THE JAGUAR
Erin McKenna, a beautiful songwriter married to a crooked Los Angeles
County sheriff's deputy, is kidnapped by Benjamin Armenta, the ruthless
leader of the powerful Gulf Cartel. But his demands are as unusual as
the crumbling castle in which Erin is kept. She is ordered to compose a
unique narcocorrido, a folk ballad that records the exploits of the drug
dealers, gunrunners, and outlaws who have populated Mexican history for
generations. Under the threat of death, Armenta orders Erin to tell his
life story--in music--and write "the greatest narcocorrido of all time."
As the mesmerizing music and lyrics of Erin's song cascade from the
jungle hideout, they serve as a siren song to the two men who love her:
her outlaw husband, Bradley Jones, and the lawman, Charlie Hood--who
together have the power to rescue her. Here, amid the ancient beauty of
the Yucatecan lowlands, the long-simmering rivalry between these two men
will be brought closer to its explosive finale.
THE FAMOUS AND THE DEAD
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Charlie Hood is attached to the ATF,
working undercover on the Iron River that flows across the U.S.-Mexican
border. The diamond fillings he wears in his left canine glimmer,
distracting the men who sell the illegal firearms that enable the
unspeakable violence on both sides of the map. Spotting the sparkle when
"Charlie Diamonds" opens his mouth is often their first step toward life
behind bars. Meanwhile, Bradley Jones, sheriff's deputy and employee of
the Baja Cartel and son of the love of Charlie's life, the deceased L.A.
outlaw Suzanne Jones, is expecting a son of his own. Suzanne was
descended from famed Mexican desperado Joaquin Murrieta, whose embalmed
head Bradley inherited from her and keeps nestled among piles of cash,
proceeds from Bradley's own life of crime. Charlie knows all of
Bradley's secrets; the question is what will he do with the information.
Until he decides, his obsession remains the inexplicable existence of
Mike Finnegan, the diminutive devil who flits in and out of both men's
lives, knowing things he shouldn't, seemingly immortal. Three
men--earnest law enforcer, inveterate lawbreaker, and the man who pits
them against each other--hurtle toward one another in the jaw-dropping
conclusion to T. Jefferson Parker's mesmerizing vision of the border.
Their climactic showdown brings to a spectacular close a crime series
that obliterated the boundaries of the genre.
