I have been a fan of Parker for years and have read all his books. Unfortunately, his latest,"A Thousand Steps," greatly disappointed me. Set in Laguna Beach in the 1960's, and mired in sex, drugs, and free love. Our hero, if there is one, is 16 year old Matt Anthony, part-time student, part-time paper boy and full-time unhappy kid. His mother is a waitress when she isn't in her bedroom doing drugs. His dad left a long time ago and has started a new family. His brother Kyle is in Vietnam. His pretty sister, Jasmine, called Jazz, is a wild 18-year-old who fails to return home after a night of partying. Matt helps support the family by selling papers, pedaling his bicycle all over Laguna to do so. Now he's searching for Jazz every minute he can. His search takes him to Brotherly Love gatherings, complete with Tim Leary, and sexual orgies held in a private mansion that the police overlook. Day and night he pedals, fearful she'll turn up dead, just as a teenage friend had recently. When Jazz is not found, Dad returns to help, but his brand of help has violence connected to it. A mysterious sighting of Jazz running down the street, then being picked up forcefully in a van, convinces Matt his sister is being held against her will. Will the police believe what he saw? Will anyone care? The book wraps up as expected. To say more would give it all away. Hope Parker goes back to his really well-written novels and abandons the present tense style in which this book was written.
