“Ambitious, daring…brilliant.” —The Associated Press
“T. Jefferson Parker has burgled the crumbling palace of Edgar Allan Poe for inspiration.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Parker, the winner of three Edgar awards for crime fiction, again delivers a tale that is not only well-plotted and suspenseful, but subtle, surprising and endearingly perverse.” —Washington Post
“T. Jefferson Parker has carved out a niche for himself as the Hemingway of thriller writers…His writing is a wonder to behold.” —Providence Sunday Journal
“A spectacular close a crime series that obliterated the boundaries of the genre.” —BookReporter
“If you’re interested in the best of today’s crime fiction, [Parker’s] someone you should read.” —The Washington Post
“Parker’s superb new thriller continues the tale of Charlie Hood, the Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy who fell hard for beautiful gangster Allison Murrieta in L.A. Outlaws (2008). Deputy Hood now patrols the Antelope Valley, a desert region north of Los Angeles where still nights and stark beauty provide a refuge from his past (though he still hasn’t come to terms with Murrieta’s death). But Hood’s new beat has a breed of heinous criminals all its own. When his partner, Terry Laws, known by fellow officers as Mr. Wonderful, is gunned down in the passenger seat of their patrol car, Hood once again finds himself among the dark-hearted and the damned. It turns out that Laws wasn’t such a model cop after all. He and a former partner were involved in a lucrative operation running drugs south of the border. Then Laws found a conscience—a little too late. Two-time Edgar winner Parker vividly evokes the spirit of the Wild West, where bad guys prosper and good guys seek vengeance—at a price. He delivers steady suspense and a cast of damaged characters led by Hood, whose days crackle with moral conundrums and bone-deep regret. Approaching the novel’s climax, Parker writes: “a wiggle of fear came up Hood’s back and crawled across his scalp.” Readers will likely find themselves rattled—and riveted—too.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Parker could well be the best crime writer working out of Southern Caifornia.” —Chicago Tribune
“The Charlie Hood novels are nothing less than addictive.” —Tucson Citizen
“The most groundbreaking crime series in decades.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“This is gripping literary entertainment with a point.” —Los Angeles Times
“Some of the finest writing you’ll ever read.” —Chicago Sun-Times
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