The Room of White Fire

By: T. Jefferson Parker

Narrated by: Will Damron

Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

“Mesmerizing and haunting.” (Lisa Gardner)

“T. Jefferson Parker is the poet of American crime fiction, and The Room of White Fire absolutely proves why.” (C.J. Box)

In this stirring thriller from New York Times best seller and award winner T. Jefferson Parker, P.I. Roland Ford must hunt down a soldier who is damaged by war, dangerous, and on the run.

Roland Ford - once a cop, then a marine, now a private investigator - is good at finding people. But when he’s asked to locate an Air Force veteran who’s escaped from a mental institution, he realizes he’s been drawn into something deep and dark. What he doesn’t know is why a shroud of secrecy hangs over the disappearance of Clay Hickman - and why he’s getting a different story from everyone involved. In a flash, what began as just a job becomes a life-or-death obsession for Ford, pitting him against immensely powerful and treacherous people and forcing him to contend with chilling questions about truth, justice, and the American way.

“A fast-paced, beautifully written thriller.” (The Washington Post)

©2017 T. Jefferson Parker (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"T. Jefferson Parker's latest novel is filled with well-defined characters, excellent dialogue, and a gripping story. Will Damron's narration makes it even better....the thread that makes the story flow is Damron's on-point delivery." (AudioFile)

Very depressing.

Did not enjoy this book. Listening to descriptions of torture is not my idea of amusement.

Not for the squeamish...

T Jefferson Parker has written a very vividly disturbing book with this one. I cannot say much more then what is written in the publisher's summary or I will spoil this book for someone else.
Basically this book is about a CIA prison, White Fire. It's also about enhanced interrogation techniques. There are two scenes in this book that are very hard to listen to that describe what I'm sure is only a small portion of the kind of things that actually occurred. I can only guess that Parker has interviewed many veterans to put together a compilation of experiences.
For the most part this book boils down to greed and not the actual care of the people suffering from their war experiences.
This is a good vs evil thriller and I hope that Parker will continue with this protagonist, Roland Ford. He's an intelligent PI with his own set of morals and principles.
Will Damron does an excellent job narrating.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Second book already in wish list

I enjoyed this book by T. Jefferson Parker and it was well narrated by Will Damron. Roland Ford is an ex-Marine and ex-Cop, now working as a P.I. who finds himself drawn into a world involving covert U.S. black site prisons and torture facilities, secret mental institutions, corrupt CIA operatives and a host of other interesting characters. The plot was lively and contained enough unexpected twists and turns to keep me interested and I had no hesitation in placing the next book in this series in my wish list. It's not as deep or multifaceted as a Jeffery Deaver, David Hewson or Nelson De Mille but still good enough for the top tier in my library.

Scary and Intense

I occasionally enjoy this sort of story, and bought this book a while ago in a sale. I didn't listen right away and forgot I had it. I'm really glad I sorted out books I hadn't listened to and found it again. What a crazy ride! Government conspiracy and helpless protagonists are very scary right now. The descriptions of the torture were terrifying, and repercussions repercussions of being a whistleblower are insane! Well done, but now I have to be able to sleep tonight.

Can’t recommend this one.

Could be a much shorter story — repetitive — descriptions of torture don’t need to have details over and over.

Filled with interesting twists

This book was well written and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series

Riveting, psychologically compelling

Powerful exploration of a terrible chapter in our history and its devastating impact on participants.

Political statement

This book is just a political statement regarding torture during the Iraq war.

Predictable and boring.

Good concept

I liked the exploration of what we’ve done in so many wars. How man continues to evolve and devolve. many interesting characters. The layers of people were peeled back in a good way.

Masterfuly Written Story

Private investigator Roland Ford, ex-cop and ex-Marine, is haunted by both his wife’s tragic death, and his experiences in Fallujah. Ford is hired to find Clay Hickman, ex Air Force, who had recently escaped from his ultra-expensive, super-secure residential care facility, Arcadia. Although this seems at first to be a straightforward job, it becomes ever more complicated when Ford unearths secret after secret about Hickman, as well as about Arcadia and the people who run it.

Ford tells the story in his own voice, and we experience all his fears, his ghosts, and his questions. We see his flaws; we see his fabric of life hanging in the balance, and we are on his side. We observe the other characters through his filter. Ford offers us factual descriptions, but emotional opinions and observations. While he thinks that everyone has a morsel of goodness somewhere, we are not so sure. Ford uses all his senses to pull us into the story.
“Maybe it was the slamming of the Dutch door.
Or the wind in the grapes, or the way the tire swing turned on its rope.”

“Shade goes well with a warm day, a cold beer, and a stack of almost-overdue bills…
I paused to look out at the pond and the rolling hills beyond.”

“The Room of White Fire” is a difficult story to listen to at times because of the challenging social content. Parker creates a haunting scenario that readers may have read about in newspapers or heard about on TV but may not want to admit might be true. As we listen to the details about Ford’s struggle, about Hickman’s struggle, we must also wonder who among us is struggling with the same problems. This is a book we must all should listen to

The good news is that while this story has a definite end, Roland Ford’s story does not. I think Ford will find his way into another Parker story in the future, and I for one cannot wait.

Will Damron was outstanding with the delivery of the story