T. Jefferson Parker - Storm Runners (2007)
Reviewed by David J. Montgomery
T. Jefferson Parker has risen to the heights of the crime genre in recent years with such extraordinary books as Silent Joe and California Girl. Maintaining such a high level of storytelling is a challenge that would daunt any author, and even the best suffer occasional lapses.
Parker's latest, Storm Runners, opens with a stunning sequence that leaves Detective Matt Stromsoe's life in ruins. A bomb explodes in his home, maiming him and killing his wife and son. The twist is that the suspect behind the bomb was Stromsoe's best friend from high school, a man who grew up to be the head of the Mexican Mafia.
Now it's two years later and Stromsoe is finally ready to get back in the saddle, working as a bodyguard for a San Diego weatherwoman who's being stalked. The detective finds out, naturally, that there is more going on that meets the eye. Storm Runners is a good book, and parts of it are very good indeed, but it can't match up to the brilliance of Parker's earlier efforts.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
