cambridge, now trapped in dangerous work and love relationships--and Tres gladly trades his trendy Peet's coffee for the stronger brews of home. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ingram

Jackson ""Tres"" Navarre returns to San Antonio to seek answers about his father's murder, but all he finds is mafia corruption and local politicians out to ruin his homecoming, and when his girlfriend is kidnapped, Tres must rescue her and save himself. Original." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars (C+), May 11 2004

By	Pequegnat (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Red Tequila (Paperback)

This is a moderately entertaining mystery, the story is well paced, the dialogue is clever, and the setting has vivid color and depth. The weaknesses are in the uninspired plot, the unlikable and weird characters, and their highly unconvincing motivations (except for the cat, which is by far the most enjoyable character).

We are supposed too believe in the main character who has a PhD in English from Berkley, is an unlicensed private investigator, and a Tie Chi master. He's also broke, drunk, slovenly, mentally unstable, anti-social, and not to bright. But he has a nice cat. The supporting characters are even less believable for the most part, and just as mentally unbalanced, particularly his mother.

Also the Law Enforcement aspects to the novel are particularly weak, as a former Lawman I was not impressed.

OVERALL SCORE: (C+)
READABILITY: (B+), PLOT: (C-), CHARATERS: (B+), DIALOGUE: (B), SETTING: (A-), ACTION/COMBAT: (C-), ANTAGONISTS: (C-), ROMANCE: (B-),AGE LEVEL: (PG)

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2.0 out of 5 stars It can't be this easy to win an Edgar!, Feb 3 2003

By	T. King (Brooklyn, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Big Red Tequila (Paperback)

Aside from the cat, there's not an original thing about Tres Navarre. Too many characters, too much plot, too little action. I didn't care if he found the girl or not,if he found his fathers killers or not. I just finished the thing and I still don't understand why these people did half the things they did. If the ending was suppossed to make me gasp, it made me yawn instead. Tres keep visiting the same people over and over again and comes away emptyhanded. If it's this easy to win mystery awards I might start writing my own. In the meantime I'll stick with, Dennis Lehane, Robert Crais, Robert Parker etc.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Trav McGee Reincarnated, Jan 20 2003

By	Robin Currier - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Big Red Tequila (Paperback)

For those of you who love the John D. McDonald books starring Travis McGee, let me introduce you to Tres Navarre! The hero of Riordan's first book in the series, Tres reminds me of a young Trav McGee. He has a bit of dark edge to his character (he's lived a lot!), and his smart mouth gets him into trouble, but he's a decent, intelligent man who wants to find the truth and protect the innocent. In that way, he also reminds me of Dave Robichaux in the James Lee Burke Novels. Like McDonald and Burke, Riordan does a great job at presenting a particular culture and location, in this case San Antonio, Texas, and in developing very three-dimensional characters. I can highly recommend this book.

In this debut novel, Tres returns to San Antonio after having fled ten years previously after the murder of his father. He returns to wrestle with his past and to find the truth behind his father's death. In the process, he uncovers a conspiracy that involves families he's known all his life, forcing him to weigh love, loyalty, and compassion against the truth.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good effort, entertaining read.
Riordan's debut of his series character, Tres Navarre, is a competent mystery written with evocative Texas imagery and a good sense of humor. Read more

Published on Dec 26 2001 by irongiant

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful New Series
Okay, never mind that I'm a native, although displaced, Texan. (Never mind too that I agree with Riordan there's something majestic about the wide open spaces marked by not much... Read more

Published on Oct 17 2001 by Claudia Tanseer

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid launch to a terrific series
Ten years ago, Jackson 'Tres' Navarre left San Antonio to escape the memories and burdens of his sheriff father's murder, which he witnessed. Read more

Published on Oct 16 2001 by Andrew S. Rogers

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Big Red!
This is the first book in Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre series. Riordan teaches middle school English for his "day job. Read more

Published on Sep 28 2001 by TundraVision