[.ca] A World of Thieves (ISBN 0060512474)

From Amazon.com:
Penzler Pick, December 2001: James Carlos Blake has written several novels, but this is the first that can be categorized wholeheartedly as a mystery. Set in the Southwest of 1928, it tells the story of three men who go on a journey of robbery and unintentional murder throughout Louisiana and Texas. Sonny LaSalle is only a few years younger than his twin uncles, Russell and Buck, and he adores them and their way of life, which involves mostly robbing banks and rigging gambling scams. When he suggests that they take him on as a third partner, they indulge him and let him drive the getaway car on a bank robbery. Sonny is immediately caught and put in a holding cell where a fight breaks out. When Sonny hits a rookie cop who is trying to break up the fight, he inadvertently kills him and is sent to the infamous Angola prison in Louisiana for the long haul. But it's not in Sonny's nature to stay cooped up for long, and he soon escapes, doing what only a few have done before him: running along the levee to freedom and back to his uncles. From then on, these charming felons career across the landscape stealing just enough money to keep them comfortable, meeting women, and helping damsels in distress. What these carefree villains do not know, but the reader does, is that the rookie cop's father, John Isley Bonham, is not going to simply let Sonny go free. Bonham is a longtime deputy sheriff near retirement. His life has been tragic, and the only joy he ever had was through his son. Bonham is said to have killed more men than any cop in the state. Although he's always claimed self- defense, rumor has it that some of the killings were, in fact, executions. Now he starts his slow, relentless campaign to hunt Sonny down and kill him. Russell, Buck, and Sonny do kill some innocent people, it's true, but compared to Bonham they are amateurs--and Bonham is closing in on them. For fans of Daniel Woodrell, James Lee Burke, and Robbers, last year's exceptional first novel by Christopher Cook, this book is a must. --Otto Penzler

Sadly, this one disappoints:
I'm a big James Carlos Blake fan and it is painful to have to give A World of Thieves a mixed review. If this book had been written by another author and I had not read Red Grass River, I certainly would be singing the praises of this book. However, I know that Blake can do much better and really all he has done with this book is rewrite Red Grass River, moving the setting from the Everglades to Angola Prison in Louisianna and West Texas. If you are new to Blake, do yourself a favor and read Red Grass River or In the Rogue Blood and wait until this one comes out in paperback. I think Blake does a tremendous job in recreating the underbelly of past American eras. His characters tend to be people living on the edge, pushed to violence by the forces of society. Rugged individualists. People who will kill savagely without missing a beat. But also people who have a tender heart towards their families and even complete strangers. One minute the protagonist is holding up a mom and pop grocery--the next he is helping an old man change a tire along the side of a hot dusty Texas highway. There are no easy answers or platitudes in Blake's books. Violence usually begets violence. And if you need happy, conventional endings, look elsewhere. But if you like to turn over a rock and see what's crawling underneath, then I can highly recommend Blake's work.

Pales:
As a big fan of Blake I was surely disappointed that he's covering the same ground as in the past and covered it better in the past. The same relationships exist between the characters, their careers and their women as in Red Grass River. The action passages offer some bright spots (loved the prison break), but they appear between cliche scenes and his desire to show you he's done his homework on all things 1920's (the egg in the radiator, song titles, ginger jake etc.) but what bothers me most is this piece just doesn't seem to have any soul. Here's to hoping the next one has some.

Not Blakes's Best But Still Good:
It is cliche but A WORLD OF THIEVES is not James Carlos Blake's best work. The writing style seems flat or maybe controlled, not full of the vibrancy and literary energy of RED GRASS RIVER or IN ROGUE BLOOD. My best guess is that Mr. Blake decided to write a more subdued tale, a little quieter, more subtle than the others and it came out less passionate. A WORLD didn't win any book awards where both RED GRASS and IN ROGUE did, a fact which helps makes my point. But all this is only comparing Blake to Blake and Blake is the best. A WORLD OF THIEVES is still full of action and adventure and it brings to life the 1920's in Texas and Louisiana. You have roadsters and oil wells and speakeasys and boom towns and New Orleans and West Texas. The action includes fisticuffs (our hero is a champion boxer), prison escapes, gun battles and holdups. A particularly sinister villain adds menace to the tale. And there is a love story and a boy-coming-of-age story here as well. Plenty for the Blake fan. Not his best but still pretty good. I give it three and a half shotgun shells out of five.

NOT BLAKE'S BEST BUT STILL GOOD ENOUGH:
It is cliche but A WORLD OF THIEVES is not James Carlos Blake's best work. The writing style seems flat or maybe controlled, not full of the vibrancy and literary energy of RED GRASS RIVER or IN ROGUE BLOOD. My best guess is that Mr. Blake decided to write a more subdued tale, a little quieter, more subtle than the others and it came out less passionate. A WORLD didn't win any book awards where both RED GRASS and IN ROGUE did, a fact which helps makes my point. But all this is only comparing Blake to Blake and Blake is the best. A WORLD OF THIEVES is still full of action and adventure and it brings to life the 1920's in Texas and Louisiana. You have roadsters and oil wells and speakeasys and boom towns and New Orleans and West Texas. The action includes fisticuffs (our hero is a champion boxer), prison escapes, gun battles and holdups. A particularly sinister villain adds menace to the tale. And there is a love story and a boy-coming-of-age story here as well. Plenty for the Blake fan. Not his best but still pretty good. I give it three and a half shotgun shells out of five.

A novel that evokes Bonnie & Clyde:
After the death of his parents, a young, naive Sonny LaSalle gives up his education and career potential to follow his uncles' life of armed robbery and ensuing violence. When a bank robbery goes awry, Sonny is sent to prison. Though he gets a second chance, he never considers a lawful existence. He embraces his uncles' criminal code of conduct without question. He attaches himself to an abused woman he meets by chance. Though a likable character, Sonny achieves his limited emotional fulfillment from sexuality and violence. This is a well written novel, reminiscent of Bonnie & Clyde. It is a study in loyalty and morality (or lack thereof) in the wilds of Texas and Louisiana in the late 1920s. It was a solid read, albeit one that was at times a bit depressing. Blake doesn't celebrate the violence - he reports it in writing that is crisp and spare, and develops characters that live on, long after the book is closed.