BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of Wild Instinct, by T. Jefferson Parker, from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

Started out wondering why I had never read anything by T. Jefferson Parker before, then realized it was because so many of his books were set in Los Angeles.

Which, if you’ve been with me for a minute, you know I really, really dislike in real life, and am not much of a fan of in fiction.

Glad I gave this one a chance, because it was more the indigenous Los Angeles than the bleach-blonde, Botoxed, freeway, and movie star Los Angeles.

I certainly hope this is the start of a series; I saw real potential for that in the way things ended.

That said, I’m not giving this book 4 stars because of some of the subject matter. Critical to understanding the main characters, but in the case of one, kinda “ick-inducing,”; and, in the other, just sad and depressing, while at the same time completely understandable.

PS
Would've probably enjoyed/appreciated this book more if I'd read it all in one sitting, instead of across multiple time zones and airplane trips.

DESCRIPTION
A gripping high-stakes thriller by three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author T. Jefferson Parker ("A marvel...hits the high-water mark for crime fiction every time out." —Gregg Hurwitz)

The hunt for the truth is the deadliest game.

Former Marine sniper Lew Gale, now a detective with the Orange County California Sheriff’s Department, is assigned to track and shoot a mountain lion that has killed a man in the rugged country east of Laguna Beach, California. The victim is Bennet Tarlow, a rich developer and man-about-town in upscale coastal Orange County.

The investigation takes a chilling turn when Lew and his new partner, Daniela Mendez, discover that Bennet was dead long before the lion got to him. And while he might have been the first to die, he certainly will not be the last.

Wild Instinct by T Jefferson Parker tells the story of Lew, a sheriff who is tracking a lion for killing Bennett Tarlow a local real estate developer. Through investigation we find out it’s murder. Lew is working with a new partner Daniela.

An interesting story line with complex characters. Lew is a local Native American with past issues of PTSD. Daniela is a single mom with a teenage son who is going down the wrong path.

If you like crime and mystery this is for you. The author does a lot of Native American history from that area of California.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC issue.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel set in California. A modern day novel with some historical factors blended into the tale.
Lew Gale is a detective in Orange County, California. He is also part of the indigenous Acjacheme tribe. He is sent to investigate the killing of a man by a lion. What he finds is anything but a simple man vs. wild animal scenario. In addition, the victim is a prominent citizen of the county.
Things get convoluted and the trail leads Lew and his new partner in many directions, keeping the reader engaged in the mystery and the action. The new partner wasn’t someone I really could get behind based on her spying on her child and other things the character had going on in her life.
There are flashbacks to Acjacheme tribe lore which was a fascinating part of the book. Clearly, the author did a lot of research into the tribe. I had not heard of this particular tribe before picking up this book and enjoyed learning about them.
Many social issues come into play in this story, like Lew’s PTSD from his time in the military, tribal rights, the historical treatment of indigenous peoples by the church, and greed of corporations and the people who run them.
Even with the social issues raised in the story, there is no feeling of lecturing by the author. It is all seamlessly interwoven into the mystery and action. The story may have bogged down in some places, but it was still an enjoyable read.
A really good read for the fan of the genre. The reader is also educated about many things without feeling as if they are in a classroom.
Four stars

A great thriller from T. Jefferson Parker! I Wild Instinct follows Lew Gale, former Marine sniper turned detective, through an investigation where nothing is what it seems. The story begins with Gale tracking a mountain lion that appears to have attacked and killed the victim. I especially loved that the author included some history of the Acjachemen people. Excellent read!

A bit thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

What apparently began as a wild animal kill soon became a murder, the scene of which the mountain lion came across after the victim was already dead. The protagonist, detective Lew Gale, and his partner Daniela Mendez, try to solve the crime while battling a lot of personal baggage each of them is carrying. Lots of action, some of it a bit more gruesome than I quite like (thus 4 stars instead of 5), secrets, mysteries, and a helping of historic Native American culture. This particular murder mystery has a twist I don't think I've seen in any of the mysteries I've read in the last 20 or 30 years at least. But I will say no more about that, as it would be a spoiler.

I don't think I've read any of this author's other books. I will be remedying that as soon as I've worked my way through the current stack of to-be-read.

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

Orange County, California Detective Lew Gale is an ex-Marine who is half Acjacheme Indian, an experienced hunter and, due to his skill, a member of the county’s SWAT Predator Tracking Unit. So when the body of a man, apparently killed by a mountain lion, is discovered in Caspers Wilderness Park near Laguna, Gale is in the forefront of the search for the mountain lion who killed and ate Bennet Evans Tarlow the Third.

Only the autopsy reveals the presence of two bullets in Tarlow’s brain. The mountain lion may have eaten him, but he was already dead.

So who killed Bennet Tarlow? And why?

=========

Readers interested in history will appreciate the information about the Acjacheme Indians sprinkled throughout the telling of this intriguing tale. It adds an interesting dimension to the unfolding story and provides readers with some insight into the Native American history.

None of the well-drawn, believable characters have it easy in this story that is part police thriller, part mystery, part dealing with family issues, and part personal situations. Still, everyone seems to deal with their issues [although Daniela Mendez does seem to go a bit overboard in dealing with her teen-aged son, Jesse].

With a plot that keeps readers guessing, the multi-layered storytelling, and a complex search for the truth, readers are sure to find it difficult to set this book aside before turning the final page.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#WildInstinct #NetGalley

I ONLY picked this book up for the native american heritage part and it didn't disappoint - so the detective is both a US Marine and nativa american. so he's supposed to kill this poor majestic mountain lion but luckily he recognizes that the body was already dead and the lion didn't do it. A human did! I loved that he had such a strong moral backbone and his connection to his background, family lore and history was really made this whole book.

It was fun to learn about a culture I didn’t know about before. Both chracters in this book were well developed and if you are a fan of T. Jefferson Parker, then you will enjoy this book.

This book was not for me, but it was well written. Just not my preferred genre but I like trying other types of books at time. I did enjoy learning about native American history, which was a plus.

Wild Instinct by T Jefferson Parker is an enjoyable book. I like the way Mr. Parker writes so I was happy to review this book. The two main characters, Lew Gate a former sniper and Daniela Mendez are trying to solve the murder of Bennet Tarlow who was killed by a lion. It proven very quickly the victim was murdered.
I enjoyed the way the mystery unfolded – the murder victim was different than his public façade and the reasons for the murder complexed.
I really enjoyed the story and thought it was worth reading.

I always liked T. Jefferson Parker’s books so I was excited to read an ARC of his latest novel, “Wild Instinct.” My joy soon turned to disappointment by what turned out to be a somewhat boring, drawn out investigation into the murder of a prominent businessman by two homicide detectives, Lew Gale and Daniela Mendez.

The first 10% of the book was a detailed account of Gale’s days-long hunt for a mountain lion believed to have killed Bennet Tarlow, a prominent businessman, until Bennet’s autopsy revealed that he had been shot in the head. The hunt for the mountain lion described what seemed like every tree and arroyo in excruciating and unnecessary detail. The story then meandered along with passages describing the detectives personal lives which became long and unnecessary to the plot, interspersed with interviews of persons of interest and witnesses. But the feature of the book that I disliked the most was the short, choppy, sometimes incomplete sentences, which for me breaks up the narrative. In addition, the characters’ dialogs seemed identical, with nothing to distinguish their personalities.

On the positive side, the book included interesting details about the culture of a little known Native American Indian tribe, the Acjacheme Indians, of which Gale’s mother’s family was a part. However, even here it was overdone, as the book included long excerpts from a book written by a fictitious historical figure from the 1800s, writing about a search for a mountain lion who killed his sister.

All in all, it was a disappointing book, which I only finished out of a sense of obligation to NetGalley and Minotaur Books, who provided me an ARC of the novel in exchange for my review. Maybe other readers who don’t mind a slow pace, with digressions into the minutia of the characters’ lives, and who aren’t bothered by short, choppy sentence structure might find something to like about the book.

Not having read anything by Parker in along time, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Wild Instinct. The main character is Lee Gale, a vet seriously injured in Afghanistan and now a sheriff’s deputy in Orange County, California. He’s also half Acjacheme Indian, a heritage that figures prominently in this story. Gale is initially tasked with hunting and shooting a mountain lion suspected of killing a prominent local developer, Bennet Tarlow III. Just before he can take action, he gets word that Tarlow was actually murdered, so his target changes from a big cat to a killer. He and his new partner, Daniela Mendez, work hard to track Tarlow’s movements, acquaintances, and business deals, which brings them into contact with a slew of shady characters. Chief among them is Vern Jeffs, a sketchy biker, and his wife Mindy, but added to the mix are county commissioners and Tarlow Company employees.

These are two extremely interesting characters, both with sizable secrets. Lew’s is his condition as a result of his injuries, and hers is the parentage of her son. Lew’s immersion in his Indian lineage and hers in her mysterious past add significantly to what is a fascinating and propulsive mystery. Very much recommended.

I’ve been reading T. Jefferson Parker since the days of Little Saigon and Laguna Heat, so yes – four decades now. And although I’ve never been in California’s Orange County, I sometimes feel as if I know its landscape and people from Jeff’s descriptions – the wild Pacific coast, the tumultuous border with Mexico, the deeply-ingrained Latinx culture. His latest, Wild Instinct, introduced me to a new aspect of the region; its Native heritage. For that, I thank him.

Wild Instinct, like about half Parker’s works, is a police procedural: when the tale opens, OCSD detective Lew Gale (né Luis Gallego) is on the hunt for a mountain lion presumed to have killed local real-estate developer Bennet Tarlow III. But when the ME finds a bullet in Tarlow’s brain, the hunt turns into a murder investigation. Paired with newly-minted homicide detective Daniela Mendez, Gale burrows into the workings of OC’s richest family, three generations of Tarlows, and Bennet III’s biggest project: a five square-mile city he would call Wildcoast. The usual suspects abound: local NIMBYs, the small but vocal indigenous communities, and all those politicians with their hands outstretched.

As is frequently the case in a Parker mystery, there is also a smidgen of the supernatural nibbling at the edges… and all the while, both Gale and Mendez have their own dark secrets to keep. None of that will prevent the two from the hunt.

All that being said, of Parker’s twenty-odd (I think this one makes thirty) novels, Wild Instinct isn’t quite the equal of the Charlie Hood series or, my favorites, the four books featuring Roland Ford. Perhaps it’s the Gale’s and Mendez’s dirty little secrets; perhaps it’s the highly unlikely details of the killer’s motivation (not the reason itself, the physical details). I suspect, however, that Gale and Melendez will be back; and I fully intend to give them a second read.

My thanks to the publisher for access to a galley proof of Wild Instinct in return for my honest review.

I found Wild Instinct to be a good read. I was quite interested in the native history and how T. Jefferson Parker wove that narrative into the story. Very well done.

Maybe a rating of 4.5 stars. The two lead investigators were interesting characters who worked well together The native background was also thought-provoking. I found the book worthwhile and recommend it.

Wild Instinct by T. Jefferson Parker is a police procedural with a newly introduced duo investigating the killing of a wealthy developer in Orange Co. CA. This book is separate from Parker’s other 3 series. This time out Lew Gale, a former Marine sniper, partners with Daniela Mendez, a single mom, to solve a case of what begins with an alleged mountain lion killing, only to find the victim was dead before the lion got to him.
The setting in the Santa Ana mountains and Gale’s Acjacheme Indian heritage are much of the focus of the book. Gale has PTSD from Afghanistan military service and this plays into the plot. Also involved in the storyline is Mendez’s issues with the father of her teenage son and her somewhat stalker-concern over following her son to keep him out of trouble. I thought this part of the story was overdone and somewhat creepy, especially with the reveal on who the boy’s father is.
About half way through the book the tempo picked up and the real mystery began. We are introduced to many possible suspects and quickly the solution to the murder is revealed. I found the first half very slow going but appreciated the second half for it’s logical conclusion. I can’t say the book was spell binding as the mystery didn’t start for quite some time. Normally, the subplots would have captured me while the police evidence was gathered in the first part of the book, but here I didn’t really find the subplots particularly interesting.
I have read many T. Jefferson Parker novels, and this one, while a fair read, was not on the same level as his other thrillers. I have found Deputy Charlie Hood and PI Roland Ford (Parker’s other series) more captivating reads. But I will have to see where Parker takes these two Orange County Sheriff Investigators in the future.
My Rating: 3 of 5
This ARC title was provided by Netgalley.com at no cost, and I am providing an unbiased review. Wild Instinct will be published on November 11, 2025.

Having read and enjoyed several of Mr. Parker’s previous novels, I was looking forward to reading his latest endeavor. Boy, was I disappointed! After many uninteresting opening chapters about a mountain lion, the book ventured into many side issues— biker gangs, murder, buried crystals, property development and a lot about religion. I found all of this rather tedious and especially with writing such as “…intelligent looking hands” and “a slender, intelligent finger…” Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book but thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read it and certainly hope that Mr. Parker reverts to his prior writing style.

Loved this book! I have not read T. Jefferson Parker before, but I will certainly be looking for his other books. Wild Instinct was the perfect combination of intrigue and history. I learned quite a bit about the settling of San Juan Capistrano, while also enjoying a well written police procedural novel. Characters were well developed, the story moved along at an appropriate pace. Highly recommend!

Instinct – an innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli; a natural or intuitive way of acting or thinking: a natural propensity or skill of a specified kind; the fact or quality of possessing innate behavior patterns.

When Lew Gage, a California Orange County detective working for the sheriff’s department is assigned to track and shot a mountain lion that killed a man in Caspers Park, a protected wilderness preserves, he locates the man’s body. The cat escapes. Lucky cat. The actual killer was a different kind of beast: a human with a gun. Wild Instinctby T. Jefferson Parker is not about a rogue cat. It’s about man’s instincts gone awry, greed, and power.

The victim is well-known, a member of a wealthy family who are all up to their eyeballs, and then some, in money and properties, and projects. Who would want Bennet Tarlow dead? Any number of people, it turns out.

Gage is a former Marine sniper with PTSD. He has flashbacks, difficulties with intimate relationships with women, and is estranged from his father. He has a good working relationship with his partner, Daniela Mendez, a single mom of a teenage son with complex problems of her own. They are things that she keeps to herself.

There is pressure to solve the case quickly, and Gage wastes little time finding a key suspect. The problem is finding proof. It is not an open and shut case, and the man has no motive…unless someone gave him one.

The story zigs and zags with character-building information and sub-plots, which I found interesting to a point, but it also proved distracting for me. I felt that I lost the main plot several times and had difficulty keeping track of the secondary characters who may have been co-conspirators. As I noted earlier, both Gage and Daniela are complex characters with “messy” pasts. This is interesting, up to a point, but it made for a meandering story. I did appreciate some of the history about the local Native Americans and the Spanish, however. By the time the book approached the end, the frenzied action seemed rather sudden. It was a good read, but not great. 3 stars.

I received a digital copy of Wild Instinct as an ARC. My opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books.

I’ve been a fan of T. Jefferson Parker for years and am used to the slow burn of his writing. What’s disconcerting about this novel is the odd choice of prose: “Gale notes the small front yard….”

“What catches Gale’s eye…”

It’s very odd and off-putting.

If it wasn’t for this, I’d give it 4-stars