Country of the Bad Wolfes

February 6, 2012
Blake's newest (after The Killings of Stanley Ketchel) is an immersive and complex epic set in New England, Mexico, and the American Southwest and spanning three generations of the Wolfe family, a rough-and-tumble clan sired in 1828 by pirate captain Roger Blake Wolfe, whose execution shortly after the birth of his twin boys, Samuel and John Roger, starts the book off with a violent start. The brothers' paths separate when Samuel accidentally kills a watchman and signs up for the Army under an alias to avoid prosecution, and John Roger goes to Dartmouth, from whence he graduates with a law degree. Both brothers end up in MexicoâSamuel deserts the Army and John Roger accepts a position as a sales agent at his wife's uncle's trading companyâ, but neither can escape the curse of the Wolfe blood, which persists across generations and geography. Murder, politics, and illegitimate children fuel this engrossing and wonderfully realized saga. The familial relationships are deep and sometimes difficult to trace (though a Wolfe genealogy at the beginning of the book helps a little), but Blake methodically moves his narrative forward to the tragic (but inevitable) conclusion. While he reveals little of his protagonists' inner lives, readers will be curious to see what tragedies befall the Wolfes and whether the family will be redeemed.

January 1, 2012

Blake has become a master of historical fiction (In the Rogue Blood), and this latest novel is a great read from start to finish, full of grit, local color, and a large cast of vibrant characters--as well as a full measure of pitiless frontier violence. Set in Mexico and Texas from the 1820s to the 1920s and based partly on Blake's own family, this brawling, high-spirited, and superbly realized family saga chronicles three generations of the Wolfe family, beginning with family patriarch Roger Blake Wolfe, a pirate captured and executed by Mexican authorities in 1828. At the center of the novel are twin brothers Blake and James Wolfe, who grow up on a remote Mexican hacienda and rise from humble beginnings as crocodile hunters to become gun runners and finally major landowners in Texas, with large families and powerful friends. VERDICT This novel offers many pleasures, including endearing characters, unlikely love stories, and all manner of mayhem. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction.--Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
A portrait of Mexican culture and history during the nineteenth century, this lengthy family saga clops along at a leisurely pace, tracing the rise and fall of Mexico's President Diaz and a wealthy merchant family, the Wolfes. Using his own family genealogy as a model, Blake digs nuggets of fictional family lore out of the murky past and sets them in chronological order, one vignette at a time. Irish pirate Roger Blake Wolfe escapes to the U.S. and sires twins whose reckless exploits land them in Mexico a generation later, where they build a flawed dynasty based on questionable business practices. As another set of swashbuckling, impassively cruel twins repeats the familial pattern of crime, success, and flight, the plot wends its way toward the inevitable. Readers will find themselves flipping to the family tree at the front to figure out who the characters are, though the message is clear: the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the sons throughout the generations. This is historical fiction in the manner of Umberto Eco, long on detail, short on character, many-faceted, slow, and savory.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)