In IRON RIVER, picking up after the events of T. Jefferson Parker’s THE RENEGADES, we find hero Charlie Hood teamed up with an ATF task force dealing with illegal gun sales. The title refers to the gun shops that populate the Mexican border, and how easily guns can be smuggled and sold.
Things take a turn for the worse early on when an innocent bystander is killed during a shootout. It turns out the victim is the son of a Mexican cartel leader, so of course, there is to be retribution, in the form of snatching one of the members of the task force. But as the story progress, this seems to not be as important as it should, feeling like a reason to populate the pages with grotesque scenes.
But that is only one of the plots snaking through the story. The more interesting one deals with a gun maker named Ron, who has developed a new type and has made a deal to produce them for a cartel. This part of the novel is what kept my interest, since he has to deal with not only convincing the cartel he can come up with the guns, but also has to deal with his own personal demons, in that he is part of a family business that won’t let him branch out.
The problem is that this storyline is a subplot that builds to the end, but without full closure. Then there is the most confusing storyline of all, about a man who seems to know a lot about Charlie Hood, even though he is sitting in a hospital for the bulk of the book. It just never delivers and moments really feel forced.
On the whole, IRON RIVER flies by, but after it’s all said and done, you may be like, “Meh, that was it?” It does not feel like a cohesive story, but more like one part of a televised serial drama that you might watch once and instantly forget. Parker’s writing will keep most readers’ attention; I just wish he had something that brought it all together.
The whole issue of illegal weapons and their proliferation is a fine subject to work with. The problem is, once you take it away, there really is nothing else there to engage you. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• L.A. OUTLAWS by T. Jefferson Parker
• THE RENEGADES by T. Jefferson Parker
