L.A. OUTLAWS
T. Jefferson Parker
Dutton
Thriller
ISBN: 9780525950554

It’s hard for me to pick a favorite T. Jefferson Parker book. I tend to favor his later novels, such as SILENT JOE and COLD PURSUIT. Yet occasionally I wonder if he’ll ever top LAGUNA HEAT or LITTLE SAIGON. More often than not, however, my favorite Parker title is his latest one. Such is the case with L.A. OUTLAWS, a work that is --- dare I say it? --- perfect from beginning to end.

One is always just a bit off balance when reading a Parker novel. His method of eschewing series books for independent, stand-alone works leaves the reader with more-than-vague expectations as to what will take place. This has never been more true than in L.A. OUTLAWS, which matches a modern-day female bandit against --- and deliciously with --- Charlie Hood, a troubled L.A. County rookie deputy sheriff. The bandit, who calls herself Allison Murrieta, claims to be the direct descendent of a 19th-century California bandito who may or may not have existed, and is as self-assured as Hood is insecure.

An Iraqi war veteran who left the service with unfinished business, Hood is unknowingly drawn into Murrieta’s world when he stumbles upon the aftermath of a gang transaction gone terribly wrong, which has left nine gang members and one civilian dead. It is Murrieta who comes in and picks up the spoils --- a small fortune in jewels --- and Hood who unknowingly and unwittingly stops her after the fact in her persona of Suzanne Jones, a history teacher who is as charismatic as she is enigmatic. Hood senses that Jones knows more than she’s telling, and pursues her both professionally and romantically, even as he’s aware that he’s endangering his investigation on the one hand and risking heartbreak on the other. Jones/Murrieta, for her part, does a dangerous dance, pursued by Lupercio, a hit man, and The Bull, his enigmatic boss, relying on herself for protection even as she seduces Hood and gives herself over to the relationship.

From beginning to end, Parker keeps things moving in a number of different directions at once, though his story never gets muddled, bogged down or confused in any way. He somehow manages to keep the different plotlines equally interesting, switching among them at irregular intervals so that the reader does not --- cannot --- become bored even for a moment. And Parker, though two decades into his writing career, can still turn unforgettable phrases. Consider the simile he introduces a little less than one-third of the way into the book, the one dealing with the tornadoes (you’ll know it when you read it). It is perfect, and sticks in the mind long after the last page is turned.

Parker could have ended the book in several different ways. He chose a bittersweet conclusion with a twist or two that, like the rest of the story, was somewhat unexpected and haunting. And I don’t mind telling you that it was a day or two before I could read anything else. L.A. OUTLAWS is an outstanding novel from an author with a groaning shelf full of them.

    --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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