With "In The Rogue Blood", James Carlos Blake reinvents the American historical novel. His writing talent and execution of detail make reading this novel a cinematic experience. By imagining Cormac McCarthy's interpretation of Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, one would have the grand scope of Blake's canvas.

Set in the world that was the American West, this is the story of the ties of family and the outside forces and circumstances that tear brother from brother. Fleeing a shattered family, two young brothers set out into the land of Texas. In 1845 Edward Little leaves behind in Pensacola a murdered sister and an alcoholic father. Journeying through New Orleans into the Mexican bordertowns of eastern Texas, Edward and his brother John discover that not everyone places the same value upon human life. When the brothers join opposing armies, they find that even the ties of brotherhood cannot span across the Rio Grande during the raging Mexican-American War.

This novel is at once a masterful tale of the West that once was and a view of the families that attempted to overcome the vast wilderness that became America. Blake has created a portrait of the American West as it once appeared -- beautiful, barren and deadly. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

The 19th-century American West is brought vividly to life in Blake's (The Pistoleer and The Friends of Pancho Villa) raw and powerful third novel. After their family is destroyed by their father's alcohol-fueled incest and the resulting bloodshed, brothers Edward and John Little leave their shattered Florida home and light out for a Texas they idealize, hoping to settle their own piece of land in what they believe to be a paradisiacal new territory. Along the way, however, they confront the wild frontier. Far from the Eden they seek, it is a savage world rife with lynchings, bandits and scalpings. The brothers must face the fact that the violence in this savage land mirrors the violence in their own "rogue blood," the dark legacy from their father that they can't outrun. Separated on their journey, John and Edward find themselves on opposing sides of the Mexican-American War. Soon, they are fighting not only on the battlefield but against each other and the ghosts of their own unacknowledged pasts. Demonstrating an extensive knowledge of the era, Blake captures the tone and atmosphere of gritty frontier life. Drunkenness, explicit sex, pain and blood give this tale a graphic authenticity that may turn off some readers. This frontier saga of two brothers confronting their inner demons in a howl of "incessant screaming" is a strikingly noir historical western, and an inventive addition to Blake's work. (Aug.) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Forget Davy Crockett and the other "heroes" of the Alamo. Blake's (The Friends of Pancho Villa, Berkley, 1996) third novel offers a much bloodier and more terrible picture of the West than legends would have us believe. In 1845, Edward Little and his brother, John, flee their Florida home, leaving behind a missing sister and a mother driven insane by her drunken, abusive husband. Heading for the Mexican border towns, the brothers get separated in New Orleans. They each make their way to Texas, joining up with like-minded fellows out for adventure and Indian-killing. Edward and John end up on opposite sides when the United States declares war on Mexico; not even brotherly love can bridge the gap created by the Rio Grande in the 1840s. Episode after episode of unrelieved murder and mayhem as experienced by mostly inarticulate men make up this fast-moving, unromanticized Western. Recommended for public libraries.‘Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information