T. Jefferson Parker returns with the follow up to L.A. Outlaws. This time out, L.A. County Deputy Charlie Hood patrols the high desert north of Los Angeles in a self-imposed exile. On a routine call to a Section 8 housing project, Hood's partner, Terry "Mr. Wonderful" Laws is shot point blank with a machine gun. Internal Affairs wants to know why. And they tap Hood to find out.
Meanwhile, a reservist for the Sheriff's Department, Coleman Draper, tells a young recruit the other side of the story: how he and Laws made seven grand a week running drug money to Baja for a cartel leader named Herredia.
Hood is a decent cop, a homicide detective wannabe who ends up in IA. Draper, however, is simply evil, and he knows it. He keeps two women and he frames Herredia's California lieutenant for skimming, then performs the execution himself. He even knows why Terry Laws was killed and Hood was left alive. What he doesn't expect is Hood being assigned to investigate the case or to trail him throughout Southern California.
Parker goes younger in this one. Hood and Draper are both just shy of 30, whereas his protagonists in Stormrunners and California Girl are a bit older, at least in the present day. While Parker drifts toward Lee Child territory with Herredia's almost god-like control of his cartel, The Renegades still carries much of the literary ambition of California Girls. It's a very satisfying mix of high-stakes action and serious crime fiction.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
