Deputy Sheriff Charlie Hoodathe hero of "L.A. Outlaws"aleft readers clamoring for more, and in "The Renegades," T. Jefferson Parker more than delivers. Some say that outlaws no longer exist, that the true spirit of the American West died with the legendary bandits of pulp novels and bedtime stories. Charlie Hood knows that nothing could be further from the truth. These days he patrols vast stretches of the new American West, not on horseback but in his cruiser. The outlaws may not carry six-shooters, but theyare strapped all the same. Along the desolate and dusty roads of this new frontier, Hood prefers to ride alone, and he prefers to ride at night. At night, his headlights illuminate only the patch of pavement ahead of him: all the better to hide from the demonsaand the dead outlawsareceding in his rearview mirror. But he doesnat always get what he wantsa certainly not when heas assigned a partner named Terry Laws, a county veteran who everyone calls aMr. Wonderful.a And not when Laws is shot dead in the passenger seat and Hood is left to bear witness by someone who knew that Mr. Wonderful didnat always live up to his nickname. As he sets out to find the gunman, Hood knows one thing for sure: The West is a state of mind, one where the bad guys sometimes wear white hatsaand the good guys seek justice in whatever shade of gray they can find it.