Storm runners

Bestseller Parker's 14th California crime novel opens with an unforgettable sentence: "Stromsoe was in high school when he met the boy who would someday murder his wife and son." The wife and son are both killed by a bomb meant for Matt Stromsoe, an Orange County detective on the trail of his former classmate, Mike Tavarez, now a leader of La Eme, the Mexican mafia. Tavarez goes to prison for life for the bombing, while the seriously injured Stromsoe, after a long recovery, takes a job guarding Frankie Leigh, a popular TV weather reporter in San Diego. Leigh has a stalker, who turns out to be employed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power; the DWP wants Leigh—and her research on rainmaking—out of the picture. Parker (_The Fallen_) creates his usual interesting, multifaceted characters, though the plotting, which reconnects Tavarez with Stromsoe, is clunky. Still, the insights into La Eme and the science of rainmaking as well as the inevitable confrontation between the two principals show why Parker ranks as one of the top contemporary suspense writers. (Mar.)
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"Any reader will have a hard time putting this one down." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Fast-paced and very difficult to put down." -- Curled Up with a Good Book

"Intriguing...absorbing...STORM RUNNERS’ plot is complemented by the equally memorable characters." -- South Florida Sun Sentinel

"Pure unadulterated excellence...Parker ups the ante and sets his own new standard with STORM RUNNERS, an unforgettable work." -- Bookreporter.com

"Taut well-oiled thriller." -- Los Angeles Times

"The action is nonstop as the plot zooms…The characters (are) memorable, the story unpredictable and the conclusion chilling." -- Orlando Sentinel