Customer Reviews

The Creed of Violence

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The manuscript to THE CREED was leaked from publishers to movie scouts to film producers because it was a dynamite read. That's how I got a copy. Let me tell you. Boston Teran is an American original. He is a literary dramatist and literary painter without peer.

THE CREED is about a father and son. The elder is a murderer, the younger an agent for the Bureau of Investigation. Their journey together is to take a truck loaded with ammunition through Mexico during the Revolution of 1910 to the oil fields of Tampico.

THE CREED is thrilling. It is humane, filled with pathos and humor, it is political, social, totally relevent to our present war in the Middle East and it is, above all, blow out rock and roll artistry.

What's the line from that old classic - Who is that masked man? Some say Teran is not even a man, but a woman using a cover. Doesn't matter. The book is a knockout. Teran walks alone.

I love unusual and The Creed of Violence by Boston Teran is unusual for various reasons. One is that the two main characters are father and son; however, the father does not know that the younger man is his son until close to the end of the book. The author emphasizes the relationship over and over by often eliminating the use of their names, choosing instead to refer to them as "the father" or "the son." For this reader, it forced me to look more closely at their dialogue and actions and to carefully examine the interrelationship shifts and changes. A truly unique experience that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Another unusual thing was that Teran wrote in a foreword statement that he would leave it to the reader's judgment whether our present political and military situation parallels the world upon which his novel was built. Doing this, of course, also forces the reader to verify or deny those parallels. Even before I started to read, I was sure there would be!

Rawbone was born in Scabtown and raised in a brothel. He was not yet 10 when he killed his first man. His son considered him a common assassin.

His son thought he hated him because he had left he and his mother. Perhaps, though, he had grown stronger because of his father--because John Lourdes was a respected officer of the Bureau of Investigation. And he wanted to be the cause of his father's death...

Now he had his chance. In his latest escapade Rawbone had killed all of the men who were driving a large truck--full of guns and ammunition. Rawbone had planned on selling the load to the highest bidder, checking in with his lawyer as to how that could be best accomplished. He sent him to Juarez to meet with "very private people."

John Lourdes was already working in that area. So was his boss, Justice Knox, who was at the right place at the right time to capture Rawbone. In fact, his son was one of the agents who now had him under arrest. But then, Rawbone had something to trade...

It made John sick to think that his father could earn immunity. What was worse, because he was the only agent who was bilingual, John was going to have to travel with Rawbone as he "worked off" his end of the deal. They would travel across the border, where John would have no authority; Rawbone could escape or kill him and nobody could prevent it! The only hold over him would be that John would have Knox's direct order to kill him if he posed any type of threat. Father and Son both had reason to protect each other--or to kill the other!

And they were heading deep into Mexican oil country--where representatives of American oil companies and governmental officials were meeting to increase bottom line profits--with oil, it's always the bottom line...

Boston Teran's The Creed of Violence is a tour into the deadly violence that erupts when power and money drive the actions of men, while others starve and barely make a living. With high tension between father and son while the action is sometimes slow-paced, it challenges readers to study the love/hate relationship as it evolves between the two men, as they fight to save their lives!

This tale will live with me--and maybe you--for a long time! Highly recommended!

G. A. Bixler

I came to THE CREED OF VIOLENCE by way of Boston Teran's other hit book out GIV-THE STORY OF A DOG AND AMERICA. It was not only a great literary work about a dog, it was a moving look into the soul of America, so I thought I'd give THE CREED a shot. It is about a father and son, alienated, who must take a shipment of arms together into Mexico during the Revolution of 1910. The plotline barely scratches the surface. The book goes from heart stopping to heart breaking and back again in nothing flat, it has a deep social conscious at the same time is has scathing black humor. It is about iconic American characters while it is a cautionary tale.

Imagine Joseph Conrad's THE HEART OF DARKNESS told with the style, drama and passion of Tchaikovsky's OVERTURE OF 1812. Reading these two great books reminds me of the first U2 concert I saw - I knew I was experiencing something totally unique.

I bought this book because I thought the cover was very hip and I am a big fan of the era. I had no idea the book would be that good. The story is pretty well detailed in the outline on Amazon so I won't go there. I will only tell you I was absolutely drawn in, not only was it thrilling - I read the book in one night - but the details of the era blew me away. I would be reading and say " that can't be true" then I did research on the internet and - it was true. This book is a whole new take on literary/historical fiction. I give it the highest rating.

In 1910 Rawbone has no conscience when it comes to thieving and even killing. He never looks back until he is caught stealing guns and ammo heading to Mexico as a revolt has broken out south of the border. His lawyer arranges a deal with the Bureau of Investigations. In exchange for immunity from the law, he sets a con to capture some big time felons making a fortune illegally.

Assigned to accompany Rawbone is Agent John Lourdes, a straight shooter who adheres to the letter of the law. Rawbone and Lourdes know each other having met before, but only one of them is aware of their true relationship; even the Bureau of Investigation is ignorant. As they journey through killing fields of smugglers, the pair tries to ignore their loathing of the other as survival one day at a time is all that matters.

This is an engaging historical thriller starring a father and son team who simply detest one another although one remains ignorant as to their blood relationship with the son being the total opposite of the father. The story line is fast-paced as the exhilarating adventures out-race the DNA gimmick. Boston Teran paints a timely picture of the Tex-Mex border circa 1910 that easily could be circa 2010 with the triangular trade of guns, drugs, and people.

Harriet Klausner

Caught this great review of THE CREED OF VIOLENCE on BOOK READER'S HEAVEN and ordered a copy. Was a huge fan of Teran's classic GOD IS A BULLET. That book blew me away.

THE CREED tells a powerful drama about a father and son in 1910 war torn Mexico while it subtley describes the falling away of one world to become the one we are living in today. That world is built on the title of the book, it is how our world functions. THE CREED OF VIOLENCE is not just a title, it is a philosophy.

There's being literary, and then there's being an artist. And there is a difference. In THE CREED there's a moment when father and son come upon a desert outpost where they find everyone murdered and rotting in the sun and vultures everywhere and what does the father do while the son tries to discover what's happened? The father finds a Victrola and sits in a chair among the dead with a rifle acoss his lap listening to Brahm's Lullaby. The author describes the scene as a Bruegeled damanta - it is in fact a living parallel to Bruegel's famous painting THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH. Not only is it pure description, but it works on different symbolic levels in the story. The moment is not just literary, it's art.

Rawbone was as tough as they got. He killed his first man at the age of ten. Rawbone gets caught by the Bureau of Investigation, haling a truck load of weapons. In exchange for not being prosecuted and having his slate wiped clean, he agrees to help the Bureau take down the ring leader.

John Lourdes works for the Bureau. When John's boss assigns John the responsibly of accompanying Rawbone across the Mexican border, John is anything but thrilled. Though John is a good agent and will do whatever the job entails. Besides this will give John a chance to get to see who his father really is. Yes, that is correct...Rawbone is John's father. Only Rawbone doesn't know this fact.

First off let me tell you that I had no expectations of whether I would like this book or not. Well I am happy to report that I not only enjoyed this book but that I read it in one sitting! The Creed of Violence reminded me of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Which this book is being made into a movie. The dynamics between John and Rawbone had good depth and range. In my opinion The Creed of Violence is what good western novels should be like...simple, great characters, and a good story line. One thing that did throw me off track at first was how Mr. Teran identified John and Rawbone as "the father" and "the son". Though this did help play a part in explaining the relationship between John and Rawbone.

T-riffic. Plot - clever plus important, Characters - utterly real and detailed, yet mythic. Had the humanity of SHANE and the intensity of THE WILD BUNCH. Like Hemingway, Steinbeck and McCarthy - the book is literary but begs to be filmed - big time filmed. I read Universal is making it.

I was very impressed with this book. It was an exemplary read. It had a unique and singular vision, and the world it described just leapt off the page. The interplay between the protagonist, John Lourdes, and the antagonist, Rawbone, his father, was the central drama of the book. They were like two smart, tough, rattlesnakes having at each other, testing each other, outmaneuvering each other, while at the same time being utterly dependent on each other for their survival.

I am a big fan of books where there is a character you can get invested in and follow through a series of books. John Lourdes is exactly that kind of character, and I hope the author and publishers have envisioned that, or at least consider it.

THE CREED OF VIOLENCE is the marrow of American Lit. Richard Slotkin needs to make this book one of the essentials in his great volume on American Myth - GUNFIGHTER NATION - THE MYTH OF THE FRONTIER IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICA..."the heroes of myth embody something like the full range of ideological contradictions around which the life of the culture revolves, and their adventures suggest the range of possible resolutions that the culture's lore provides." This book captures the essence of the American myth.