Big Red Tequila
by Rick Riordan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rick RiordanEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-06-02
ISBN: 0553576445
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Big Red Tequila
Book Review: Meet The Cool Tres Navarre
Summary: 3 Stars
A student of Tai Chi, a man unfazed by the confrontation of violent enemies, the owner of a cat named Robert Johnson, Tres Navarre is introduced in Big Red Tequila, the first book in Rick Riordan's hardboiled Texas series. Tres Navarre is an unlicensed private investigator, tequila drinker and all around nice guy. But he's also troubled by the past and when he sets about easing his mind, more than a few feathers or going to get ruffled.
As the story opens, Tres has returned to San Antonio after a 10 year absence and is nonchalantly throwing the previous tenant out of the house he is now renting. Immediately we are confronted with a guy who is very capable with his hands, won't back down from a fight and the nonchalance is the way he performs most tasks. Add to that a vague air of amusement and the character of Tres Navarre is virtually complete.
Tres is back in San Antonio at the request of Lillian Cambridge, the girl with whom he was madly in love with and had plans to marry 10 years before. She's one of the few people pleased to see him come home with quite a number of very lukewarm greetings received. A lot of people still haven't forgiven him for his decision to suddenly leave town after watching his father get gunned down on his front doorstep.
Anyway, he's back, Lillian's overjoyed and he's determined to solve his father's murder which had remained unsolved all these years. Suddenly Lillian goes missing, her business partner looks to be connected to one of San Antonio's wealthiest families in some kind of shady deal and the death rate has suddenly spiked, particularly among people who may have been able to help Tres solve his father's murder. Tres has effectively poked an anthill with a stick and the inhabitants are not the slightest bit happy about it. What follows is a stirring thriller combining the heart pounding desperation of a kidnapping case with a complex story of corruption that spreads through major development contracts, big business and politics, all tied in to a 10 year old murder.
Rick Riordan employs a delightful style, whipping the story along at a cracking pace ensuring that the story is always interesting. The characters cover a wide range of classes and personalities, from the millionaire pawn-broker who has fought his way out of the slums to Tres' legless half-brother computer whiz, each is refreshingly unique. In his own laid back demeanour Tres himself is an engaging character giving the impression to friends and enemies alike to be an amiable feller, but when pushed he is not above taking action with deadly consequences.
Perhaps the most difficult thing to reconcile about Tres Navarre is the Teflon-like qualities he possesses. Nothing ever seems to stick to the guy. Failed relationships, murdered father, killing a man, they all seem to slide straight off him with nary a second thought. I don't like getting bogged down by an extended bout of depression and introspection on the part of the protagonist but can handle the odd mourning period - it makes them human. But heck, it just seems a little inhuman to show no emotion whatsoever, and believe me, Navarre goes through enough trauma here to stop ten men cold.
By way of introducing Tres Navarre and the city of San Antonio, Big Red Tequila has a lot to like about it. It's hardboiled and uncompromising, it moves fast with a well-constructed storyline that runs through to a satisfying, if somewhat too conveniently neat, ending. It's the kind of book that invites you to return for another visit with the promise that you will be entertained.
Summary of Big Red Tequila
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians seriesEverything in Texas is bigger...even murder.
Meet Tres Navarre...tequila drinker, Tai Chi master, unlicensed P.I., with a penchant for Texas-size trouble.
Jackson "Tres" Navarre and his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, pull into San Antonio and find nothing waiting but trouble. Ten years ago Navarre left town and the memory of his father's murder behind him. Now he's back, looking for answers. Yet the more Tres digs, trying to put his suspicions to rest, the fresher the decade-old crime looks: Mafia connections, construction site payoffs, and slick politicians' games all conspire to ruin his homecoming.
It's obvious Tres has stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. He gets attacked, shot at, run over by a big blue Thunderbird?and his old girlfriend, the one he wants back, turns up missing. Tres has to rescue the woman, nail his father's murderer, and get the hell out of Dodge before mob-style Texas justice catches up to him. The chances of staying alive looked better for the defenders of the Alamo....
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.
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