The Last Good Guy

By T. Jefferson Parker

In this electrifying new thriller from three-time Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestseller T. Jefferson Parker, Private Investigator Roland Ford hunts for a missing teenager and uncovers a dark conspiracy in his most personal case yet.

When hired by a beautiful and enigmatic woman to find her missing younger sister, private investigator Roland Ford immediately senses that the case is not what it seems. He is soon swept up in a web of lies and secrets as he searches for the teenager, and even his new client cannot be trusted. His investigation leads him to a secretive charter school, skinhead thugs, a cadre of American Nazis hidden in a desert compound, an arch-conservative celebrity evangelist--and, finally, to the girl herself. The Last Good Guy is Ford's most challenging case to date, one that will leave him questioning everything he thought he knew about decency, honesty, and the battle between good and evil...if it doesn't kill him first.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Aug 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9780525537663

T. Jefferson Parker

T. Jefferson Parker is the author of numerous novels and short stories, the winner of three Edgar Awards (for Silent Joe, California Girl, and the short story "Skinhead Central"), and the recipient of a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best mystery (Silent Joe). Before becoming a full-time novelist, he was an award-winning reporter. He lives in Fallbrook, California.

Reviews for The Last Good Guy

[babs605 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Five stars. What starts out as a simple missing person case turns into so much more. The story moves along at a fast pace, and held my interest till the very end. My first book by the author, but I will be looking for his others.

[datrappert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The lead character, PI Roland Ford, has a lot going for him. He is a Iraq War Vet, and ex-cop, and a widower whose wife died while piloting a private plane. He has lots of backstory, which I presume was a part of first two books in the series, which I haven't read. He inherited a compound with a main house and several cabanas from his wife, and he rents the cabanas to what he calls his "irregulars"--who turn out to have useful qualities such as being former CIA agents. I can't but help find this reminiscent of Travis McGee's dockside life. Roland Ford is much more sensitive and well-behaved than Travis, however. In this book, he is hired to find the runaway, or perhaps kidnaped, 14-year-old sister of a beautiful 28-year-old living near the beach in California. But this leads him into murder and things that are much darker still. And it is here that the book, despite its great forward momentum, good writing, and interesting characters, starts to falter. There are a few too many coincidences. Ford is able to track people in cars for incredible distances without being seen (and they always lead him to a place that provides the next clue). Everything is connected. He also manages to find vantage spots where using powerful night vision binoculars, he can see just what he needs to see. It is all just a bit too pat. By the end of the book, the reason for the 14-year old's disappearance and periodic reappearances still isn't explained quite well enough to satisfy this reader. And given the other things the bad guys were up to, why they would bother with the 14-year-old is hard to figure out. If not for her, they could have gone about their business undisturbed by Roland Ford, the FBI, the local police, etc. etc. etc. So obviously I have to fault Parker on his plotting. Also on dragging things out about 50 pages longer than was needed. From my initial reaction in the first few chapters of "Wow, this is an author I want to read more of," now I'm not so sure. Still, it was a quick, interesting read with some very effective moments and some nice vignettes of the minor characters who have secrets of their own that provide them greater depth and that will probably fuel future stories. I could see the next one involving Frank the illegal Salvadorian that Ford is giving shelter to and who has MS-13 issues to deal with....

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This thriller starts out like a 1940s, black and white movie with a client walking into the detective's office and then it quickly becomes very contemporary. Penelope Rideoout wants Roland Ford to find her missing fourteen-year-old sister Daley. Daley has entered that rebellious age and resents the control her older sister has over her life. Roland takes the case and begins by investigating Penelope only to discover that she has been lying to him about her life. His investigation does lead to where Daley was and he finds the body of her much older boyfriend there. Neighbors saw her leave with a couple of guys from a SNR Security. Trying to find information on the company is almost impossible despite the latest technology.As Ford tries to track down Daley and learn more about the security company, he follows a SNR car to an isolated date farm in the California desert. He is beaten by six helmeted men riding ATVs and needs rescue himself from one of his irregulars. The beating just makes him more determined to find Daley and learn what is going on at that date farm.When he goes back to his client he hears yet another story. This time Penelope tells him that Daley is actually her daughter. When Penelope was fourteen she was groomed, drugged, and raped by a travelling preacher and found herself with his child. Currently the preacher has hit the big time and built an arena church near where Penelope lives. Not knowing what to believe about his enigmatic client, Ford begins investigating the church and Pastor Reggie Atlas. It quickly becomes clear that there is a connection between SNR Security and Atlas that goes beyond hiring them to do security for his church. All of a sudden, Ford is looking into white supremacists and other groups that want to eliminate the "mud men" and bring racial purity back to supremacy. And he still doesn't know where Daley is or if his client's latest story is true.This was an engaging story with a main character who is both mysterious and intriguing. It is the third book in the Roland Ford series and stands alone well. I would like to know more about Roland's backstory though.

[dplyle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Roland Ford returns. The case seemed simple. A teenage girl runaway, a distraught sister looking for her. So far so good. But is the relationship between the “sisters” as advertised? Did the young girl run away, or is she being held against her will? The “simple” case quickly evolves into a life-or-death pursuit that leads Ford into the secretive world of a charter school, an even more secretive Neo-Nazi enclave, and a celebrity evangelist. Oh, and a shady, militaristic security firm and a nuclear power plant. This is Roland Ford at his best. And T. Jefferson Parker at his best. The story is compelling, the plot twists numerous, and the writing impeccable. DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Jake Longly and Cain/Harper thriller series