The Renegades Hardback - 2009

by Parker, T. Jefferson

Deputy Sheriff Charlie Hood the hero of L.A. Outlaws left readers clamoringfor more, and in The Renegades, T. Jefferson Parker more than delivers.

Some say that outlaws no longer exist, that thetrue spirit of the American West died with thelegendary bandits of pulp novels and bedtimestories. Charlie Hood knows that nothing couldbe further from the truth. These days he patrolsvast stretches of the new American West, not onhorseback but in his cruiser. The outlaws maynot carry six-shooters, but they're strapped allthe same.

Along the desolate and dusty roads of thisnew frontier, Hood prefers to ride alone, and heprefers to ride at night. At night, his headlightsilluminate only the patch of pavement ahead ofhim: all the better to hide from the demons andthe dead outlaws receding in his rearview mirror.

But he doesn't always get what he wants certainly not when he's assigned a partner namedTerry Laws, a county veteran who everyone calls'Mr. Wonderful.' And not when Laws is shot dead inthe passenger seat and Hood is left to bear witnessby someone who knew that Mr. Wonderful didn'talways live up to his nickname. As he sets out tofind the gunman, Hood knows one thing for sure:The West is a state of mind, one where the bad guyssometimes wear white hats and the good guys seekjustice in whatever shade of gray they can find it.