The mystery of synesthesia: Fallbrook author writes about obscure mental condition

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Saturday, September 23, 2006 4:37 PM PDT ∞

It pays to spend a little time talking to fans, author T. Jefferson Parker has discovered.

"One day, at a book signing for 'Black Water,' a woman asked me if I knew about synesthesia and I confessed that I didn't," the Fallbrook resident wrote on his Web site, www.tjeffersonparker.com.

Parker was intrigued by the conversation with the fan and soon began researching synesthesia, a condition where senses are transposed and people "see" certain sounds as various colors or shapes instead.

He wrote two books after "Black Water," but the idea of a detective with synesthesia stayed in the back of his mind. In March, Parker released "The Fallen" ($24.95, William Morrow), the story of two homicide detectives investigating the death of a former San Diego Police officer.

One investigator, Robbie Brownlaw, suffers a serious injury that leaves him seeing colored shapes when talking to people. Brownlaw begins to see a connection between the shapes and emotions: red squares for deception, yellow triangles for fear, lavender ovals for sympathy and green trapezoids for envy.

"It's kind of a primitive lie detector," Parker said.

"The Fallen" is Parker's second book to deal with brain conditions. While writing "Black Water," he visited the Brain Imaging Center at his alma mater, UC Irvine, to learn about the amygdala, a portion of the brain that controls the ability to experience and store emotions. In researching "The Fallen," Parker said he talked to people who have synesthesia, which affects two in every 10,000 people, according to Parker's Web site.

"I became interested in the brain and how it functions when my mother and my wife were both diagnosed with brain tumors just a few years apart," Parker wrote on his Web site. "As I watched my two very loved ones go through the biological degeneration and the trauma of medical treatment for these cancers, I saw the powers of their beautiful minds become confused, diffused, weakened and finally, lost."

The death of Parker's first wife, Catherine, left a profound impact on his writing.

"You don't just live through something like that and not change," he said.

Parker wrote about her death in "Summer of Fear," but even before that novel, major characters in all of his books had experienced some sort of loss.

He since has remarried and lives in Fallbrook with his wife, Rita, and sons Tyler, 14, and Tommy, 8.

Parker began his writing career in 1978 in Orange County with the weekly newspaper The Newport Ensign and later for the Daily Pilot.

He wrote his first novel, "Laguna Heat," on weekends and evenings. The book was published in 1985 and its paperback edition the next year made The New York Times best-seller list. "Laguna Heat" was made into an HBO movie starring Harry Hamlin, Jason Robards and Rip Torn.

None of Parker's other 12 books has been made into a movie, but he said television producers have discussed a series based on "The Fallen."

"They like the synesthesia and the fact that the character has kind of a special gift," Parker said. "They think it would make an interesting series with a detective with synesthesia operating around San Diego. If 'Monk' can have obsessive-compulsive disorder, then Robbie can have synesthesia."

Most of Parker's books were set in his familiar neighborhoods of Orange County, but things changed after moving to Fallbrook in 2000. In 2001's "Silent Joe," Parker mentions North County near the end of the book. His 2003 book "Cold Pursuit" was the first set in San Diego. His next, "Storm Runner," also will be set in San Diego, he said.

"Silent Joe" and "California Girl" (2004) earned Edgar Awards, the top prize in the mystery genre.

"I think what makes my books good is a strong sense of characters and a clarity and honesty of voice," he said when asked to describe why his work has stood out. "Interesting, unpredictable stories. When you tick off what makes a novel good or a mystery good, they are the same things, pretty much. When I read, I don't just go to a mystery rack. I go to the one that looks the best."

Parker sees the mystery genre as alive and well, and sees a promising career ahead for some first-time authors he has read.

"Marcus Sakey is going to publish his first novel, 'The Blade Itself,'" he said. 'It's a good mystery. It's worth reading. Teresa Schwegel in Orange County is worth keeping an eye on. She won an Edgar last year for her best first novel. I read very widely in the genre."

Parker also loves old favorites like Raymond Chandler and early Elmore Leonard, and said his favorite mystery may be John Gregory Dunne's novel, "True Confessions," while his favorite of all time in any genre may be "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

While his career has been in the mystery genre, Parker said he does not specifically intend to write a mystery when he begins a novel. He has called his second book, "Little Saigon," an "offbeat literary novel masquerading as a mystery."

"I don't really think in terms of genre too much," he said. "I think of the book I want to write. If it happens to be a mystery, that's OK. If not, that's OK, too."

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.

What: Fallbrook author T. Jefferson Parker to speak about his new book, "The Fallen."

Where: Escondido Public Library's Turrentine Room, 239 S. Kalmia St.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Call: (760) 839-4601

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