John Parker is a Graduate-qualified English/Spanish Teacher, owner and director of CHAT ENGLISH, an English Language Centre in Avilés on the north coast of Spain . A voracious reader, he has particularly loved horror fiction for many years.
The author of the Carter Ross mystery series releases his third stand–alone novel. In it, actor Tommy Jump, who has been in the profession for twenty years since the age of 7, is at a crossroads in his life.
While the life as an actor has always been Tommy’s dream, he just isn’t getting the roles he once did. He has decided it is time to hang up his acting boots and look for a steady job with a regular income and the chance to settle down once and for all with his fiancée, Amanda.
Then, good fortune seems to look down on Tommy when he is contacted by an old school buddy, Danny Ruiz, now an FBI agent. Tommy is offered the chance to earn 300,000 dollars by going to prison for 6 months, acting as a “failed” bank robber under the false name of Pete Goodrich. All he has to do is find and befriend an ex-accountant for the drug cartel New Colima. The accountant in question is one, Mitchell Dupree, who the ruthless and much-feared cartel leader known as “El Vio”, would very much like to see dead, so as to avoid the possibility that he might squeal to the feds in exchange for his freedom.
But Dupree has an ace up his sleeve; stashed away in a secret hiding-place (that only he knows the exact whereabouts of), is a cache of documents containing information which would lead to the fall of El Vio and the cartel if they were to fall into the hands of the FBI. If Tommy can discover just where Dupree has hidden the documents, he will earn a small fortune, enough to give him and Amanda a new start in life. Tommy is set to “star” in the most important role of his career. But can he pull it off?
Parks has written an entertaining novel which is a little slow to get going but picks up pace when Tommy finally enters prison. The story is seen from the viewpoint of various characters including the wife of Dupree, ever paranoid as she knows she is being watched, probably by both sides while El Vio’s henchman, Herrera, is ever desperate to find a solution to the Dupree problem for fear of his own life being snuffed out by his very impatient and unpredictable boss. These and the other characters are engaging enough to maintain interest as the story unfolds. Inevitably, there are twists and turns to add to the thrills and the dénouement is satisfying.
Parks’ latest act, is well worth seeking out.
