A story I was immediately drawn into.Laguna 1968. The time of lsd of hippies of wild times.A young boy searching for his sister.The writing invokes the time the place the feeling in the country.I have been to Laguna many times and I really enjoyed seeing through the authors eye street’s I’ve walked on still busy with art galleries & restaurants.Another book by this author I will be recommending.#netgalley #macmillantor

Thank You to NetGalley and Forge Books for providing me with an ARC of A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker. In exchange I offer my honest review.


This is a book I was invited to read and I must say the GORGEOUS cover art and publisher’s blurb had me instantly hooked. The setting Laguna Beach 1968 was absolutely fascinating as someone who was obsessed with the 2004 MTV series Laguna Beach. (What a difference a few decades make 😉).

The story follows Matt, a sweet 16 year old, who is worried about the disappearance of his older sister Jazz. Matt’s parents are pretty uninvested, as his mom suffers from drug use, and his dad an ex-cop is disenchanted with world politics and is out of the picture. Matt’s older brother is serving in Vietnam, leaving Matt to mostly fend for himself. Though this is both a coming of age story and a mystery it never really piqued my interest. There was very little action and zero thrills. It’s a rather depressing novel set in a very vivid and pivotal time in US History.
Four stars for setting
Two stars for story
Roundup 3 stars

A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker teleports you to sunny California in the late 60’s as Matt realizes if he wants to find his missing sister, he’ll have to do it alone.

His mother is too strung-out to help, his father is absent, his brother is fighting in Vietnam, the cops are more focused on using Matt to snitch than find his sister, and the hippies only want to use him as a mule.

The sprawling cast of characters are mostly well drawn out – my only criticism would be the cast of hippie characters get a bit confusing. There’s also typical teen love triangle, but that also feels very real and portrayed honestly (not in a CW-soapy way)

To me, the mystery had me guessing and caring for Matt and his sister, but the what really stood out was seeing Matt grow (literally & figuratively) over the course of this psychedelic 60’s summer.

I would definitely recommend to mystery lovers as well as anyone who enjoys a good coming-of-age story.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy.

It’s 1968, and Laguna Beach, California, is a hotbed for the hippie culture: It's the Age of Aquarius - LSD, tie-dye and flower-power are all the rage.

Matt Anthony should only be worried about girls and getting his license at sixteen. But instead, he’s searching for his missing sister, Jazz, who disappeared right after a local girl turned up dead on the beach. Matt is also trying to earn money to eat, because his druggie mom isn’t bringing home enough, dad left years ago, and he’s praying his brother makes it home from Vietnam.

𝐀 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 focuses on Matt’s experiences as he searches for his sister and deals with his family problems. The story feels like a slow-moving thriller, as Matt investigates Jazz’s disappearance on his own, especially when the police are of little help. But I enjoyed it more as a coming-of-age story during a turbulent and enlightening time.

While the mystery aspect may have been a little drawn out, I enjoyed the vivid atmosphere, rich cultural references, and a young protagonist I could root for.

Thank you to @macmillianusa for a gifted digital copy.

A Thousand Steps was a coming-of-age mystery/thriller set in 60’s California. Summer of Love is over, but the after-glow is still present in the massive amounts of hallucinogenic drugs circulating the streets.

Matt is the 16 year old protagonist in search of his missing sister. No one seems to care and assume she’s one of the many runaways of the time.

This was very much a character driven story. Matt was flawed and real. His quest had me feeling hopeful one minute and sad the next. The side characters of his parents and their heated relationship brought added drama. Matt’s personal antagonist, Sergeant Furlough, was bull headed and single minded.

Great story, great characters!

I'm so intrigued by this book in so many ways. I enjoyed the general basis of it, but I can't say I loved it. There was a LOT going on but it did all end up related (somehow).

I think that most people will enjoy this book truly. For me it felt a little too slow and drawn out for something pitched as a thriller. There were lots of pages and plot points, but it wasn't until the last 10% of the book that there was action more than Matt, a sixteen-year-old boy and his girlfriend/father knocking on every door in their city to search for his sister who went missing.

I will say that while there wasn't a massive plot twist, the ending wasn't terribly predictable. I was less impressed by the actual discovery of the true "bad guy" than I was by the discovery of how everyone in the story was connected. I fully recognize how much thought and work had to go into this story simply for that reason, and it was actually logically plotted out and explained, too.

Overall I think this is a decent read, but don't go in expecting it to be quick or a new favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. This is my honest opinion, not sponsored content.

Disappearances at Laguna Beach in the late 60’s

The horrific death of a sixteen year old missing girl he’s seen around the traps, has Matt Anthony, also sixteen, nervous about his sister Jasmine. Jasmine is missing—only a couple of days true! Still the death of Bonnie Stratmeyer has him worried. Living in the Californian Laguna Beach area in 1968, Matt is the product of a separated family. He and his mother and sister work as they can for food and rent. Matt supplementing their diet with his fishing offerings.
Matt’s mother Julie is a product of the 60’s. Matt is surrounded by the ‘happening’ era. The free thinking, experiments with pysycholdic drugs, heroin, hash and of course weed. Timothy Leary gets more than a mention. The Vietnam War is raging, the Peace Movement is out in force, Hippies chill out and life’s cool. VW vans are part of the scene. (OK, I had one and loved it! Still miss it!)
There’s your obligatory swami and the beautiful people searching for evolution to a higher plane. There’s a rock star, regular parties (drugs and sex) for “rich old men” hidden behind high fences and security guards. Where there’s drugs and sex, there’s porn and crime. No surprises here.
I’m fascinated by Matt’s search for his sister, his ability to blend into situations, to observe the small details. Matt is a talented artist, intelligent and adventurous. He’s on the cusp of manhood, of girlfriends and dating.
Jasmine’s disappearance takes on a fantasy life of it’s own—except there’s nothing fantastical about the fact that she’s gone. Sinister is more like it. Matt is desperate. The police seem to be ignoring things so it’s up to Matt to find his sister.
A pretty full on story, I’m amazed by Matt’s ability to coordinate his search, the help he has from various friends and the weird circle his search draws through the Laguna Beach of these times.
An exceptional murder thriller with ooomph!

A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Somehow I have missed reading anything by T. Jefferson Parker, but I will definitely be remedying that! I absolutely loved this combination of a thriller and a coming of age novel set in the late 60's.

From the cover to the details of life in the late 60's, this author has nailed it. I was immediately drawn in and found myself very involved in Matt's fight to get by in life and his attempts to find his sister when no one else seemed to care.

This book is a journey. I wholeheartedly recommend you take this journey as I did.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publishers for an ARC at my request. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars. It's not my usual read. It's a coming of age, crime fiction, low key thriller.
It is the summer of '68 in Laguna Beach, CA. and 16 yr old Matt Anthony has to not only deal with being poor with a pothead mom, absentee father and a brother who is serving in Vietnam, but now his sister has vanished and another local girl was found dead in the beach. He feels the pressure is in him to find his sister because the cops seem to be more worried about the drugs and all that rather than just some runaway.
Through this we follow Matt and his journey of self discovery throughout the summer and dealing with his mom, a cop who tries to blackmail him into becoming a snitch, trying to find his sister and then his dad finally shows up and is an opinionated, controlling, judgemental, homophobic, racist.
All in all it was an interesting read. Not my usual but interesting.

Laguna Beach, California, 1968 - Hippies, Psychedelic Music and Drugs, Peace Signs, Free-Love, Vietnam War, Politics, Anti-War Protesters vs. Police - the dawning of the perfect storm. Author T. Jefferson Parker experienced life in the area and has now written A Thousand Steps, a book of fiction, incorporating the historical events of the era into a story about sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony's life and search for his missing sister during a time when the police considered most missing teenagers to be hippie runaways. The author's expertise with narrative translates into an entertaining coming-of-age thriller that explodes on the pages with all the psychedelic color and sounds of the times while highlighting an often overlooked darker, ominous side where people like Timothy O'Leary preached free love and mind-altering drugs to thousands of young people tripping high on LSD, and con-men, predators and drug dealers helped themselves to the easy pickings. The entire situation set up the perfect storm for young girls to be spirited away from their families only to disappear without a trace.

A Thousand Steps is a portrait of the times in 1968 - especially in California upon which thousands of young people from across the country converged believing it to be the land of dreams and opportunities. Through his masterful descriptive prose, Parker has nailed the tone, mood, highs and lows, and good and bad of the era. He's tapped into the darker side of the hippie movement through the voice of young Matt on his journey of teenage dawning - a sixteen-year-old male whose body is awakening to the wonders of the opposite sex, feeling the stirrings of first love with all the longings associated with his first girlfriend. A young male toting a lot of responsibility for a teenage boy being challenged to provide for his dysfunctional family (absent dad, stoner mom, brother serving in 'Nam, sister Jazz). When Jazz fails to come home after several nights, Matt knows in his gut something bad has happened, and it's on him to find her. When yet another missing girl is found brutally murdered at the bottom of the Thousand Steps, Matt's world implodes with visions of his sister's battered body haunting his dreams. After being brushed off by police saying she probably ran away, Matt begins his own search and investigation, often skirting around the edges of perverted gangs and groupies - using his artistic talents and sketch pad to move unnoticed among suspicious groups and possible suspects. He intends to find his sister - dead or alive.

In A Thousand Steps, Matt is on a coming of age journey - navigating a thousand steps down his own road to adulthood. Whether the author means for Matt's journey to mirror the famous Thousand Steps down to the beach or not, the parallel is notable. Matt's thrown into the perfect storm and like readers is charged with discovering the fate of the missing Jazz (and potentially hundreds of other missing teenagers) while maneuvering through the mirrors and smoke and psychedelic explosions all around town. The author does an excellent job weaving the many threads together while keeping the focus of the book on Matt and his experiences growing up in a time of great social and cultural conflict. For me, the mystery is somewhat secondary, serving as a catalyst for the historical background and coming of age story although I did enjoy the suspense of figuring out what happened to Jazz. Support characters are well developed and help flesh the story out which concludes with what I suspect many will consider a satisfactory ending.

All in all, A Thousand Steps is a good fictional depiction of a time of extreme unrest in our country when many young people moved west with unrealistic visions of what the promise land was like. I love that Parker used young Matt as a protagonist, showcasing his growth throughout the story which is impressive while also highlighting a darker side of the time period. Before I go, I have to mention the beautiful cover that shimmers with all the psychedelic colors recalled by this story and era. I highly recommend A Thousand Steps to anyone who grew up in the time period - what a walk down memory lane. I also recommend it to fans who love historical fiction with a heavy side of mystery and suspense.

DNFed at 50%. This story was honestly just too depressing for me to get through. There was also too many details about the hippie lifestyle and cult-like groups for me to understand and follow. It couldn't hold my interest, so I had no choice but to DNF.

1968, Laguna Beach, Orange County, California. The hippies and the cults come flocking to the sun and the sea in A Thousand Steps.

Fourteen-year-old Matt’s home life is chaotic. His father has left the family for a new job and woman in a faraway state. His mother’s hours are reduced at her job as a waitress causing their rent to be late. She now smells perpetually of marijuana, or maybe hashish. And now his eighteen-year-old sister, Jazz, hasn’t been home for two days. Matt decides to look for Jazz in the weird counterculture world of drugs and new age religion.

A Thousand Steps has the most realistic depiction of the sixties that I have ever read in a contemporary novel. The author obviously knows the time and location well. According to the acknowledgements, he lived there twenty years.

I enjoyed my time with Matt. He seemed genuine. The mystery was complicated but not difficult to unravel.

If you feel like entering, or returning to, a completely different America, don’t miss A Thousand Steps. 4 stars!

Thanks to Forge Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

It’s the summer of 1968, and 16-year-old Matt Anthony’s life is about to abruptly change. His family is broken by society’s standards, but nothing could have prepared him for what’s happening right now. First, Matt witnesses police recovering the body of a young girl who’s been missing for months. Now his older sister, Jasmine, has gone missing, but the police don’t seem to care. All they seem to care about is busting the local narcotics ring, and they'll go to any length to do it, even if it means asking Matt to steal evidence. If the police aren’t going to find her, then it’s up to him to figure out where she's gone. He knows she didn't run away, but where could she be? And where to begin searching for her? Following Jasmine’s footsteps leads Matt right into a world of hard drugs, sex parties, enlightenment centers, and hippy festivals. What he discovers about himself and the world around him is sure to be a trip!⁠
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I didn't know what to expect with this one. Billed as part thriller, part coming of age story, part historical fiction, part family drama: this book has something for everyone. Parker did a great job grabbing my attention from the very start, and at no point after did I want to put this one down. I absolutely loved that it was set in nearby Laguna Beach which feels, to me, like the perfect setting for this book. The psychedelic counter-culture themes captures the feel of 1968: Timothy Leary, LSD, the Vietnam War protests, hippy fringe, VW vans, and peace signs. And who doesn’t love that cover image? I've added this one to my list of the best books from the 60s/70s era, where it rightfully belongs. Read it!

A boy, a bike, and a paper airplane in 1968 Laguna Beach California

“A Thousand Steps” is about a boy, his bike, and the beach, a simple premise in a richly complicated story. It is an immersive experience; readers witness events in real-time along with the characters. There are two main stories whose characters are irrefutably intertwined. The first is the city of Laguna Beach, California in 1968, a time when things are beautiful, artistic, absurd, natural, and wild. Laguna is home to old money and the newly rich, dedicated surfers and outlaw bikers, free-living hippies and duplicitous hypocrites. Cultural differences are both celebrated and despised. It is home to the legal, the illegal, and everything in between.

The second story is about a boy, his bike, and a paper airplane. Events unfold from the viewpoint of sixteen-year-old Matt Anthony who has one foot entrenched in childhood and the other reaching for maturity. He is living in this trendy beach city, without functional parents, with a sister who is missing, and a brother in danger every day in the war in Vietnam. Readers follow along as he struggles with completing his daily paper routes, looking for his missing sister, and finding paper airplanes. Matt is both an observer and a participant; he is an evaluator of events and the instigator of them. He is growing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually with and without the help of those around him.

Parker presents readers with a portrait of a unique time, place, and people. His skill with words makes simple events come to life. There is not just music but notes falling from the air like rain. The sky is gray-orange with the sun a perfect half-circle above the horizon. People watch, their figures almost colorless in the vanishing light. The night sky has a waxing gibbous moon. Thoughts blur like bike spokes on a downhill run.

“A Thousand Steps” is so much more than just a “coming of age” story; it is the transformation of a boy into a man while struggling to hold his world together in the midst of chaos. I received a review copy of “A Thousand Steps” from T Jefferson Parker, Macmillan-Tor, and Forge Books. The story depicts people in a time and place that is like no other; time flies past in seconds but events are not gone, just shelved, like books, like drawings in a pad that one can open and study. When I finished reading it, I knew I might never read a more memorable book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
I have very mixed feelings about this book. Somehow the author misses the essence of the California beach communities of the 60s. Maybe it's my error since I was never a part of the drug scene. Interesting characters. Boring mystery. Enough to keep me reading.

4 Laguna Beach Stars

I’m not quite sure how to categorize this one, it’s definitely a coming-of-age story and it feels like historical fiction, but not sure if the 1960s count as historical? There’s also a mystery in this one – all that to say I enjoyed my first book by this prolific writer.

Set in Laguna Beach in the late 1960s our main character, Matt, is 16 and can’t seem to catch a break. He’s always hungry, his mom is hooked on drugs, he’s always short on cash, his brother is fighting in Viet Nam, his dad left the family, and now his sister has disappeared. He’s got a paper route and he’s always willing to do odd jobs for cash – I appreciated his ambition!

He starts to look for his sister on his own since it seems like the cops aren’t interested in finding her. They’d rather find out where all the drugs in the community are coming from. And there are a lot of drugs in Laguna Beach – LSD, dragon balls, and hash. And they would love Matt’s help with figuring this piece out.

His search takes us to every nook and cranny in Laguna Beach, from the beaches to the centers for enlightenment, and Matt even starts a house-to-house search with his girlfriend. Nothing seems to be shaking loose.

I definitely rooted for Matt to succeed in many ways – with his girlfriend, finding his sister, getting the police off his back, maybe getting his family back on track, and finding enough food!

I thought the author did an excellent job describing the times, hippies, attitudes toward the war, the California lifestyle, fishing in the ocean – all of it!

This coming-of-age thriller fully immerses the reader in the protagonist's world. The storyline is utterly gripping. I love reading books set in the 60s, and T. Jefferson Parker's portrayal of the era is by far one of the most vibrant I have encountered. I found myself feeling nostalgic about a time period I've never experienced, which doesn't often happen to me when I read historical fiction. Matt's determination makes him a compelling character and I really rooted for him throughout the story.

EXCERPT: He skids to a stop on the sidewalk and props his bike against the wall of the corner surf shop. Hustles past the vehicles to the stairs leading down to the beach. Jams his hands into his poncho against the chill and joins the T-Street Surf Boys, who have gathered to watch the cops. Matt recognizes two of the surfers as just-graduated seniors from his high school - cool guys, friends of his sister - but they ignore him, wetsuits slung over their shoulders and boards at their sides, all their attention on the dark beach below. Their waves break almost invisibly, with overlapping echoes that end abruptly then repeat.

It's hard for Matt to see what's going on down there. But he's a curious sixteen year old, so he clambers down the stairs to the beach, his rock-worn sneakers slapping on the concrete then thudding in the sand. He gets up close. Where he sees, through a knot of Laguna Beach cops standing in a loose circle, a pale girl lying face-up on a slab of rock. Her arms are spread and her hair is laced with seaweed.

ABOUT 'A THOUSAND STEPS': Laguna Beach, California, 1968. The Age of Aquarius is in full swing. Timothy Leary is a rock star. LSD is God. Folks from all over are flocking to Laguna, seeking peace, love, and enlightenment.

Matt Antony is just trying get by.

Matt is sixteen, broke, and never sure where his next meal is coming from. Mom's a stoner, his deadbeat dad is a no-show, his brother's fighting in Nam . . . and his big sister Jazz has just gone missing. The cops figure she's just another runaway hippie chick, enjoying a summer of love, but Matt doesn't believe it. Not after another missing girl turns up dead on the beach.

All Matt really wants to do is get his driver's license and ask out the girl he's been crushing on since fourth grade, yet it's up to him to find his sister. But in a town where the cops don't trust the hippies and the hippies don't trust the cops, uncovering what's really happened to Jazz is going to force him to grow up fast.

If it's not already too late.

MY THOUGHTS: I really wanted to love this. I was thirteen in 1968. I know all the music, the bands. I remember the Vietnam war, the protests. The fashion I embraced; the drugs and free love I observed from afar, and longed to be hip enough to join in. But I really just couldn't connect to this story.

I felt nothing for any of the characters except antipathy
for the way both Julie and Bruce abandoned their children, each in their own way.

I found the writing to be repetitive, especially in the first two thirds of the book. I skimmed a great deal from the 40-60% mark. Then it got a tad more interesting. But in the end? Let's throw in a gunfight, OK Corral style, so that we can call this a thriller. Bad move.

A Thousand Steps wasn't mysterious, suspenseful or thrilling. I was disappointed. And, at times, bored.

⭐⭐.5

#AThousandSteps #NetGalley

I: @tjefferson2220 @macmillanusa

T: @TJParkerAuthor @MacmillanUSA

#crime #familydrama #historicalfiction #mystery

THE AUTHOR: T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of 26 crime novels. He lives with his family in a small town in north San Diego County, and enjoys fishing, hiking and beachcombing.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing a digital ARC of A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon and my webpage

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker is a very highly recommended coming-of-age story wrapped around a mystery set in a very specific time and place. This is really a compelling, extraordinary, excellent novel! I would absolutely recommend this to all my friends and family to read.

What I really liked about this novel was how well it was conceived and put together--the setting, the characters and the plot were perfectly in tune with the hippie days of 1968 in Laguna Beach, California. Parker chose to tell the story in the third person point of view of 16-year-old Matt Anthony who is desperate to find his older sister who left home after a quarrel with their mom and hasn't returned. He's just seen the dead body of a teen girl on the beach--another local girl who'd gone missing weeks earlier. Is there a connection here?

Matt is struggling to deal with his weird druggie mother and the hippie drug scene of Laguna Beach in general, with his absent father, with the uncertainty of where he will live, with not having enough food and money, and with his awakening sexuality. He's developing a strong sense of what's right and wrong and is doggedly determined to find his sister, without much help from the local police. Whenever a story is told from a young person's pov, there's always that sense that they don't really understand everything that's going on in the crazy mixed-up world around them. Matt is a very special kid. I enjoyed seeing him grow and develop, both physically and through experience, while keeping his head on straight.

This was my first taste of T. Jefferson Parker's writing and I will definitely look forward to reading more. I received an arc of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity.