{"id":10675,"date":"2023-10-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10675"},"modified":"2023-10-22T10:04:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T14:04:18","slug":"dead-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=10675","title":{"rendered":"Dead Drop"},"content":{"rendered":"
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James L\u2019Etoile\u2019s award-winning crime thriller Dead Drop takes a 360-degree look at the intertwined issues of illegal immigration, drug and arms smuggling, and unfettered violence plaguing the southwest United States and the challenges they present law enforcement. After a career spent in the California penal system, L\u2019Etoile has seen these problems play out first-hand. In this action-packed story, you do too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the illegal border crossers, Phoenix, Arizona, detective Nathan Parker tries vainly to hold on to the principle, \u201cYes, they\u2019re desperate, but what they\u2019re doing is against the law.\u201d But when he\u2019s faced with some of the realities the immigrants confront\u2014and, ultimately, when he becomes an illegal border crosser himself\u2014he starts not just to see, but to appreciate the other side of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this novel, the immigration issue has many troubling dimensions\u2014fentanyl trafficking, rapacious coyotes, weapons galore, disregard for human life, and the spotty coordination of federal, state, and local efforts to combat any of these. The quest for personal and organizational glory makes inter-agency cooperation more difficult, as always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the U.S. Attorney is working to create an airtight case against the drug smugglers\u2014a process that\u2019s taking literally years\u2014people are dying in real time. One of them was Parker\u2019s long-time partner, a death for which Parker blames himself. A new lead appears when a cell phone number is found on a dead man. He\u2019s one of four found in the desert, sealed up in 55 gallon oil drums. Parker\u2019s encounter with the owner of that cell phone leads to his suspension from the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The barrels were discovered by Billie Carson, a woman living on the raggedy margins of society, scavenging whatever she can find abandoned in the desolate landscape. Billie has learned how to navigate a dysfunctional support system and, contrary to his expectations, Parker learns a lot from her. Suspended, he isn\u2019t supposed to keep investigating any link to his partner\u2019s shooting, but (of course) he does, and Billie and he may be at risk because of their connection with the bodies in the barrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all the players\u2014criminals, law enforcement, bystanders, innocent or not\u2014it\u2019s a complicated plot with a lot of characters and a lot of agendas, much like real life, probably. L\u2019Etoile writes convincingly about his law enforcement characters, and some have managed to maintain a sense of humor. Billie\u2019s a solid female character, but several of the other women are less believable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way L\u2019Etoile describes the unforgiving desert environment of northern Mexico and south Arizona, for many people and even for a time for Parker, it\u2019s almost as much an enemy as the gun-toting coyotes smuggling people through the tunnels<\/a> under the \u201cimpenetrable\u201d U.S. border wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a memorable story, and if you want to read more about this troubled area, I recommend Don Winslow\u2019s The Cartel<\/a><\/em> and Down by the River<\/a><\/em>, riveting nonfiction by the late investigative reporter Charles Bowden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Order here from Amazon (if you use these affiliate links, Amazon sends me a small payment):
Dead Drop<\/a>
The Cartel<\/a>
Down by the River<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"drugs,
U.S. Border Patrol agents on the Rio Grande (photo: c1.staticflickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James L\u2019Etoile\u2019s award-winning crime thriller Dead Drop takes a 360-degree look at the intertwined issues of illegal immigration, drug and arms smuggling, and unfettered violence plaguing the southwest United States and the challenges they present law enforcement. After a career … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"When author James L'Etoile writes about the chaos in the American Southwest--drugs, guns, money, and immigration--he knows what he's talking about. A riveting, award-winning thriller here that offers a different perspective.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[52,54,40,632,268,126,32],"tags":[917,2128,1184,2127],"class_list":["post-10675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime","category-detective","category-fiction","category-police","category-politics","category-reading-2","category-thriller","tag-arizona","tag-dead-drop","tag-drug-wars","tag-james-letoile"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2Mb","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10677,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10675\/revisions\/10677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}