I think this book's title and cover do it a disservice. It is a more exciting and action-focused book than it appeared to me at first glance. The tone and content are quite pulpy, like a less depressing Tarantino movie. I'd have entitled it "Rawbone", after one of the two main characters. He's a con-man, and as he repeatedly describes himself, "A common assassin." He's quite a bit too successful a scoundrel and murderer for the "common" part to be true, but he's very humble about his capabilities. He's also a deadbeat dad who abandoned his wife and 10 year old son about 11 years before the events of this story. That son is the second protagonist, and by the time of the story he's a confident and competent law enforcement official who would like nothing more than to put his father behind bars for good. Of course, events intervene and the two end up on a crazy road-trip full of the titular violence and political complications. There's even a complicated love interest for the young hero, a character who is painted with depth and subtlety in spite of never being the story's primary focus.

By the time the characters' plans have gone completely off the rails, the son says to his father, "I'm going to hurt you in a way you could never imagine. I'm going to put my faith in you. Not as an agent for the Bureau of Investigation... but as a man."

This wasn't the twistiest story, but it was very entertaining throughout, and even occasionally thought-provoking. I feel obligated to mention the political aspects of the book, though when I was reading it they didn't lessen my enjoyment. Some parallels are obvious between the events of the story and the more recent invasion of Iraq, including the inclusion of a mercenary company called "Black Water" in Spanish.

New words I found in this book:
carreta - a two-wheeled cart
caisson - a large watertight chamber, open at the bottom from which the water is kept out by air pressure and in which construction work may be carried out under water. (historical term for a chest or wagon for holding or conveying ammunition.)
guidon - a pennant that narrows to a point or fork at the free end, especially one used as the standard of a light cavalry regiment.
nacre - mother-of-pearl
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Boston Teran’s new novel of political intrigue, The Creed of Violence, shimmers like a mirage on the baking desert floor, threatening to combust at any moment, and constantly evaporating into new shapes.

In the days just before revolution erupts in Mexico, a truck, loaded with weapons bound for blood, stops along a lonely, chapped road for a man on foot. The man, Rawbone, poisons the driver and steals the truck’s payload. When he tries to fence the weapons in the dusty, border town of El Paso, a young agent of the newly formed Bureau of Investigations, John Lourdes, arrests him. In the calculating stare of his prey, Lourdes recognizes a man whom he never expected to see again, a man whom he promised himself he’d kill if he ever found. Bound together, the two set out to transport the weapons to their intended destination, Rawbone in hopes of earning his freedom and Lourdes intent on uncovering an international conspiracy. The fragile partnership between these seeming opposites blossoms into something unexpected as they probe each other’s dark souls.

Teran walks a high wire in this relentless thriller, balancing personal tales of loss and regret with a larger story of corruption and greed. Rawbone and Lourdes are both children of a bloody desert barrio who mourn the loss of youthful innocence yet revel in the keen instincts and quickly violent nature the transformation wrought in them. Teran tells their personal story of redemption against the backdrop of American intervention into a budding civil war and a private security company named Agua Negra – black water – which foments revolution in hopes of securing interests in undeveloped oil fields. These rich and complex layers make for a captivating read.

As to Teran’s style, there will be those who compare him to Cormac McCarthy, especially given the story’s setting and time. And, while he exhibits McCarthy’s raw emotion and seething violence, his rich, graceful sentences and subtly intelligent dialog are more reminiscent of Hemingway. Not everyone will agree that Teran deserves such a comparison, but, in my book, he earned it.

A favorite read for the New Year.

Five bones!!!!! ( )

The Creed of Violence starts out on the Texas/Mexico border in 1910. Mexico is rumbling for revolution which is a problem for both countries because of Mexico's much-needed oil fields (hmmm...sounds eerily familiar). John Lourdes is a young agent in America's Bureau of Investigation (early FBI). His job is to take the criminal known as Rawbone and travel with him and a truck full of weapons across the border into Mexico undercover. Rawbone is working with the Bureau to gain immunity. Problem? Aside from the obvious dangers of working undercover in a country on the brink of revolution, Rawbone is John Lourdes dead-beat father. John Lourdes knows this. Rawbone does not.

I really enjoyed this book for two reasons: the setting of the novel and the relationship between father and son. I could totally see why The Creed of Violence is being adapted in to a movie. What a violent and vivid portrait he paints of Mexico, the revolutionaries, the violence, and America's intervention into the fray. The setting sucked me into the novel but it was really the relationship between Rawbone and John Lourdes that kept me reading.

Here's the first line of the book which is about Rawbone:

"He was born in Scabtown the day Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theater."

I love how it starts out. Rawbone is a criminal and a common killer. He never knew his father and his prostitute mom died when he was young. Left on his own he turned criminal. Honestly, I kind of liked him. He was sort of funny with a type of wit that made him a likable character. John Lourdes, ironically, had a similar sad upbringing. Rawbone was married to his mom and then took off when Lourdes was young. His mom passed away shortly after. But instead of turning criminal like Rawbone, Lourdes joins the Bureau of Investigation. He's angry at Rawbone and really wants to see him dead.

But their journey together changes them. And that's the part of The Creed of Violence that I enjoyed. I'm excited to see how this book will be adapted to the big screen. I wonder who would portray Rawbone and John Lourdes.

**Asked by Kelley and Hall to read and review. ( )