Country of the Bad Wolfes

James Carlos Blake

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

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 Díaz, 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 Díaz 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 Río Grande.

Review by Ben Macnair (300415) Rating (7/10)

Review by Ben Macnair
Rating 7/10
Country of the Bad Wolfes is one of those fictional works that seamlessly blends history, together with crime in a story that could come straight out of the history books. An alternative history book, one that looks at the hardships of life that many faced in the old west of America and on the Mexican borders between the late 1820’s and the 1910’s. It is not a light read, either in terms of subject matter, or length, but it is worth sticking with.

The book starts as it means to go on. It is quickly out of the gates, and packs a lot of death, characterisation and details into its 464 pages. We see the Wolfe family, started by an Irish English pirate in New Hampshire in 1828, continue a reign of malevolence, building on their reputations.The book intertwines real events in American and Mexican history around characters that are believably well drawn, and of their times. The violence is at times horribly realistic, but fits within the genres. James Carlos Blake has something of the writing style of Elmore Leonard, with characterisation dovetailing with the narrative arc actions to tell the stories of men and women trying to survive in very difficult and trying times.

The family relationships are all well drawn, and feel organic, with names chosen to suit the times. Although this is a work of fiction, a lot of research has clearly also gone into to make it feel realistic, for this book is the first of a The Wolfe Trilogy.

Mysterious figures occur throughout the book, intertwining with the lives of the Wolfes with an American named Edward Little, whose links to Porfirio Diaz place the Wolfes in the right place, socially and geographically to grow and become a feared family of crime within the Wild West.

This book has something to appeal to fans of Historical fiction, but they will need strong stomachs to cope with some of the more gruesome aspects of the novel, but it is an interesting read, and gives a new way of looking at history.
Ben Macnair (30th April 2015)