Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker

Once again Parker writes about his detective Charlie Hood of the LA Sheriff’s Department, who is on loan to the ATFE for Operation Blowdown as they work to stem the flow of guns from the U.S. to Mexico, which is the Iron River. Parker seems to have a fascination with tying in the decendents of the mega-outlaw, Joaquin Murietta, who we learned a lot about in LA Outlaws. In this book, he also connects the current bad guys, at least by outlaw contacts, to Coleman Draper, the bad guy in the Renegades. Bringing in the old characters does lend some continuity to the writing, but it is not necessary, since this book clearly stands by itself and does not need to be read as a part of the series. In this book, Parker does extend the remarkable information about how the drug dealers in northern Mexico get guns from the US and move them across the border. He uses the interesting device of making an Orange County gunmaker, Ron Pace, the narrator for the book. Pace has gone bankrupt as the result of one of his guns killing an innocent boy and then losing a multimillion dollar judgment to the boy’s family. Now, Pace is attempting to revive this company that was created by his father and uncle, although he is doing it illegally, with drug money. After all, the drug boys need their guns and are willing to pay for them. The action opens near El Centro as an ATFE gun bust goes bad and the 17-year-old son of a major Mexican drug dealer gets caught by a stray bullet and dies. He retaliates against an ATFE agent, Jimmy Holdstock, in what turns out to be some horrific torture scenes. There are other characters in this book, and I hope Parker writes more about Mike Finnegan, a mysterious man who seems to play both sides of the drug-alcohol trade with knowledge that he should not have access to. At any rate, I found the book with my time, and I learned more about the illegal movement of guns into Mexico than I had known before. I will continue to read T. Jefferson Parker.

West Coast Don

61 Hours by Lee Child

Jack Reacher is doing what he does best . . . drifting. In the middle of a fierce winter storm out in nowhere South Dakota, he flags down a tour bus headed west and manages to pay for a seat. Bad move. A while later, the bus careens off the road near the small town of Bolton. A replacement bus must be sent in after the storm lets up. The town of Bolton takes in the passengers and of course, Reacher and the local police cross paths. They do a little checking and find out Reacher really is who he says he is. 61 hours to go.

Bolton in a town going through a bit of a rebirth because they scored big when the Feds decided to build a prison nearby. Now they get a steady flow of visitors and an increase in their police budget to serve as support for any problems that might come from the prison. Every nice little town seems to have some drug runners and Janet Salther, a retired teacher and librarian, witnessed a buy of methamphetamine and is under protective custody while she waits to testify. Reacher likes this lady and want to do every thing he can to protect her.

But a Mexican drug lord, Plato, is in control of the drugs and orders her to be killed and puts a killer on her trail. Outside of Bolton is this strange, cold war installation that was built but never occupied. Turns out it is a storage facility for post WWII bricks of amphetamines and somehow Plato found it.

Reacher contacts the new C.O. of his old unit to get information and is quite taken with the voice and effectiveness of 'Amanda'. Every time they talk, you get the feeling that they will get together after this all comes to a close.

As they work to protect their witness, the police and Reacher are trying to figure out who is the hired gun, how the assassin will approach given the bitter cold, wind, and snow, and when this will happen. Reacher ventures out to this mysterious old base to find a motorcycle gang packing up to leave; no idea why they would chose this day to leave.

Reacher and the cops manage to enter a mysterious stone building that turns out to be the head of a stairway, a 210 foot stairway down. At the bottom, they find tons of amphetamine bricks and 5000 gallons of what appears to be jet fuel. They soon realize that the bikers left because they were told to and someone (Plato) is coming to collect his booty. They also realize the huge concrete expanse is actually a landing strip. Something is going to happen and it will happen in just a few hours.

I won't any further other than to say it's Reacher vs. Plato vs. some double crossing guards employed by Plato vs. 5000 gallons of explosive jet fuel.

Child tells this in a countdown. Nearly every chapter has a paragraph that ends something like. "10 minutes to 1am. 27 hours to go." What the countdown is headed for remains a mystery for most of the book. But rest assured, Child is taking the reader on a wild ride over the 61 hours. When the proverbial clock chimes, we see Reacher is his very best. As he says, "all plans go to hell after the first shot is fired."

What is it with the prairie? This is my second book centered in the drug trade in the upper midwest plains. This is Child's 14th Reacher book (and I've read them all) and Reacher is a serious character who strolls into a problem, fixes it, then rolls on. Not this time. While Reacher ends up in Bolton accidently, and works to fix the problem, the end is less a resolution and more of a cliffhanger. Does Reacher survive the mess with Plato? Will he and 'Amanda' ever get together?

What can I say? Child is one of the elite, every book being a best seller and optioned to Hollywood. For my two cents, 61 Hours is one of the best in the Reacher catalogue. If I hadn't had work to do, I could have read this in one sitting. This one really was worth the wait.

So, back to the fire. Does Reacher survive ? Does he meet Amanda? How was Janet Salther's testimony put the bad guys away. So, my advice to you is this: find it and Buy it. You won't be sorry. You will not be disappointed.

East Coast Don

The Skin Gods by Richard Montanari

Philadelphia homicide detective Kevin Byrne is slowly recovering from a being shot in the head on his last case. His partner, Jessica Balzano has been assigned to head the task force to find The Actor, a serial killer whose murders are staged like classic movie murders. But The Actor goes further. He tapes the murder, splices his work into a videotape of the original film and sneaks it back on the shelf of a video store for some poor customer to find and report to the police. Among the killings depicted include the shower scene from Psycho, the bathtub killing in Fatal Attraction among others.

At the same time, a lowlife who Byrne put away has been released on a trumped up technicality. Byrne enlists the help of an earlier victim to help find him so Byrne can exact his own brand of justice.

Detective Balzano has to work through a dizzy array of potential suspects from an A-list producer, the uber-vicious assistant, another actor through the seedy S-M and porn underworld. As with most serial killers, there must be some connection between the victims, but these seem to have no connection whatsoever, at least until one particular clue pops up out or nowhere.

I really can't go into much detail without giving away too much. Nearly every chapter ends with a new twist that changes the reader's thought about who really is The Actor. Is there any connection between the two primary stories? And once the identity is revealed, we readers end up scratching our collective heads wondering what tiny clue was missed.

This is my first Montanari and it won't be my last. My wife seems to have a knack for rummaging through the sale rack at Barnes and Noble and finding a winner for me. That's how she found George Pelacanos. The combination of crime and the movies was an ideal hook for me (probably why I like so many Connelly books). The story was a flat out sprint right from the start. What was interesting was the shift from 3rd person to 1st person when we went into The Actor's mind. I'm trying to figure out just what is with crime writers whose last name ends sin a vowel? This guy is another superb crime writer of Italian descent that definitely will fit nicely in my pile of 'good books.'

East Coast Don

Mafiya by Charlie Stella

To say that Agnes Lynn has issues would be an understatement. Her childhood was a mess and she ends up in hooking in Vegas. When a john who was a particular problem for her ends up with a not so great finish, Agnes heads for NYC to try and carve out a new life that is out of that old life. She makes friends with Rachel Wilson who turns tricks as a means to an end . . . put money on the table to feed her kids after her loser husband bolted. Agnes is trying to get Rachel straight, but the money is too good. She has a gig with a fat, bald Arab with megabucks on his yacht.

Problem is, this scumbag has peculiar tastes in sex and friends. The friend who arranges this date is a slow-witted relative of a Russian crime boss looking to score his own deal. For this Arab, he ‘buys’ Rachel from her pimp, sets the two up, arranges for a couple of guys from the porn biz, a film crew, and some extremely sharp props. The sex and the snuff are filmed and Rachel’s mutilated remains wash up on the shore of some NY tributary.

But the head of the local branch of the Russian mob, Victor Timkin, does not welcome this little side venture. He is doing a favor for the Italian mob by rubbing out some of their competition. For his efforts, the Russians will get to take over a significant territory, and that is a whole lot more important than the video. So Victor decides to clean up the mess. This starts a string of killings of everyone involved in the video.

Meanwhile, Agnes is also on the hunt trying to find out what happened to Rachel and who is responsible. Her new boyfriend is Jack Russo, an ex-cop turned PI who brings some ex-wife baggage. He really wants to help, but Agnes is trying to keep him at a distance for his own safety. The police, with their own Russian ex-pat working organized crime (whose tactics make what we are lead to believe about Gitmo seem rather tame) are slowly putting together the pieces of this sordid affair, but remain behind Agnes to pick up the mess of bodies left by Timkin. The end explodes on the yacht ending with one cop seriously shot, supporting Russians meeting their end, the Arab probably headed back to his home country, and Agnes running off to parts unknown to escape the horror.

Regular readers of this (both out you!) know Mr. Stella is a friend of MRB. This book was also reviewed by West Coast Don a while back, but I thought I'd add my two cents. I think we have only one more title (Shakedown) to be fully up to date with his set of novels. I thought this one was as gritty or even grittier than some of this other books. The tale evolves over just a few days and runs at a very brisk pace. Prostitution, drugs, good/bad cops, organized crime, innocents-called-to-be-heros. On one level I had a bit of sympathy for Victor. He might be a ruthless criminal, but he’s caught in a problem not of his doing and tries to correct the problem the only way he knows how, by killing everyone involved.

While reading this, I was thinking this could be adapted as a two-part story arc over Law and Order: SVU (for the sex crime segment of the story) and Law and Order: Criminal Intent (for the organized crime component). Anyone know a Law and Order producer?

As usual, with Stella’s books, the dialogue, not the action, holds center stage and is what moves this cleverly plotted story along at light speed. The mystery-reading public doesn’t know what it’s missing. Kellerman? Woods? The Clarks? Patterson? Evanovich? Coulter? Really? Stick with Higgins, Leonard, Westlake, Lardner, Stella. Dorothy Parker once said she divides books into 2 classes: ‘good’ and ‘crap’ and this definitely belongs high up in the ‘good’ stack. So, choose from that pile because life’s too short to read crap.

East Coast Don

The Hunting Wind: An Alex McKnight Novel by Steve Hamilton

This is one of the early Alex McKnight series. We knew that he played in the minor leagues for the Tigers, and suddenly one of his pitchers, Randy Wilkins, one who got a memorable call up to the majors when he got lit up in his only major league appearance, one who Alex has not seen in 30 years, reappears. He enlists McKnight to help him find a woman, Maria, with whom he fell in love, also 30 years ago. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, who is a con-woman, just as Wilkins turns out to be a con-man. The chase takes them back to Detroit, to the neighborhood outside Tiger Stadium, and then to other venues in Michigan. Even though the story takes place in the spring time, Hamilton captures the feel of the late winter weather in the Northern Peninsula. This was entertaining, but not a “must read.”

West Coast Don