Parker’s ‘Iron River’ a masterpiece
I’ve been reading the fiction of T. Jefferson Parker since “Laguna Heat” was first published back in 1985. Parker never writes a bad book. His novels always are enjoyable, which is all anyone can really ask of a piece of fiction.
Occasionally, however, Parker writes a novel that’s exceptional in its scope and transcends the genre with power, elegance, and in-your-face characters that leave you wishing they were real. One novel that comes to mind is “Silent Joe,” which deals with an Orange County sheriff’s deputy who’s a martial arts master and carries three .45 caliber semiautomatics at all times. Oh, he also had acid poured onto his face when he was a baby.
Another novel with great characters is “Iron River,” now out in paperback. This is the third in a series that’s centered on L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Charlie Hood. The first two novels featuring Hood are “L.A. Outlaws” and “The Renegades.” The fourth novel in the series, “The Border Lords,” has just come out in hardcover and is the next book to be read as soon as I finish this review.
In “Iron River” (the term used to describe the flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico), Charlie Hood is on loan to the ATFE (think ATF) from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to help with Operation Blowdown. The ATFE has Charlie stationed in the California border town of Buenavista, where the other team members are located. The purpose of Operation Blowdown is to stem the flow of handguns across the border, which is a daunting goal to say the least. It’s like trying to keep drugs from coming into the country — an impossible and frustrating chore.
Charlie is excited about his new posting, but deep down he has yet to recover from the death of Allison Murrieta (“L.A. Outlaws”), a woman he loved. Still, everything is going fine in Buenavista until his first bust takes place and an innocent bystander is accidentally killed by team member Jimmy Holdstock. As it turns out, the bystander was the son of drug cartel kingpin Benjamin Armenta.
Armenta wants revenge for the death of his boy and sends killers into the United States to kidnap Jimmy, so he can be tortured and murdered as an example to U.S. Drug Enforcement officers. This is where Armenta makes his mistake. After sending a video of Jimmy being tortured to the team members of Operation Blowdown, the law enforcement officers decide to ignore their orders and go to Mexico to rescue Jimmy. Charlie goes with them and has to prepare himself for killing anyone who gets in the way of saving his new friend.
The rescue attempt is only a small, but very exciting part of “Iron River.” Charlie also will have to deal with a hit-and-run victim named Mike Finnegan, a man who’s a bit unusual to say the least. He knows things he shouldn’t and claims to be a supernatural being sent to Earth to meddle in the ways of mankind and to assist humanity in the battle between good and evil. Charlie, of course, thinks the guy is crazy, but he’s also smart as hell and has inside knowledge that continuously surprises the young deputy.
Along with Mike Finnegan, Charlie also comes into contact with Bradley Jones, who’s the young son of the late Allison Murrieta and is seeking to become an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy. But Bradley’s working both sides of the same coin, assisting Carlos Herredia and his people in getting a stronghold in Southern California. To do this, Bradley is putting together a deal with Ron Pace, the owner of a bankrupted armaments company. For nearly a million dollars, Pace will call back his workers and make a thousand handguns based on his Love .32 caliber pistol, which can easily be turned into an automatic weapon with a 50-round clip capacity. Charlie will have his hands full trying to deal with this, saving Jimmy, and starting a new relationship with a pretty doctor.
“Iron River” proved to be one of Parker’s exceptional novels to me. I loved this book, especially the moments of heroism Charlie shows when in Mexico, attempting to save his tortured friend from certain death. On top of that, Parker writes with a strong sense of the visual, allowing his readers to see with their mind’s eye the intricate details of each scene as if they’re actually there within the story. He does this in a way that’s totally natural in its gentle beauty, yet intermixed with a strong confidence that has come from 25 years of writing.
Parker knows his stuff. This is never more apparent than in the many characters who enter and exit throughout the novel, coming into contact with each other in a way that seems real and not imagined or forced. All of them come to life with just a few short sentences.
Parker is an author’s author, with his strong writing, character development, the structure of his plots, and the general theme of how guns are killing thousands every year in the war between the cartels and the ATFE. “Iron River” is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Wayne C. Rogers is the author of the horror novellas “The Encounter” and “The Tunnels,” both of which can be purchased at Amazon’s Kindle Store for 99 cents each.
