The Renegades [Paperback]

T. Jefferson Parker (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (February 10, 2009)
• ASIN: B001RU5SIQ
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,559,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

T. Jefferson Parker is the bestselling author of numerous novels, including Storm Runners and The Fallen. Alongside Dick Francis and James Lee Burke, Parker is one of only three writers to be awarded the Edgar Award for Best Novel more than once. Parker lives with his family in Southern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Big Step Down from "LA Outlaws", February 15, 2009

By 

Brian Baker (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Renegades: A Charlie Hood Novel (Hardcover)

From his outstanding debut with "Laguna Heat", Parker's been one of my favorite authors. In my opinion as an LA County resident he has an uncanny ability to capture the moods, nuances and settings of Southern California that's matched by very few; Michael Connelly, James Elroy, Chandler, perhaps one or two others.

"LA Outlaws" was a terrific book, with vivid and captivating characters just oozing noir excitement.

Unfortunately, this follow-up featuring Charlie Hood from the previous book doesn't quite make the grade. The previous book was completely dominated by Allison Murrietta - a descendant of the famed outlaw Juoaquin Murrietta - who died at the end of that work. This book centers on her paramour LA Deputy Sheriff Charlie Hood, who is not nearly as interesting a character; bland and pretty two-dimensional. None of the other characters are as interesting, either. By comparison, this is a pretty blah offering.

Pretty standard fare regarding drug running and money laundering; little tension or excitement; few action scenes; scant psychological suspense.

I will give it props for exploiting the SoCal landscape, though a very promising setting in the Llano del Rio ruins in the Antelope Valley had a lot more potential than I think was really explored.

But again, the main problem here is that I simply don't think the character of Charlie Hood is very interesting or complex. Certainly not enough to center a continuing series on.

Three stars. Mildly entertaining, but far from being his best work. Ultimately pedestrian.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre effort - feels like it was rushed to print, June 5, 2009

By 

Old timer and wife "AJS" (Round Rock,TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Renegades: A Charlie Hood Novel (Hardcover)

This book reads like it was rushed to print. The story is somewhat choppy and hard to follow. The author uses changing points of view without anything to alert you to the change.

There is also one major plot problem that ruined the story for me. The patrol car wouldn't start because the battery cable was cut. This immobilized the car and set up an ambush to kill the hero's partner. Later, he uses the police radio in the car to call for help. If the battery cable was cut, the radio wouldn't work. There are other inconsistencies in the story, but this was the worst.

All in all, I am disappointed that I bought this book. It could have been much better if the author and editor had taken time to do their jobs. This frequently happens to authors that have written a number of best sellers. They are pressured into cranking out a bunch of mediocre novels. They should focus on each book as if it was the only one they were ever going to write. They owe it to their readers to do the best they can do.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "A greedy mind is satisfied with no amount of gain." Proverb, October 24, 2009

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Renegades: A Charlie Hood Novel (Hardcover)

Charlie Hood is back after his adventures in "L. A. Outlaws."
After the shooting and internal affairs investigation of the "L.A. Outlaw" novel, Charlie asks for a more quiet division. He is assigned to the Antelope Valley Division.

While he and Terry Laws are on a call, Terry is murdered. Hood wonders if the killer's gun jammed or did they want to leave him alive as a witness.

Internal Affairs reassigns him to their unit so he can lead the investigation into his partner's killing. It doesn't take long for Charlie to see that Laws was a crooked cop, from his bogus charity to the weekly deposits of $7,200 into his account.

Laws and Coleman Draper arrested Shay Eichrodt, supposidly because he just killed two cartel couriers. There was $340,000 in the trunk which they brought to the leader of the cartel and began their weekly payoffs by moving money and other items across the boarder.

This novel was not up to the excellence of "L. A. Outlaws." In my opinion, the author felt his readers would be familiar with Charlie Hood as the protagonist so there wasn't much character development. In addition there were times when it was confusing to follow when the writing changed from third person to first person in a short time.
In addition, Coleman Draper was an unusual antagonist. At times he seemed honorable and sincere and at others he didn't hesitate to either take a life or order someone killed. Perhaps the author is telling us that although a character may be evil, they could posess some good characteristics.

The author is one of only three people who have won the Edgar Award for best novel more than once. The other two are James Lee Burke and Dick Francis. Nice company.