The Room of White Fire is the first book in T. Jefferson’s Parker’s Roland Ford series. Ford is a San Diego-based private detective whose specialty is finding people. Arcadia, a mental health facility for wealthy “partners,” discovers that Clay Hickson–son of powerful corporate mover-and-shaker–is missing. High profile psychologist Briggs Spencer, owner of Arcadia, hires Ford to find Clay Hickson. But immediately Ford begins to find flaws in the data about Clay Hickson. Hickson served in the Air Force in Iraq…except he didn’t. Ford learns Hickson was actually at a secret CIA black-ops site in Romania during his Air Force career. What happened there caused Hickson’s mental break-down that led to his stay in Arcadia.
While tracking Clay Hickson down, Ford deals with the death of his wife in a plane crash. T. Jefferson Parker blends personal trauma and page-turning action in his thrillers. If you’re looking for a fast-paced Summer Read, The Room of White Fire delivers. I plan to read the Roland Ford series in the weeks ahead. Are you a T. Jefferson Parker fan? GRADE: B
Roland Ford series:
The Room Of White Fire (2017)
Swift Vengeance (2018)
The Last Good Guy (2019)
I have read all of Parker’s novels so I guess you could call me a fan. I mean to go back and read a couple of his early novels like Laguna Heat and Little Saigon. I have never read a bad book by him.
Steve, while I have all of T. Jefferson Parker’s books, I haven’t read them all. Yet. Of the dozen or so Parker novels I have read, I agree with you: not a bad book in the lot. And some, like LAGUNA HEAT and LITTLE SAIGON are very good.
I discovered Parker with his first novel, “Laguna Heat”, and have stuck with him ever since. The Roland Ford series gets better with each of the three novels and the newest one, “The Last Good Guy” is one of Parker’s best. The six book Charlie Hood series is my favorite of Parker’s. I’ll warn you that it’s actually more like one six volume novel than a series and really must be read in order.
Michael, good to know about the Charlie Hood series. I have all the books, but haven’t gotten to them yet. THE LAST GOOD GUY received good reviews.
Not really. I’ve read a couple and they were fine, but didn’t make me run out and get the rest. I thought they were a little long.
Jeff, I fine most contemporary mysteries and thrillers overly long. However, I was surprised that Stephen King’s THE INSTITUTE is “only” about 500 pages. I was expecting another 1000 page book like UNDER THE DOME or IT.
I’m reading the new Stephen King right now. 550 pages but it reads fast.
Steve, most of the Stephen King works I’ve read seem to read fast. The pages just fly by! I’ll be interested in your opinion of THE INSTITUTE. Some reviewers are calling it King’s best novel.
I’m about halfway through “The Institute”, and it really zips along. Does anyone else do kids as well as King?
Michael, you’re right about Stephen King’s ability to create believable and realistic child characters.
I read the first book, Laguna Heat, while I was living in Laguna Beach, so I had knowledge of every street and location, which was cool. I read the next two or three and enjoyed them, then drifted away from his books for no particular reason. I think that was about the time I started reading Colin Dexter’s books.
Rick, I fallowed a similar path as you did: I started reading Jefferson’s early books, drifted away, and now I’m drifting back to reading him again. Meanwhile, I kept buying all Jefferson’s books as they were published.
I liked the early books, but not so much the Charlie Hoods. I also liked the 2014 standalone, Full Measure. I read the first two books in the Ford series, which were OK, but I am in no rush to read the next two. At least Parker tries different things unlike some of best-selling crime writers who stick to one character.
Kent, I tire of thriller writers who continue to write the same book with the same plot over and over again. James Patterson and John Grisham fall into this category.