Rating: 4 stars (Spotlight Review)
Suzanne Jones is an award-winning California history teacher. She has a nice, quiet home life with her three sons and current beau, and her days are spent enjoying the quiet life. At night, however, Suzanne dons a mask and wig and becomes Allison Murrieta, descendant of the 19th-century Joaquin Murrieta, and robs fast food chains and dabbles in GTA. When a chance for Allison to score forty-five thousand dollars worth of uncut diamonds ends up being retrieving a bag of jewels from a garage of dead gangbangers instead of the diamond broker stick-up she expected, she tosses caution to the wind and snatches up the loot. Problem is, she's pulled over on her way out and is seen on the side of the road by Lupercio, MS-13's (a bloodthirsty Mexican gang) most ruthless assassin.
Lupercio is relentless. He's after Allison the very next day and that means he's getting too close to Suzanne's life. Suzanne is forced to relocate her family and when Charlie Hood, the cop who pulled her over, gets involved, she finds herself being dangled as bait to catch Lupercio by the police. But Lupercio somehow stays a step ahead of the cops and a couple close calls forces Suzanne to take the matter into her own hands: become Allison and become the cat in this game of cat-and-mouse.
T. Jefferson Parker bangs out a sweet ride with L.A. Outlaws. It's well-written, fast-paced and doesn't ever really come to a stop at any point; this ride is in motion from page one, so you've just gotta jump on and hang on till it's over. The characterizations are crisp and the whole 'two sides to every story' adage rings true here not just for Suzanne, but all the major players: Hood is torn between his duty to arrest Allison and his growing love for Suzanne, and Luperico goes home to his loving family after getting nutty with his machete. This fleshing out of the principle players makes the story run a lot deeper than your average plotline, with the result of course being a more enjoyable, believable and interesting novel.
Parker also makes a terrific observation on America's voyeuristic obsession with the famous. When Allison's sticking up restaurants, there's customers risking getting shot just to reach into their coats and grab their cell phones so they can get a picture of themselves with the famous lady bandit. It's subtle and it works well, and the portrait it paints is a sad one to look at when applied to society. And Parker's commentary here neither muddles nor detracts from the main story, which is how author observations should always be but seldom are. With the balance of characters and action, story and social critique Parker puts into this novel, L.A. Outlaws is definitely worth picking up.
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Hardcover: 372 pages
Publisher: Dutton Adult (February 5, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0525950559
ISBN-13: 978-0525950554