Country of the Bad Wolfes - by James Carlos Blake (Paperback)

About the Book

The violent but manifest destiny of the Wolfe family from Yankee America through the Diaz Regime of Mexico.

Book Synopsis

A page-turning epic about the making of a borderland crime family, "Country of the Bad Wolfes" will appeal both to aficionados of family sagas and to fans of hard-knuckled crime novels by the likes of Donald Pollack, Elmore Leonard, James Lee Burke and James Ellroy.
Basing the novel partly on his own ancestors, Blake presents the story of the Wolfe family -- spanning three generations, centering on two sets of identical twins and the women they love, and ranging from New England to the heart of Mexico before arriving at its powerful climax at the Rio Grande.
Begat by an Irish-English pirate in New Hampshire in 1828, the Wolfe family follows its manifest destiny into war-torn Mexico. There, through the connection of a mysterious American named Edward Little, their fortunes intertwine with those of Porfirio Diaz, who will rule the country for more than thirty years before his overthrow by the Revolution of 1910. In the course of those tumultuous chapters in American and Mexican history, as Diaz grows in power, the Wolfes grow rich and forge a violent history of their own, spawning a fearsome legacy that will pursue them to a climactic reckoning at the Rio Grande.
A master of the historical novel, James Carlos Blake has been hailed as "a poet of the damned who writes like an angel" (Donald Newlove, "Kirkus Reviews"). "Library Journal" says of Blake's latest novel that it is "brawling, high-spirited, and superbly realized ... this novel offers many pleasures, including endearing characters, unlikely love stories, and all manner of mayhem."
James Carlos Blake was born in Mexico and grew up in Texas and Florida. He is the author of nine other novels and a collection of short works. Among his literary honors are the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southwest Book Award, and the Falcon Award.

Review Quotes

"James Carlos Blake is an American prose-hero, and writers of the western inclination have been stealing him blind for years. Get this book. You won't be sorry." -- Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Hummingbird's Daughter, Queen of America and Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush
"Blake's boisterous tenth novel unspools an epic filial tale, detailing the confluence of Mexico's ill-starred destiny with the fate of an Irish-British-American family so thoroughly accursed that it seems almost inevitable that the clan should become Mexican ... A multigenerational saga [with] wonderfully drawn characters ... A natural yarn-spinner ... Blake excels in gorily choreographed fight scenes [and] while [he] keeps you immersed in his wildly picaresque tale, he slowly reels in the novel's dark take-home: it doesn't matter if your distant ancestry is pre-Columbian or Hibernian, Aztec or Iberian. Sooner or later, it'll catch up with you." -- John Phillip Santos, Texas Monthly
"A great read from start to finish, full of grit, local color, and a large cast of vibrant characters ... this brawling, high-spirited, and superbly realized family saga ... offers many pleasures, including endearing characters, unlikely love stories, and all manner of mayhem. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction." -- Library Journal
"A rollicking tale ... that acquires depth as it moves across generations and national boundaries ... Blake doesn't mind a boudoir but his real strengths come in describing manly mayhem, which he portrays with uncommon poetry ... [With] Cormac McCarthy's tutelary spirit [and] soupcons of Garcia Marquez ... the book keeps good company ... full of wry humor and thoughtful writing." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Murder, politics, and illegitimate children fuel this engrossing and wonderfully realized saga." -- Publishers Weekly
"This is historical fiction in the manner of Umberto Eco ... many-faceted, slow, and savory." -- Booklist
"Over the years, Blak


"James Carlos Blake is an American prose-hero, and writers of the western inclination have been stealing him blind for years. Get this book. You won't be sorry."
--Luis Alberto Urrea, author of "The Hummingbird's Daughter", "Queen of America" and "Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush"

"Brawling, high-spirited, and superbly realized ... this novel offers many pleasures, including endearing characters, unlikely love stories, and all manner of mayhem." -- "Library Journal"

"Blake has a sure-handed grasp of 19th-century western US history and culture that is every bit as engaging and authentic as say, Cormac McCarthy and Guy Vanderhaeghe and Jim Harrison .... a skillful and astute narrative ... an enthralling tale." -- Robert Birnbaum

"With generous dollops of good old-fashioned melodrama and juicy tidbits of Mexican political history, Blake's story will entertain fans of historical and adventure novels alike." -- "Shelf Awareness"

"An epic filial tale ... wonderfully drawn characters. [Blake] 's a natural yarn spinner." -- "Texas Monthly"

"This is historical fiction in the manner of Umberto Eco ... many-faceted, slow, and savory." -- "Booklist"

About the Author

James Carlos Blake was born in Tampico, Mexico, and grew up in Brownsville, Texas, and Florida. He is the author of nine novels and a collection of short stories. His novel "In Rogue Blood" won the "Los Angeles Times" Book Prize for Fiction in 1997. "Entertainment Weekly" calls Blake "one of the greatest chroniclers of the mythical American outlaw life."