Customer Reviews

Iron River (Charlie Hood Novels)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've read all of Parker's novels and liked most of them, particularly the earlier ones and especially Silent Joe. But, I'm weary of Charlie Hood, and the Jones/Murrieta siblings; it was a weak story line in the first of the series, and still so in the third. The introduction of the fantasy character--who seems to be threatening to re-appear in a next installment?--is a cheap shot for even a thrill-laden police procedural. Besides that character, there were too many loose ends not resolved, probably in preparation for a fourth in the series? I hope Parker gets back into his groove, building on his excellent skills at creating a strong sense of place, where he really shines.

I've followed T. Jefferson Parker as an author for more than 20 years, and I've enjoyed his description of where I live during that whole time. He and I are of an age, and as an Orange County CA native who has now moved to northern San Diego county, he's described not only the physical settings of my life, but the events and situations that have provided the context of my choices in life.

With the Charlie Hood character of these last 3 books, (L.A. Outlaws, Renegades, and now, Iron River) he's expanded the physical boundaries of his story, and brought a larger context to where we (not just me!) are today.

This is a book that describes the circumstances of people who live in the United States with their often misunderstood southern neighbor, Mexico, and brings to life the headlines that today seem so unreal from "just over the border". He obviously brings voluminous research into the tale of the drug cartel's power and reach into all of America, and now, through the thrilling, adjacent story of guns, explains the carnage in our border cities, especially in Ciudad Juarez and in my local Tijuana.

The story pushes a bit past reality, as stories usually do, but the distance he goes in describing a logical extreme by his book's events, is not too far from where we are right now.

He doesn't preach solutions, but inserts a backdrop of U.S. and Mexican politics, gun laws, history, American obliviousness and entreprenuerial economics. The roles and choices that his characters take are told from their points of view, and leave the reader both exhausted from the exillerating ride and wiser about issues that I think we should take the time to ponder now. The book left me with an idea that small choices made individually, like his characters have made, will make a difference in the big world. I can't wait for the next book!

I am not sure why this book is getting less than adequate reviews. I thought it was brave and amazing. He is taking on the HUGE problem we have in the southwest with guns getting smuggled into Mexico. He is approaching good and evil and all shades between from different perspectives. His writing is flawless. Give this author a break people. Is an author not allowed to explore new territories? THIS is the basis for all kinds of art, to grow and explore and be the social antenna of a society which he has done with this book. I personally love the Charlie Hood series and hope he continues. I will not pigeon hole this author. He is too precious a writer for a reader to place boundaries upon. I call this a white-knuckled book and this book and its characters has haunted me ever since I finished it. Mr. Parker, if you are reading this, keep on keeping on. This is one reader you will never lose.

This is the third T. Jefferson Parker book I've read or, more accurately, tried to read. As with his "Storm Runners", I just had no desire to finish it and set it aside when I hit page 222 of 369.

Other may like Parker's style. I certainly did in "L. A. Outlaws". But he has a penchant, in my mind, going to far in an attempt to create "atmosphere". What Cormac McCarthy pulled off effortlessly in "No Country For Old Men", Parker fails at. The attempted grittiness comes across as an exercise in adjectival description. Three women are introduced: the desire is to render each of them as a somewhat mysterious, complex human being. Instead, they come across as the stuff of comic book romances. The fate of the men is worst. They are all losers in one way or another, no matter if their hats are black or white.

The story is just plain silly. "Iron river" refers to the imaginary flow of firearms from the United States to Mexico. This was a scare headline a few months back, alleging that a tidal wave of guns from the United States was responsible for the thousands of drug related homicides in Mexico. The truth became quickly known: the weapons used in these crimes were coming from other South and Latin American countries, including the Mexican military and law enforcement establishments. Parker tries to further hype the fakery by depicting a fading boy genius at the head of a bankrupt firearms factory who has designed a revolutionary automatic weapon which he agrees to make in quantity for and sell to a drug lord. Anyone at all familiar with firearms will recognize at this point that Parker is dealing in pure fantasy which he presents as reality wrapped in fiction.

On top of this he sets a character who miraculously survives being hit by a speeding car and who might be crazy or just someone who sees the future. One of the three truly unreal women is his daughter.

Parker never pulls all the pieces together. Frankly, I should have quit a hundred or so pages in and been done with it.

Now, all that said, I can't say it is an awful book. Parker is a more than competent writer and when he stays focused, as in "L.A. Outlaws", he turns in great work. But like "Storm Runners", he is all over the place. A little Cormac McCarthy here, a little Dean Koontz there. How about some Coen brothers "Fargo" touches? No problem. Except the resulting book is a problem - in my opinion, it Is deadly dull. Someone else, however, who likes this kind of style may find it a compelling read.

I would strongly suggest that if you are in a bookstore, that you read the first 25 or 50 pages before you buy this. Do not buy it because of the dust cover blurb or a review. Either this is your style or it isn't.

Jerry

I've read all of Parker's books up to this one (and bought them all on Amazon). He is an excellent and highly professional writer with three Edgar awards, two for novels, which puts him in some great company---James Lee Burke and Dick Francis. I really liked book #1 in this series, but it was Allison Murietta's book with Charlie Hood as a secondary character in my opinion. I wasn't particularly enamored of entry #2 (The Renegades") because I wanted more a fleshed out character for Charlie Hood, the hero. This time ("Iron River") I got it. This is Hood's book from start to finish, and for once he is the focal point of character development. There is no Allison Murietta stealing his scenes, so we get Charlie's take on the action. The "Iron River" is the flow of guns from the USA into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, and the theme unfortunately matches the current headlines in the news. All that is missing is an incompetent ATF hierarchy supplying the guns. The book seems to be promising more of Charlie Hood's adventures in this series, and I am looking forward to several sequels, one of which is already in print ("The Border Lords"). Charlie is now (de facto if not de jure) a Fed, borrowed by the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Agency to chase guns and illicit gun dealers, which makes his range greater and his life more interesting than just being a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy. I think that Parker's move of his stories from Orange County to San Diego and Los Angeles has increased his potential fan base. The more recent books may lack the homage to the rural Orange County of Parker's childhood portrayed so effectively in "California Girl" and "Silent Joe", but it is a good escapist read that I recommend for a good summer book.

Author T. Jefferson Parker focuses on the world of illegal firearms in Iron River. The war between different drug factions in Mexico has killed 6,000 people, including 500 cops and judges. The ATFE is trying to stop the flow of illegal firearms across the border. As a result, bloody, deadly days follow.

This is the first novel I have read by T. Jefferson Parker. The topic wasn't all that interesting to me and I found some parts of the book slow. I'm sure this isn't his best book and I would be willing to try another one of his novels. At this point, however, I don't see him being one of my favorite authors.

Parker, who has produced some fine work in the past, has with "Iron River" arrived at a prose style, and with insight to rival James Lee Burke. In other words, a masterpiece, as good as the genre gets.

I'm new to T. Jefferson Parker. The book cover proclaims this to be part of a character series. Given that introduction, the novel far exceeded my admittedly uninformed expectations.

The narrative focus is the traffic across the U.S./Mexican border: not the drugs and the undocumented workers moving North, but the guns and money moving South. Take the artificiality of the border out of the equation, and you have not just a criminal enterprise stretching - within this story's ambit - from the suburbs of Orange County to the forested valleys of the Sierra Madres, but sophisticated tactical warfare and outright terrorism eerily similar to that which plays out in the headlines that are drawn from the Middle East. The struggle is about money and power, but not just on a criminal scale. There's an intriguing hint of nation-building: the replacement of one system of corruption with perhaps another, more populist one. There's also more than a suggestion that much of the struggle feeds off the unhealthy appetites and excesses of America.

But this also is a crime story, moving in two directions. On the one hand, our heroes are agents of the ATFE, set out to disrupt the arms traffic and to protect one of their own whose stray bullet has made him the target for vengeance by a narco-lord. On the other hand, the scion of a defunct arms-manufacturer sets out to rebuild his fortune and his future by crafting a deal that will help him rebound from a ruinous products liability judgment while aligning him with one of the most ruthless criminals on the planet. The stakes are high, and so is the tension.

An interesting blend of characters is thrown into this mix. At the center is an introspective man of action trying to sort out the moral issues. He resembles the Hero: upright, grounded, conflicted. At the other pole is a mysterious man who knows more than he should about the action around him, and whose motivations remain unclear. He resembles the Coyote: wily, mysterious, somehow supernatural, with echoes of Melville's Confidence Man.

The writing is deft and accomplished. The author knows where he wants his story to go, and he drives it there with purpose and style.

This reader is left with the sense that he has stumbled upon not just a popular mystery series, but a chapter in a more profound, expanded work of fiction. The expectations will be much higher next time around.

In LA Sheriff's Deputy Charlie Hood's third adventure, set in the border town of Buenavista, Hood joins an ATF operation to stem gunrunning to Mexico. When a weapons-buy ends in the accidental death of a cartel leader's son, the bad guys take revenge, abducting and torturing the agent responsible. Naturally a rescue is in the offing.

Meanwhile, a bankrupt arms dealer finds a way to get the family business going again by selling an ingenious untraceable gun - his design - to the cartels. Bradley Jones, son of bandit Allison Murrietta (from Hood's debut in L.A Outlaw) brokers the deal even as he enters training for the LA Sheriff's Department Explorers.

Point of view switches among various characters, all but Ron Pace, the arms dealer, connected to Hood. The action is fast and furious but there's time for a budding romance for Hood and a 3-day wedding for Bradley Jones. Political tension simmers as government gets involved in the border raids and Parker shows how intractable and complicated the situation is in reality - on both sides of the border.

Parker's prose is upbeat, even jaunty, but a dark, persistent thread runs through his stories. The characters are all likeable except for out and out villains, such as cartel leaders. But Pace is an engaging, lovesick young man and Jones is full of life and fun. There's a whiff of the mythical and mystical in these Hood novels too, from the legacy of the outlaw Joaquin Murrietta to the odd prescience of an accident victim who has the feel of a character fans readers will be seeing in future Hood adventures.

This is a quirky, desert-steeped series that should appeal to fans of character-driven, politically themed thrillers.

IRON RIVER is T. Jefferson Parker's present to the new decade. The third in what can now be called a series involving his Charlie Hood character, it is one of those books that you won't give away, sell, or even loan. The story is of a place (the California-Mexico border), a time (two minutes from right now) and people (think Pulp Fiction crossed with Apocalypse Now and interbred with Reservoir Dogs) teetering at the rough edge of a frightening abyss that cannot be imagined yet that truly exists.

The novel opens with an unfortunate traffic accident along a scantly traveled stretch of U.S. highway near the Mexican border. The victim, a man named Mike Finnegan, is left for dead with what are apparently mortal injuries. When he is found, he is miraculously still alive. And when hospitalized in the tiny border town of Buenavista, he demonstrates amazing recuperative powers --- and much more. Finnegan seems to possess an ability to read minds and discern events far beyond his hospital bed. Some of this possibly can be explained; some cannot. Some of what Finnegan says seems to be delusional; some may be factual. Parker drops clues --- some explicit, some implicit --- as to what and who Finnegan might be. And as IRON RIVER progresses and as Finnegan turns into more and more of a key player, his story becomes truly engrossing.

And what, precisely, is the "iron river"? The title refers to the passage of firearms between the United States and Mexico. Charlie Hood is on assignment to the ATFE --- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (the "E" in the acronym, as one character states, is silent). But Hood's surveillance mission goes horribly wrong when a bystander is accidentally shot and killed by a government agent. The victim is the teenage son of Benjamin Armanta, the head of a gulf drug cartel who also deals out mind-numbing violence with impunity. It is a given that Armanta will take his revenge --- and take it, he does, in an astounding act that has the potential to become an international incident.

Meanwhile, a somewhat aimless young man who is the unlikely heir of a bankrupt firearms company is given a shot at redemption. Ronald Pace has been left holding the bag after a product liability judgment effectively puts the company out of business. His salvation appears in the form of an enigmatic character named Bradley Smith (last seen in THE RENEGADES) who purportedly represents a security agency. Pace has a prototype automatic firearm he has invented that can fulfill all of Smith's needs; Smith's principal, which is not a security agency, has deep pockets. It is a match made in hell. As Pace Arms begins the manufacture of a thousand firearms destined for a drug overlord in Mexico, Hood finds himself playing catch-up in a game where even the slightest misstep can be deadly --- and both friends and enemies are less and more than what they seem to be.

Parker continues to be amazing. The introduction of Finnegan injects into the proceedings an element of the supernatural that is entirely believable and plausible, especially in the setting of IRON RIVER where the rules seem to have been turned upside down. As one character states, "Something got out of the bottle." Yes, indeed. And Ronald Pace? Somehow, by the time the novel ends, he is a somewhat likable character. I am not sure how Parker pulls this off; he does make Pace the only character in the book whose story is told in the first person present, so he is provided with a soapbox not afforded the other principals.

The plot drives IRON RIVER just as much as the characters, however. One is put in the mind of everything from the collective works of Carlos Castaneda to Cormac McCarthy's Border trilogy to Elmore Leonard's western novels --- with crisp dialogue, tight pacing and sudden violence. Yet the book is pure Parker in the spirit of such classics as SILENT JOE and CALIFORNIA GIRL. And while it is complete in itself, there are enough loose ends --- and characters on the loose --- at the conclusion to provide fodder for as many more Charlie Hood novels as Parker might care to write.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub