** spoiler alert ** About 90 pages in there is a fantastic battle, California/ATF cops against drug dealers, at night, across the border in the Mexican countryside where they have to watch out for rattlesnakes as they’re sneaking up on the hacienda. The bad guys have flamethrowers. It’s very goosebump inducing.

One of the things I like about Jeff’s Charlie Hood novels is that he lets Charlie have a past. I like a series that doesn’t dismiss what came before, where the characters remember their own history. I do, why shouldn’t they?

Best Parker book since Silent Joe. An almost biblical battle between a beleaguered US law enforcement and seemingly unstoppable Mexican drug lords, with two set battle scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat, and Charlie has a close encounter with someone who may be the devil. I was horrified when I realized I wanted the gunsmith to get away, just another of the great examples of Parker’s superb characterization, I’m rooting for all the wrong people. That will pull you up with a jolt.

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And coming on January 9, 2020, the 22nd Kate Shugak novel.
Click through the image below to pre-order.

Book Review Monday Chatter Uncategorized Charlie Hood Iron River t. jefferson parker