Sunday, April 25, 2010

Strong Justice-Jon Land

Strong Justice
Jon Land
Forge, Jun 22 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765323361

Caitlin Strong knows that being a Texas Ranger is part of her DNA. She is the fifth generation of her ancestry to serve. Her current inquiry deals with the illegal selling of Mexican girls as sex slaves mostly to wealthy Americans although she takes a side trip causing a mess to clean up a bigger mess in El Paso.

Law enforcement on both sides wants nothing to do with the deadly traffickers; rationalizing these girls are better off anyway. Instead Caitlin whose gonads are considered by her compatriots and superiors as the biggest in Tex-Mex border law enforcement finds an ally in outlaw Cort Wesley Masters. They also follow leads of a nasty serial killer working the uncontrolled border. Finally the clues take them to Sweetwater, the place where her grandfather during the Depression fought his version of a last stand; and Pearsall where water has made the town into a war zone and Cort an outlaw.

This may be the most complicated and convoluted police procedural of the year as the body bag industry is booming due to the homicides that depopulate most of the myriad of subplots. Jon Land affirms his strong skills as he is able to keep each subplot running smoothly and actually have an additional one re the attraction between the ranger (see Strong Enough to Die for her previous tale) and the outlaw. With ghosts from the past of both leads smoking up storms, fans will appreciate this complex thriller that focuses on the violence and economics of the Tex-Mex trading in guns, drugs, and girls (who do you think employs illegals in Arizona).

Harriet Klausner

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