Non-stop action unleashed in second installment of thriller series

“Swift Vengeance” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons), by T. Jefferson Parker

A drone circles like a bird of prey, waiting for a clear shot at a terrorist. Thousands of miles away in America, its operator seems, at first glance, to be playing a video game.

Military drone operators know they are dealing in death, but there is something oddly impersonal about killing from such a distance. For those who are hunted, it doesn’t feel that way.

T. Jefferson Parker asks readers to think about that as he unleashes nonstop action in “Swift Vengeance,” the second novel in his series of thrillers featuring Ronald Ford, an Iraq war combat veteran now working as a private investigator.

The terrorist knows he is a target, so he’s been staying out of sight or surrounding himself with innocents. But on this day, he makes a mistake.

On the video screen that the operator has been staring at for months, the terrorist suddenly appears alone. She gets a thumbs-up from her superior and unleashes a missile. But because of the distance between operator and drone, her video feed has a five-second delay.

In those five seconds, something could go wrong. This time it does, and innocent people die.

For the last decade or so, Parker has been using the popular form of the thriller to explore the issues of our day. His previous series examined the devastation wrought by Mexican crime cartels and America’s war on drugs.

Starting with “The Room of White Fire,” the new series succeeds not only in entertaining but also in challenging readers to ponder the circle of vengeance unleashed by the Iraq war and America’s seemingly endless war on terror.