The Border Lords

by T. Jefferson Parker

Overview

For fans of Michael Connelly and CJ Box, the fourth suspenseful and thrilling novel in the Charlie Hood series from New York Times bestseller and Edgar-award winner T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Room of White Fire.

Charlie Hood searches for an undercover agent who has disappeared, only to resurface in a haunting series of bizarre and inexplicable video tapes. The trail leads Charlie into the fevered landscape of America's southern border and the unexplored depths of humanity's dark soul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451235565
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/03/2012
Series:	Charlie Hood Novel , #4
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.52(h) x 0.88(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

T. Jefferson Parker is the author of numerous novels and short stories, the winner of three Edgar Awards, and the recipient of a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for mysteries. Before becoming a full-time novelist, he was an award-winning reporter. He lives in Fallbrook, California.

Hometown:

Fallbrook, California

Date of Birth:

December 26, 1953

Place of Birth:

Los Angeles, California

Education:

B.A. in English, University of California-Irvine, 1976

Website:

http://www.tjeffersonparker.com

Editorial Reviews

"Parker glides from novel to novel, usually taking us in unexpected new directions. If you're interested in the best of today's crime fiction, he's someone you should read." -The Washington Post

"Parker displays his knack for creating captivating characters and his unabashed passion for California lore. Only two other authors-Dick Francis and James Lee Burke-have won the Edgar for best novel twice. Don't be surprised if Parker is on his way to a third." -Booklist (starred review)

"Parker could well be the best crime writer working out of Southern California." -Chicago Tribune

"As always with a Parker novel, the characters are superbly drawn, the California landscape is evocatively portrayed and the exceptional prose swings from lyrical to hard-boiled." -Associated Press

"No writer can match Parker when it comes to character and mood, and in The Renegades he has fashioned a masterpiece of postmodern noir. Here is a brilliant craftsman and storyteller at the height of his powers." -Providence Journal

"If there's a better mystery writer around...well, there isn't." -San Diego Union Tribune

"Parker's characters are compelling and well drawn, and his plot propels them through busy sequences filled with surprising turns." -Wall Street Journal

"LA Outlaws introduces one of the most enticing heroines in recent American crime fiction. . . . All of Parker's skills are on display here: vivid writing, strong characters, clockwork plotting, agonizing suspense and, finally, an ending that manages to be just right. LA Outlaws is popular entertainment at its most delicious." -Washington Post Book World

"The devil is very much present in this troubled landscape, and he's the ultimate shape-shifter, as Parker has so adeptly proven with his Charlie Hood titles. Parker's dark and gritty series takes readers beyond the drug war headlines, personalizing the toll it's taken on our souls. Series fans will devour this sequel to Iron River." -Library Journal

"In the fourth of his ambitious Border series (Iron River, 2010, etc.), Parker pits veteran agent Charlie Hood against errant good guys, vicious bad guys and maybe something in the paranormal guise. An excess of subplots softens the middle a bit, but this is a rich book, packed with action, violence, love, lust, flashes of wit, moments of poignancy and the occasional sharp geopolitical insight. Despite 17 novels ranging from first-rate to extraordinary, Parker has somehow managed not to become a household name, which means enough of you aren't trying." -Kirkus

From the Publisher

At the start of Parker's adrenaline-fueled fourth thriller featuring L.A. sheriff's deputy Charlie Hood (after Iron River), Hood, who's still on loan to the ATF, and his ATF partners are watching a house in the border town of Buenavista, Calif., occupied by four young gunmen of the North Baja Cartel--and Hood's ATF agent friend, Sean Ozburn, who's operating undercover as a meth and gun dealer. When Ozburn goes rogue and fatally shoots the four cartel members, Hood knows he has to bring Ozburn in. Parker skillfully blends Hood's pursuit of the increasingly erratic Ozburn, who approaches a powerful cartel leader about buying the latest gun sensation, the Love 32, with that of L.A. deputy Bradley Jones, a man with connections both to Hood's past and the world of the cartels. The porousness of the U.S.-Mexico border and the ease with which guns, drugs, and killers pass back and forth is nowhere better illustrated than in Parker's white-hot series. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Father Joe is up to no good with his precious vampire bats, but Sean Ozburn doesn't know that when he befriends him. Sean is a reliable agent with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), and his colleague Charlie Hood trusts him totally. But working undercover takes its toll, and now Sean's gone rogue, attacking the Mexican drug cartel on his own terms. Is Sean suffering from delusions of grandeur, or is his personality change caused by something more sinister? Meanwhile, young L.A. deputy Bradley Jones exerts his power, balancing his day job while conspiring with another branch of the cartel. Bradley's arrogance (he's a descendant of the infamous bandit Joaquin Murrieta) is breathtaking, and his devious plans complicate Charlie's operations. With no time to waste, Charlie is soon scrambling from remote airstrips to resorts in a desperate attempt to save lives. The devil is very much present in this troubled landscape, and he's the ultimate shape-shifter, as Parker has so adeptly proven with his Charlie Hood titles. VERDICT Parker's dark and gritty series takes readers beyond the drug war headlines, personalizing the toll it's taken on our souls. Series fans will devour this sequel to Iron River. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/10.]—Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

Library Journal