Snakes Alive!
An Australian boy found the following in a bag of lettuce his mom brought home from the supermarket. No word on whether it’s organic:
I’m all for ending America’s participation in Afghanistan, but we should have a presence somewhere in the region, units ready to pounce on terrorists.
Born in L.A. in 1953, T. Jefferson Parker is in the midst of a most successful literary run. As so many writers have, he began as a journalist. His Wiki page lists 26 titles, all fiction. He has won three Edgar awards, two for novels and one for a short story. Iron River had languished unsold at the floating book for about a year. Now that I’ve read it I’m even more surprised it hadn’t been snapped up. While it isn’t my cup of tea, it seems exactly what fans of thrillers want — a good story filled with action. Set in southern California near the border with Mexico, it has a great beginning. An illegal alien swerves to avoid a collision with a semi and strikes a man changing a tire at the side of the road. The victim suffers injuries throughout his body, including his brain, and is in for a long hospital stay. Highly intelligent, of mysterious background, he is the novel’s most interesting character. The protagonist is a cop on loan to the ATF, Charlie Hood, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, about 30 years old. This is the third of seven novels that feature him. The main plot involves the manufacture and shipment of a new lethal firearm. The buyer is the head of a ruthless drug cartel. The narrative’s strength is the apparent authenticity of procedure and geography. I assumed Parker was ex-law-enforcement. He must have done tons of research. For years I’ve thought of Mexico as a narco state, and the book seems to verify that. If it is an indication of what goes on--American forays--heaven help us. Parker seems to be predicting a war between the drug runners and the USA. That has not happened in the decade since the book was published, but thousands have been murdered since then. The title refers to the area where the action takes place. The prose and dialogue are solid. The 369 pages of the hardcover edition read like a bit less. Certain aspects, such as the making of the product, are much too detailed for my taste, and the narrative drags in spots. I found the use of certain adjectives puzzling, but only on a few occasions. While the main plot point is resolved, there is much left open for inclusion in the ensuing parts of the series. 152 users at Amazon have rated Iron River, forging to a consensus of four on a scale of five. I’ll go with three. I’m simply not a big fan of such works, and this one is middle of the pack. Here’s the author:
There’s probably a copyright on the following cartoon, but I couldn’t resist including it:
Business picked up at the floating book shop on this gorgeous day. My thanks to Wolf and the Brainiac Brother’s home attendant, who each dropped off books; and to the kind folks who combined to buy four books in Russian; and to the young man who purchased My Grammar and I Activity Book by Daniel Smith, and a book on parenting; and to Romania-born artist Andu, who selected a kids book, Conversation with God Book 2: Living in the World with Honesty, Courage, and Love by Neale Donald Walsch, and The Book of Mormon. It did my heart good to see him smiling and holding hands with a young woman. I hope love and sex will help quell the demons that plague him.
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