The Rules of Wolfe.

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:20:17 GMT

Blake, James Carlos (author).
July 2013. 272p. Mysterious, hardcover, $24 (9780802121295).
REVIEW. First published May 1, 2013 (Booklist). Building on his leisurely, quasi-autobiographical saga Country of the Bad Wolfes (2012), Blake uses the characters of his sprawling Mexican American clan to offer a new spin on the kind of hard-edged outlaw tale he’s better known for. The Wolfes are engaged in the “shade trade”: a wide range of illegal activities, mostly cross-border smuggling, but not, as a rule, drugs or people. The Wolfes have a lot of rules, and to that they owe their success. Young Eddie is in too much of a hurry to follow one of the rules (get a college education before you turn to crime), so he takes a low-level job for a big drug cartel south of the border. After he sleeps with one of the bosses’ girls, and then kills the boss, safe return to El Norte looks impossible. This fascinating family portrait tightens focus as we follow Eddie’s breathless attempts to get home with the woman he’s falling for. Blake’s prose is muscular, his dialogue and details are keenly observed, and his jump-cuts to minor characters’ fates are entertainingly cinematic. His characters are lively, and so is his plot—the nearer Eddie gets to escaping, the agonizingly farther away he seems. Will he make it? Either way, it’s one hell of a ride. — Keir Graff

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The Rules of Wolfe.