Southtown

Tres Navarre #5

by Rick Riordan

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
 
For Tres Navarre, English professor turned private investigator, business has lately taken a drastic turn south. But if chasing down bail jumpers, adulterous spouses, and workmen’s comp cases seemed like the dregs of the PI game, it was at least a living. Not as much could be said for tracking down a man like Will “the Ghost” Stirman.

The stone-cold killer has just staged a bloody escape from the Floresville State Penitentiary with a gang of violent cons as spooked by Stirman as those on the outside who helped put him behind bars. And no one seems more worried than Navarre’s boss and mentor, Erainya Manos. It was her husband along with rival PI Sam Barrera who built the case that sent Stirman away. But Erainya’s husband is dead and she’s certain Stirman won’t let that stand in the way of his taking revenge against her and her adopted son.

All of Navarre’s instincts are screaming that there’s more to this case than meets the eye. But Erainya won’t tell him—and Sam Barrera seems to be escaping into a strange twilight from a truth too terrible to remember. That leaves Tres to dig into a twisted mystery of greed, vigilantism, and murder, where lives are bought and sold and the line between guilt and innocence is razor-thin. Meanwhile, Stirman and his gang are coming, leaving behind them a trail of brutal, unforgiving violence that will end in an area of San Antonio known as Southtown—but that may soon just as well be called hell on earth.

Don’t miss any of these hotter-than-Texas-chili Tres Navarre
BIG RED TEQUILA • THE WIDOWER’S TWO-STEP • THE LAST KING OF TEXAS • THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO AUSTIN • SOUTHTOWN • MISSION ROAD • REBEL ISLAND

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Fantasy, Audiobook, American, Detective

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many books, including the Percy Jackson series.

Reviews

[Tulay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed.

Downloaded and read every word, because it was taking place in San Antonio, Texas. It was big mistake, waste of my time and money. Didn't get what this author saying to me.

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book five in the Tres Navarre mysteries. Tres is a former English professor turned private investigator in San Antonio, Texas. In this case a group of five inmates escape from a prison, presumably headed north towards Canada. Despite the leader being Will Stirman, a notorious human trafficker who vowed revenge on those who put him behind bars, no one seems very concerned except for Tres’s boss, Erainya. Suddenly, she’s trying to join forces with her rival PI Sam Barrera, and Tres can’t quite figure out why.

This is a hard-hitting detective series, and the body count climbs as the plot progresses. I like Tres. He’s intelligent and a bit sarcastic. His personal relationship is also fraught, and he’s sharing custody of his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, with his former and once-again current flame, who’s pressuring Tres to move to Austin and give up the PI business.

The setting is practically a character, and Riordan includes many landmark locations that brought me back home again.

There are a total of seven books in this series; the last one was published in 2007. These days Riordan concentrates his efforts on his YA / middle-school fantasy series which have been hugely successful. I wish he’s write more books featuring Tres.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the fifth in the Tres Navarre series, Riordan decides to crank up the body count and violence. A tale of revenge, has Tres looking for an escaped convict...that might have been framed, accounting for his vengeance. Tres and his wit and compassion are still prevalent in this very good series.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

My goodness this was certainly a Goodread. And shame on me for hesitating simply because the author is known by name for his Tween Fantasy books (Lightning Thief and thereof). His name did not sell me on the idea of this, instead it was the audiobook narrator Tom S--who also made NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN more real and gritty than the film did.

I loved it! The main character, Tres Navarro, I have learned is a returning character in a non-chronological series. This is great to hear! I negate a star simply because the novel starts off with a bang, continues with more bangs but somewhat concludes with a pat on the back. Certainly no Big Reveal ending here but still extremely satisfying. The characters are great, the settings is accurately described as only a Texas native could and the Storyline is non-stop conveyor belt. The First Person and Third Person POVs do not throw off the cadence.

FIIIINE. So Tween authors can do Contemporary Westerns with necessary violent detail. Okay Okay, i concede and will definitely return to this series. Highly Recommended!

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series! Gritty crime with great characters and some interesting plot twists.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulpy genre fiction. But for a downtown San Antonio-dweller, particularly fun, since he name-checks a lot of stuff around here.
Definitely recommend to San Antonians.

[Nerissa Narciso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this one much lighter read than the others. I knew it jem was the son of Will. Its so sad that they didn’t get a happy ending as a family. But im still happy that Jem found a family with Erainya, Tres and JP Sanchez.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Will "The Ghost" Stirman escapes from prison, he has revenge on his mind. And he's not escaping alone. For Tres Navarre, when he learns about the prison break, it scares his partner, Erainya Manos, to death. She has to protect her adoptive son from the past, along with his secrets. With Stirman and his escapeés, they wreck havoc in Texas, and eliminates anyone in their way, once they take their separate paths... though it might lead to death. It's up to Navarre to help Manos out, when she's in trouble and kidnapped, along with the truth, while protecting Jem. This is a great mystery and a easy read.

[Harold Shaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rick Riordan who has found great fame in the YA genre with his Greek demigods series about Percy Jackson and his compatriots first found literary fame in the mystery crime genre with this gritty series about a Texas Medieval English Literature Ph.D. turned P.I. Riordan has created a young man with a past, a very rocky present and whose future seem somewhat cloudy. Each installment keeps getting better and better. Think Harry Dresden without the magic/paranormal stuff. You won't be sorry and I'm sure you that if you like this genre, like me you won't stop until you finish all 7 of the books.

[Karen Glass · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished South town by Ric Riordan. The series features Tres Navarre, a Berkeley professor now working as a PI in San Antonio, Texas. The Southtown plot centers around the leader of a prison escape who is seeking revenge. The plot is not unusual but Riordan tells a good story and develops his characters with understanding. We feel for Sam Barrera, aging detective who tries to work on the case and his fast-progressing Alzheimers, and we even sympathize with the escapee when we understand what drives him. A good mystery.

[Kirsten Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another neck-breaking adventure with Tres Navarre...among others!

This book seems the most action-packed yet, despite likely being the shortest one in the series yet. Again, there was almost too much happening at once.

This is also the first book with the most switches in POV yet. The chapters from Tres's 1st-person POV seemed almost few and far between. It seemed like most of the chapters were from the 3rd-person limited POV of various characters - from Will Stirman and his various associates (such as Pablo), to Sam Barrera and Erainya Manos. It almost felt crowded! it seems like this is the way he is going to write the rest of the series

This book was also different in that there wasn't a clear-cut murder to solve like in the first four books. There is a slight mystery when it comes to figuring out just what happened the night this Stirman was arrested - a night during which someone WAS killed. But, again, there's not really a mystery to solve per se. The plot is simply to keep this Stirman from getting revenge on Erainya and Jem for what Erainya's husband and Sam Barrera did that night (more than just helping him get put away). Going into more detail would involve spoiling the major twist in the story, so I won't put it here :)

I'm a bit confused about the timeline and just how much time has passed since the book. Maybe I didn't pay attention closely enough, but I feel like I heard conflicting things about how time has passed. The previous book was presumably sent in the year 2000, because the emails the killer sent were dated in that year. But I read conflicting things about how much time has passed. I'll have to double-check on a reread.

This books also marks the reappearances of Ralph and detective Ana de Leon - who are now suddenly married with a baby daughter named Lucia! I was glad to see them again, although Ralph doesn't do much (if anything at all). This was actually one of the things which caused me to be confused about the timeline, because that all happened rather quickly!

The whole thing with Sam having dementia was also interesting, although at times I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I know it seems nice for Tres to move in with Sam at the end, but I don't know if Tres will have the ability to do that.

As another side-note, is Tres still teaching? I'm not sure. And now he's suddenly Jem's soccer coach? Is he going to do all three things? That might be difficult.

Like with all the books, this book and book four were audiobook reads. Don't have much more to add about the narration, although he definitely does better as Tres. His other voices don't do a good job of staying distinct.

All in all, another exciting read as per usual. Don't have much else to add that wouldn't involve major spoilers.

On to the next one (which I've actually already started)...

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I’ll admit that when I started this book I didn’t know what to expect! I am a big fan of Rick Riordan, and I am also a big fan of crime novels, but I honestly hadn’t ever planned on Reading Rick Riordan’s early books in this genre because I was so accustomed to the writing style/voice he uses for his young adult novels that it was nearly impossible for me to imagine his voice working well for a crime mystery story. But then this book was advertised on sale to me through goodreads, so I decided I’d give it a go, even though I was a little worried that it might affect how I perceived his YA writing in the future. I’m really glad I gave it a try! I really enjoyed this book a lot; I was very pleasantly surprised how much it exceeded my expectations. It was gritty without being too unpleasantly dark, had subtle humor without being in-your-face silly like his YA writing can sometimes be, and was very engaging, I had a difficult time putting it down. His writing fit the genre perfectly; I am really impressed how different his voice was in this from his later young adult fantasy work. I’m very happy to learn what a versatile author he is, I will definitely be checking out the rest of the Tres Navarre series. I wish Rick Riordan could clone himself so that he could keep up his current prolific pace of writing YA while simultaneously putting out some more crime novels, if I wasn’t such a big fan of his recent work I would be very disappointed that he won’t be writing more books like this!

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this audiobook. I love this series. Having lived for a few years in San Antonio, I recognize the topography and some of the quirks. Tres Navarre could be a professor of English - he is qualified - but he is a private eye because he needs to pay the bills and university jobs are scarce. But, he is a very good PI, maybe he even likes it. He works for Erainya Manos who helped mentor him in the business. Will Stirman is a stone cold killer who has been in a state penitentiary for the past 8 years. He plans and executes a daring and bloody escape along with 4 other inmates. He carefully leads authorities to believe he and the others are trying to get to Canada. No one believes he would stay around San Antonio, not with all the cops looking for him. But Erainya knows better. Stirman is looking for something and he won’t leave until he gets it. Erainya’s husband, along with a former FBI agent, originally captured Stirman and saw him put in prison. Her husband is dead and Sam, the former fed, is rapidly descending into dementia, and his grasp on his present and past is slipping away. But the past is the key. Erainya refuses to tell Tres why she is so stressed about Stirman. Sam can’t tell Tres much. So it is up to Tres to dig into the past in order to protect Erainya and her son Jem. What he learns is a terrible past about human trafficking, lies, stolen money, and way too much death. Colorful descriptions of the Alamo City along with great characters make this a terrific series.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

eponymous sentence:
p28: The last few years, people had started calling this area Southtown.

splatter:
p12: Elroy had blood splattered on his pants.

cement:
p13: He sidestepped, saw Zeke's soldering iron coming in time to catch the blow on his arm, managed one good yell before Elroy came over the table on top of him, crumpling him to the floor, Grier's head connecting hard with the cement.

p15: He'd done an imperfect job wiping up Grier's blood, so his footprints made faint red prints back and forth across the cement.

p44: He was sprawled on the cement, half under the Chevy, broken glass and locusts all around him.

p77: In the center of each cement floor was an iron ring, where you might attach an animal chain.

p124: His newly loaded gun cast a long shadow across the cement.

p135: A steady sheet of green shredded through the cement teeth of the bridge railing.

p157: The spray gun he'd dropped hissed water, pushing a wave of red across the cement floor.

tech:
p18: I had an empty Coke bottle, but it isn't tempting to use that trick when your female boss is next to you in the driver's seat and her eight-year-old son is playing PlayStation 2 in the back.

huh?:
p154: Let Saint Anthony stay in San Antonio.

The shortest Navarre story so far--yet the most hardcore (although I didn't see much tai chi action from Tres)--shoves Tres' ward, Jem, in the spotlight. That little heartbreaker.

[Ryan Monson · Rating 1 out of 5]

In this series I have enjoyed 3 of the books. This is not one of those three. This is the only book that isn't really a detective book. This is also the only book that really only has a single twist and if you didn't know the twist by the half way point of the book, I question your intelligence because the twist is just about the most obvious one imaginable. There have been other books in this series where I thought I knew the twist and I was either right only to be hit by another twist or two, or I was wrong and the twist went a different direction.

Riordan does a good job with the twist endings but the action of his endings is often not great. Basically, Tres figures something out and then instead of calling in the cops he actively avoids the cops so he can take out the bad guy himself, often without a plan and with a belief he is going to die. I have felt that the endings of all these books are a bit contrived but this one ratchets the silly ending up to 11.5. The final scene with the bad guy is dumb, the falling action/what happens to the characters after the story is also filled with problems. I just didn't buy any of it.

[Rishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author also makes us believe in the tortured, untrustworthy brain processes of Sam Barrera, a former FBI agent now trying desperately to keep working as a PI in spite of rapidly advancing Alzheimer's. Barrera and former cop Fred Barrow ended Stirman's career as a flesh peddler selling illegal Mexican immigrants into slavery, and the first thing on Stirman's mind after a bloody prison escape is revenge against these two. But Barrow is long dead, shot by his abused wife, Erainya Manos, the tough and touching woman for whom Navarre works. The Texas PI gets more involved in the search for the escaped convict than his local police friends would like when her kid get threatened. Coping with Barrera's heartbreaking mental lapses and trying to balance his anger at Stirman with a growing feeling that a lot of the man's anger might be justified, Navarre walks a thin, highly believable and surprisingly suspenseful.

[Aidan Macadam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A solid book, but little to no focus on any actual mystery, which is what I'm usually looking for in this series. It's all action and past grudges and guns. A fun read for sure, however. And the latter half of the book makes up for the first half, which, despite the exciting intro, was rather dull.

A lot of depth added to the already mysterious Erainya Manos and her son, Jem Manos, as well as Sam Barerra, a side character from the second book. I actually read the second book right before this one because I haven't exactly been following the order the books were released, and I think that made this book a better read for it.

Barerra was definitely the high point of this book, his brain, the most important thing for a detective, falling to pieces made for a very interesting character.

[Scott Bolick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tres Navarre novels keep getting better. By this point Riordan really knows his characters and readers of the series up to this point will see a lot of familiar faces. This story really amps up the number of POVs from previous books in the series so if you aren't paying attention it can be easy to get confused. The story introduces us to some real monsters but we also get to see things from inside their head, so while it never justifies their actions it lets us see how they justify it to themselves. No one comes out of this story clean but I like to see how characters grow and adapt to the changes in their world. I think the core mystery was pretty easy to assemble but the strong character interaction keeps that from ruining the story.

[Tyler Tomanek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really builds on characters established in previous books. But at the same time, it focuses on new characters as well. These new characters have third person portions expressing their thoughts. It wasn't just all about Tres. Reading as the twists unfold was really interesting. There was one twist that really shocked me. In my opinion, this is the best of the series I have read so far.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read several of Riordan's young adult series with my kids and had high hopes for this book. There was nothing wrong with it, it moved at a decent pace, had decent character development, and I was curious about how it would end. But not so curious I need to read the first four Tres Navarre books or any subsequent.

[Knif]

I loved it -- the unexpected twists and turns of the plot and the deepening character development. In particular I found that of arch villain Will Stirman oddly touching. Also found my liking of Tres Navarre growing. This isn't just another detective story. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Ellie Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series really hit its stride in the last few books. I'm hooked! The first few were way too much of Tres talking about how long he sweated over his Tai chi workouts but the cases have been taking center stage recently. I stuck around for the side characters and the setting, but now everything has improved. :)

[Ellie Saree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riordan really steps up the violence and crime in this book a compared to the ones before it. There weren’t many twists and turns but when you realize what the big twist is… I’ll just say my jaw DROPPED. He also experiments with the POV which can get a bit confusing but it makes sense the further you read. Really cool to see how much he improved between switching POV in this and in HoO.

[Vishal Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The change in narrative style was a surprise but I found it engaging ...better in fact! The human angle kept me plodding on through the tiresome plot! I guess I am a sucker for sob stories! I am a bit surprised that I actually enjoyed it and am looking forward to 'Mission Road'. Bring it on Rick!

[Corine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't love the prisoner point of view, but did love Tres's narration. Every book in this series gets better and better. Tres is just enough of a jerk enough that you can see why he gets the women and just smart and sensitive enough to like him nonetheless.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had really been enjoying the Rich Riordan books...all the way up through #4. This installment though was more of a psychopathic thriller, and I don't really have it in me right now to finish it. I'll keep it on my TBR pile, but for now I've stopped reading.

[Christina Bergling · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fifth installment of the Tres Navarre series expands the narrative beyond Tres. Instead of it being a Tres Navarre book, it is more a story that includes Tres Navarre. I enjoyed the development. However, it took a while for the new narrative structure to find its footing.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is just a good detective story. It's a little grimier than my usual fare, but I like the occasional dip plus there's something about Tres Navarre's character that appeals to me.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

From start to finish, this book was intense and terrifying. There was so many different side stories, back stories and issues to keep you reading from needing to know what happened next.

[Susan Reyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh! I loved this one even more than the last!