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John Marquez #4
Redback
Fourth novel in the highly-acclaimed John Marquez crime series - Eighteen years ago, Special Agent John Marquez was forced to watch as his informant, Billy Takado, was gunned down, the victim of a set-up by criminal mastermind Emrahain Stoval. In the fallout from the affair, Marquez lost his job. Now, working for California’s Department of Fish and Games, John is contacted by a former colleague. Ted Desault is determined to take Stoval down, but to do that, he needs Marquez’s help . . .
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2011
7 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Kirk Russell
22 books93 followersI aimed at writing long ago but that turned out to more romance than reality. Looking back, I was lucky to learn something about the world first. Never gave up on writing though. It just took longer. I've written five novels with an undercover California Fish and Game warden, John Marquez, three with a San Francisco homicide inspector, and now Signature Wounds and FBI special agent bomb tech, Paul Grale. Grale is living in the world we're in and dealing with the challenges of our times. I'm very hooked into him and working on a new story.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 19, 2014
In the summer of 1989, John Marquez was a Special Agent working as the leader of a DEA team along the border between California and Mexico. It's a brutal, dangerous job and you never know who you can trust. As part of an undercover operation, Marquez picks up an informant named Billy Takedo and sets off to meet representatives of a vicious Mexican drug cartel in a bull ring near Tijuana. But the operation goes awry and the Mexicans shoot Takedo point-blank in front of Marquez. The Mexican Federal Judicial Police, who are supposed to be backing up Marquez, are nowhere in evidence.
Marquez understands that the man behind Takedo's murder is a mysterious figure named Emrahin Stoval, who moves money and performs other services for the cartels. Marquez is determined to bring Stoval down, but is hampered by bureaucracy and red tape. Additionally, someone has to be the fall guy for the failed operation and, not surprisingly, it turns out to be Marquez. He resigns from the DEA before he can be fired, but his career in the DEA is over.
Marquez ultimately finds a home in the California Department of Fish and Game and builds a second successful career in the Special Operations Unit, tracking poachers. But eighteen years after the debacle in Tijuana, Emrahain Stoval intrudes again into Marquez's life.
Even after all this time, the FBI has been unable to arrest and prosecute Stoval for his drug-related activities. But they've learned that Stoval is a passionate hunter and animal trafficker, and they hope to be able to make a case against him for these activities that will finally bring him to justice. This is on the order, I guess, of finally nailing Al Capone for income tax evasion.
Given his expertise, the Feds convince Marquez to sign on as a special agent to go after Stoval. Marquez, who is still smarting from his failure to get Stovall years earlier, thus begins a chase that will take him around the world in pursuit of an eighteen-year-old grievance.
This is an excellent suspense novel--very well-plotted with an engaging and totally plausible protagonist. John Marquez is a unique character and it's great fun riding along with him and watching him rise to the myriad of challenges that are thrown in his way. The plot takes a number of very interesting twists and turns and, as a bonus, Russell places much of the action in wilderness settings that are beautifully rendered. This is a very good book that will appeal to readers on a variety of levels.
Marquez understands that the man behind Takedo's murder is a mysterious figure named Emrahin Stoval, who moves money and performs other services for the cartels. Marquez is determined to bring Stoval down, but is hampered by bureaucracy and red tape. Additionally, someone has to be the fall guy for the failed operation and, not surprisingly, it turns out to be Marquez. He resigns from the DEA before he can be fired, but his career in the DEA is over.
Marquez ultimately finds a home in the California Department of Fish and Game and builds a second successful career in the Special Operations Unit, tracking poachers. But eighteen years after the debacle in Tijuana, Emrahain Stoval intrudes again into Marquez's life.
Even after all this time, the FBI has been unable to arrest and prosecute Stoval for his drug-related activities. But they've learned that Stoval is a passionate hunter and animal trafficker, and they hope to be able to make a case against him for these activities that will finally bring him to justice. This is on the order, I guess, of finally nailing Al Capone for income tax evasion.
Given his expertise, the Feds convince Marquez to sign on as a special agent to go after Stoval. Marquez, who is still smarting from his failure to get Stovall years earlier, thus begins a chase that will take him around the world in pursuit of an eighteen-year-old grievance.
This is an excellent suspense novel--very well-plotted with an engaging and totally plausible protagonist. John Marquez is a unique character and it's great fun riding along with him and watching him rise to the myriad of challenges that are thrown in his way. The plot takes a number of very interesting twists and turns and, as a bonus, Russell places much of the action in wilderness settings that are beautifully rendered. This is a very good book that will appeal to readers on a variety of levels.
April 26, 2014
Kirk Russell's "Redback" is a strong, taut crime novel with a wholly realistic perspective and confidant grip that will pull you in. As the fourth "John Marquez eco-thriller", "Redback" both fills in some of the main character's past and pulls us forward as Marquez moves from the California DFG's covert unit to a more global role. This is my third reading of this novel, and I am finding it stronger and better crafted than I had thought before. I've always come to "Redback" from the first three Marquez books and had felt the change in approach and in pacing slightly off-step, but I was wrong. The parts of "Redback" are carefully crafted to work as powerful units that ultimately resonate well together. Also, this is a book about loss, past and present, about respecting those losses without any morbidity, without any defeatism, and moving forward, still, somehow. But, then, aren't all of Kirk Russell's Marquez books written in that resonating musical key? Read this book.
February 3, 2019
Love all the Kirk Russell books!
May 26, 2023
Couldn't Finish. Probably need to read the first 3 books
April 25, 2011
i've read all these john marquez wildlife warden mysteries now. each is super good in talking about the environment, landscape, humans and animails. sometimes the marquez character's motivations seem obtuse as he is a very tip lipped dude (i try to be like that, but end up shooting and putting foot in mouth all to often, so nothing mysterious about me :)) but all in all a great mystery series. this one goes all international dealing with the mex drug mafia, cia, fbi, fish and game etc etc so we got dead california big horns and cargo planes full of cocaine etc etc. john feeds his enemy to the hyenas in argentina, eventually.
October 1, 2013
Redback? What the hell does this title mean? Well you have to read to page 141 to find out its significance and I never saw it coming. I've read the other three books in the series and this one is short and swift in pace even though almost the first third of it is a flashback to when Marquez was in the DEA. It's another chapter in the life of John Marquez, former DEA agent and now California Game Warden and this one is personal and involves a nemesis from the past who is truly evil and goes for peace officer's families. There's a lot going on in this one and it will be very interesting to see how the next book turns out.
December 2, 2014
I do the the character of John Marquez. In this, the fourth book, author Russell fills in the DEA background of Marquez and then jumps ahead to tie long hanging threads up.
Read this in one day, and stayed up far too long into the early morning hours to finish.
Read this in one day, and stayed up far too long into the early morning hours to finish.
February 7, 2011
An excellent mystery read. The truly frightening drug world between California and Mexico.
December 9, 2013
Good yarn covering 20 years or so — drug cartels, Alaska bear, abalone coast, Sierra bighorn, Feds, family, well woven together with some memorable characters. Never flags.
October 1, 2014
Strong Crime Thriller That Will Pull You In, And In, And In...And I Loved It!
February 7, 2016
did not finish. Too much cartel stuff
June 15, 2013
Excellent story.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews