The Room of White Fire
Author: T. Jefferson Parker
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Date of Publication: August 22, 2017 (Hardcover)
July 3, 2018 (Paperback)
Pages: 352
T. Jefferson Parker is an accomplished author who has won 3 Edgar Awards: Best Mystery Novel Edgars in 2002 (Silent Joe) and 2005 (California Girl) and a 2009 Best Short Story Edgar for Skinhead Central. I have read and enjoyed a number of his earlier books, including the two award winners, but have not read any of his recent work. That will change after reading The Room of White Fire.
This book starts a new series featuring former Marine, former boxer, former sheriff and current private investigator Roland Ford. Ford is hired to find a young Air Force veteran who has escaped from a private Southern California psychiatric facility. Clay Hickman is the escapee from a facility named simply Arcadia. He is also the son of a prominent local builder and a veteran of war in the Middle East. He harbors dark secrets from his time in the service.
As Ford begins his investigation he encounters a wide cast of characters, including Hickman's psychiatrist, fellow patients at Arcadia and some shady security people at the facility. He finds out that Arcadia is owned and operated by Briggs Spencer, a former military psychologist who literally wrote the book on enhanced interrogation techniques (water boarding, etc...). Spencer worked as an independent contractor during the war on terror. Ford eventually pieces together that Hickman did not spend his time in the service in Iraq as everyone, including his family, believed, but was in Romania at a secret prison and interrogation facility working for Briggs.
What follows is a three dimensional cat and mouse game between Ford, Hickman and Briggs and his security forces. Fearing what Hickman knows and is willing to expose, Briggs is willing to go to any lengths to silence him. Ford is the proverbial man in the middle. The truly anguishing part of The Room of White Fire is the descriptions of the tortures inflicted in Romania and the long lasting effects it has had on the perpetrators. This is an uncomfortable fact that the author boldly confronts.
Like in his award winners, Parker uses Southern California as his canvas. His descriptions of San Diego and the county lend a steady realism to this fast paced story. His characters are all complex and well developed. They each have their own set of demons. Since this is the first installment for Roland Ford, the author tells us a lot of his backstory, all of which is interesting and adds dimension to this otherwise prototypical "tough guy" investigator.
I'm glad that I re-discovered T. Jefferson Parker. While The Room of White Fire doesn't really approach Silent Joe or California Girl (or Laguna Heat for that matter) it is a splendidly written story with an important social message to boot!
This book starts a new series featuring former Marine, former boxer, former sheriff and current private investigator Roland Ford. Ford is hired to find a young Air Force veteran who has escaped from a private Southern California psychiatric facility. Clay Hickman is the escapee from a facility named simply Arcadia. He is also the son of a prominent local builder and a veteran of war in the Middle East. He harbors dark secrets from his time in the service.
As Ford begins his investigation he encounters a wide cast of characters, including Hickman's psychiatrist, fellow patients at Arcadia and some shady security people at the facility. He finds out that Arcadia is owned and operated by Briggs Spencer, a former military psychologist who literally wrote the book on enhanced interrogation techniques (water boarding, etc...). Spencer worked as an independent contractor during the war on terror. Ford eventually pieces together that Hickman did not spend his time in the service in Iraq as everyone, including his family, believed, but was in Romania at a secret prison and interrogation facility working for Briggs.
What follows is a three dimensional cat and mouse game between Ford, Hickman and Briggs and his security forces. Fearing what Hickman knows and is willing to expose, Briggs is willing to go to any lengths to silence him. Ford is the proverbial man in the middle. The truly anguishing part of The Room of White Fire is the descriptions of the tortures inflicted in Romania and the long lasting effects it has had on the perpetrators. This is an uncomfortable fact that the author boldly confronts.
Like in his award winners, Parker uses Southern California as his canvas. His descriptions of San Diego and the county lend a steady realism to this fast paced story. His characters are all complex and well developed. They each have their own set of demons. Since this is the first installment for Roland Ford, the author tells us a lot of his backstory, all of which is interesting and adds dimension to this otherwise prototypical "tough guy" investigator.
I'm glad that I re-discovered T. Jefferson Parker. While The Room of White Fire doesn't really approach Silent Joe or California Girl (or Laguna Heat for that matter) it is a splendidly written story with an important social message to boot!
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