L.A. Outlaws (Charlie Hood Novel)

It is so easy to be a criminal that everyone should do it. The main character, steals cars, shoplifts half the things she has, and sticks up 7-11's almost daily with never even a brush with the law. That is until a random cop sees her leaving the scene of a mass murder shootout where she steals a bag full of diamonds. Not to worry because he winds up loving her. Her personal life is actually a shambles but the author makes it sound happy and normal. Don't waste your time.

Wow....as I said, this was my first and last Parker book. I've seen his books in the library and thought I'd start with this one. Man, this was a bad choice. The characters seemed very flat and very boring. I honestly couldn't see where the plot was going.

One of the main characters is a cop named Charlie Hood, who's a cop, and for some reason, I didn't think he was that smart. He just seemed very odd to me. Parker had him use phrases like (when he was thinking of a woman he pulled over eariler) "He felt skinned." What?! What does that even mean?

For me, this was a very odd read. I suggest you get this at the library like I did.

Stupid, unbelievable plot. Undeveloped characters. Parker was one of my favorites with his earlier books. Don't believe I will spend another dime or minute on this awfulness. Like James Patterson, he has fallen so far.

I have enjoyed many mysteries by T. Jefferson Parker but the latest, LA Outlaws, is not one of them. The woman anti-hero was totally unbelievable and seemed to be made up to fit in some male fantasy world--- a great looking woman who thinks like a man. The character belongs in a comic book.

I was disappointed in this book. I had read the Renegades and looked forward to this read but it was very hard to get into and it was not as interesting as the prior read. I will try other books by this author but if this had been my first experience with Parker, I'd not have ever read any more. Sorry. Not up the same caliber as Michael Connelly.

The first installment of a series usually starts out simple, introducing the "star" and giving him/her something interesting-enough to do that we'll come back for more. Not L.A. Outlaws. Parker gives us not one, but two compelling POV characters: the somewhat naive rookie cop Charlie Hood, joining the L.A. Sheriff's Department after a shattering tour in Iraq; and the beautiful, self-destructive, thrill-seeking outlaw/schoolteacher Suzanne Jones, who as Allison Murietta is a Robin Hood-esque media darling.

Their collision over a fortune of stolen diamonds and ensuing passionate affair lend heat and light to what could have easily become a routine cops-and-bangers story. Both Hood and Suzanne rapidly become fully-rounded, flawed, wounded, compelling characters, and their connection enhances both while illuminating each one's persona. It's not often the guest star gets to outshine the series lead in the series opener, but it works.

The action is vivid and immersive, and the Southern California settings are rendered sparingly but convincingly even to a native reader. Parker's prose has become more economical over the years but comes across as clean rather than scanty. With all this, Charlie and Suzanne are the real reasons to read this book, and L.A. Outlaws kicks off Charlie Hood's adventures with the bang of fireworks.

This book, does a great job of creating interesting characters. Some of them venture off into almost fantasy, and push the edges of being believable. But they are interesting, and keep you reading.
Hood is almost stereotypical, but T Jefferson Parker is a good enough writer that he pulls it off.
You can definitely imagine this being some type of movie.

easy read, nothing really surprising. The action was pretty standard.
A decent light read.

Okay, picture this. You're at a dark house maybe a quarter mile off a small country road. Desert all around, big dunes. Night time, a bit of moon out, but it's pretty damn dark. And a ghostlike killer with a machete is very likely out there, in which case he's hunting you. He's so good at killing he has got MS-13, the most violent street gang in the U.S., scared of him. You have a flashlight and a gun. Now, what do you do? Well, having an obvious death wish, you turn on the flashlight and shine it around. Don't you? Let that quiet, ghostlike killer know right where you are, and give yourself a little night blindness to boot. Walk a little way out into the desert and shine the light around again. Then fire up your cell phone in order to make sure the killer gets another solid fix on you. And that's the "hero" of the story. Basically a nice guy, but as dumb in that situation as a gunny sack full of turnips.

😎😎😎😎

In this excellent introduction to his Charlie Hood series, T. Jefferson Parker creates two very memorable and intriguing characters. The first is the protagonist, Charlie Hood, a veteran of the war in Iraq who is now an L.A. County Sheriff's deputy. The second is Allison Murrieta, who claims to directly descended from the famous California outlaw, Joaquin Murrieta, who was shot and beheaded in 1853. The original Murrieta was famous, or infamous, enough that his head was preserved in a jar of alcohol and sent on tour.

No one knows exactly what might have become of this gruesome token; some say it was lost in the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, but Allison claims to have it hidden in her barn, along with some other keepsakes of Joaquin's. More important, Allison has now picked up Joaquin's mantle, and in a wig and mask has set out on a crime spree that involves boosting cars (Allison is a real gearhead) and robbing fast food joints.

Allison donates a fair share of her proceeds to various local charities, including one run by the L.A.P.D. The cops are not amused, but in this media-besotted age, Allison becomes a folk hero and a local celebrity. Then she tumbles to a score in which a local diamond dealer is planning to pay off a loan to some gangsters with $450,000 worth of diamonds. The street value would be around forty-five grand and so Allison sets up to take off the dealer. But she arrives late to the scene and finds ten men dead in the building where the exchange was to be made.

She also finds the diamonds, gathers them up and is screaming away from the scene in a yellow Corvette Z06-505, when Deputy Charlie Hood pulls her over. By now, Allison has ditched her disguise and the diamonds are out of sight. Hood demands to see her license which reveals Allison to be Suzanne Jones, a mild-mannered eighth-grade history teacher. Suzanne comes up clean on the computer and claims to have been in the area visiting a relative and so Hood lets her go. But as he does, a very bad man named Luperico, who is also looking for the diamonds, drives by and gets a very good look at Allison/Suzanne.

And with that, the story is off and running. Suzanne is drop-dead gorgeous, very smart and a woman who's not about to let anyone stand in the way of what she wants. Hood is smitten immediately, and the attraction is mutual. But when Hood discovers the ten bodies almost immediately after he lets Suzanne go on her way, he can't help but wonder if she might have been involved in the shoot-out.

Because he discovered the bodies, Hood is temporarily promoted to the Homicide team that is investigating the killings and he and Suzanne begin a delicate dance as Hood becomes increasingly suspicious and begins to put two and two together. In the meantime, Luperico is hot on Suzanne's trail and seems to be almost clairvoyant in knowing where she's going to be at any given time. He's determined not to stop until he recovers the diamonds, no matter how much blood might be shed along the way.

All in all, it's a great ride. T. Jefferson Parker has written any number of outstanding books and this perhaps his best since Silent Joe, which was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. It's fast-paced, deftly plotted, both funny and bittersweet, and populated with a great cast of characters. It's a winner all the way around.