Do They Know I'm Running?: A Novel (Mortalis) [Paperback]

David Corbett (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mortalis | Publication Date: March 2, 2010

From acclaimed author David Corbett, a stunning and suspenseful novel of a life without loyalties and the borders inside ourselves.

Roque Montalvo is wise beyond his eighteen years. Orphaned at birth, a gifted musician, he’s stuck in a California backwater, helping his Salvadoran aunt care for his damaged brother, an ex-marine badly wounded in Iraq. When immigration agents arrest his uncle, the family has nowhere else to turn. Roque, badgered by his street-hardened cousin, agrees to bring the old man back, relying on the criminal gangs that control the dangerous smuggling routes from El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, to the U.S. border.
 
But his cousin has told Roque only so much. In reality, he will have to transport not just his uncle but two others: an Arab whose intentions are disturbingly vague and a young beauty promised to a Mexican crime lord. Roque discovers that his journey involves crossing more than one kind of border, and he will be asked time and again to choose between survival and betrayal—of his country, his family, his heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Corbett (Blood of Paradise) delivers a rich, hard-hitting epic that illuminates the violent and surreal landscapes of Central America and Mexico. After 18-year-old Roque Montalvo's uncle, Faustino, an illegal Salvadoran immigrant, is deported in an INS sweep, Roque's criminal cousin, Pablo Happy Orantes, cooks up a scheme to smuggle Faustino back to California, along with a mysterious Palestinian asylum seeker, but it involves a hefty price to Latin American thugs. Happy strikes a deal with an FBI agent, offering up a major drug dealer for his family's citizenship papers. Roque travels from California to El Salvador, where he discovers that the gangsters want him to deliver a beautiful girl about his age, Lupe, to a vicious border crime leader. Roque and Lupe embark on an unforgettable journey north, pursued by banditos, police, and the FBI. Of course, Roque falls for Lupe and vows to help her escape a dismal fate. Fans of Luis Alberto Urrea and Don Winslow alike will be richly rewarded. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Eighteen-year-old Roque Montalvo must travel from California’s East Bay to El Salvador to help Tio Faustino illegally reenter the U.S. Faustino has been arrested in an illegal-immigration sweep in Oakland and immediately deported. Faustino’s son has made the arrangements for passage with MS-13, the Salvadoran multinational gang. But Roque soon learns that he must also shepherd a mysterious Arab as well as rescue Lupe, a beautiful, terrified, embittered, young Salvadoran woman, who is to be given to a psychotic MS-13 lieutenant en route. The journey is perilous, but so, author Corbett makes clear, is life for illegal aliens in California. Corbett is covering familiar ground (Blood of Paradise, 2007), but in this powerful, evocative, character-driven novel, he has written what should be a breakout success. What drives Corbett’s characters to risk death, violent gangs, ICE, armed “Minutemen,” deportation, and life as fugitives in the U.S. As the Arab says to Lupe: “Yes, there is little hope in the world. But without America, there is none. Despite everything, you will have a chance.” Readers who devour and then forget formulaic crime novels won’t soon forget this one. --Thomas Gaughan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 452 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Original edition (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812977556
• ISBN-13: 978-0812977554
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #654,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Corbett is the author of three critically acclaimed novels: "The Devil's Redhead," "Done for a Dime" (a New York Times Notable Book), and "Blood of Paradise," which was nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar, and named both one of the Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers of 2007 by the Washington Post and a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book; it was also selected for the US Southern Command Reading List by Admiral James Stavridis.

His fourth novel, "Do They Know I'm Running?," will be published in March 2010, and has earned the following praise from John Lescroart:

"This is not just a thriller, but an elegant novel, full of heart, soul, music, food, cruelty, betrayal, poverty and love. The line runs through Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene, straight on to David Corbett. I'm not kidding. He's that good."

David's short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, including "San Francisco Noir" and "Phoenix Noir," and his story "Pretty Little Parasite" (from "Las Vegas Noir") was selected for inclusion in "Best American Mystery Stories 2009."

David has also contributed a chapter to the world's first serial audio thriller, "The Chopin Manuscript"--which won an Audie Award for Best Audio Book of 2008--and also to its follow-up, "The Copper Bracelet."

For more, go to www.davidcorbett.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Character-Driven Work, May 10, 2010

By 

Theresa O'Loughlin (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do They Know I'm Running?: A Novel (Mortalis) (Paperback)

Do They Know I'm Running is absolutely outstanding. It is a beautifully written, at times lyrical, work which tells a universally human story of family, love, and loyalty against a backdrop which is not only timely, but which is also important to know more about.

David Corbett vividly paints the picture of the terrible price involved in trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States. And he does so in a way which informs without preaching.

A real highlight of David Corbett's writing is his characters. Every character is fully fleshed out and fully real. Every one of them has his/her own well-written history, which informs the present, and his/her own distinctive voice. Some of these histories, such as Tio Faustino's, are told through anecdotes which are beautiful standalone vignettes. And one example of how complex and multi-layered his characters are is that the rancher and his wife, who appear for less than 20 pages of the 450-page book, have a a whole heart-breaking story of their own.

I highly recommend Do They Know I'm Running, as well as David Corbett's other three books--The Devil's Redhead, Done for a Dime, and Blood of Paradise.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chracters that stay, June 16, 2010

By 

NY mystery fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Do They Know I'm Running?: A Novel (Mortalis) (Paperback)

It took me a while to open the book; I needed to be ready for the rough
and emotional ride.
But I'm glad I did. I finished reading /Do They Know I'm Running/ about
three weeks ago. And somehow Lupe and Roque
and Tio Faustino and the rancher and his wife still stay with me. I love
it when characters do that.
It took me a long time to accept that sometimes you don't know what
happens to them later, but the fact that you wonder means they're real.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do Thrillers Come Any Better Than This?, June 6, 2010

By 

Joseph Clifford (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do They Know I'm Running?: A Novel (Mortalis) (Paperback)

Wow. If there is a better thriller out there, someone please let me know. Like "No Country for Old Men" (which I love) but with better characters, sharper writing, and a more convincing and compelling plot. This is the "other side," what gets lost in the immigration debate; it's the story of real people, broken but somehow still hopeful, lost in the shadows chasing that impossible American Dream. Corbett doesn't sugarcoat, doesn't placate, and isn't interested in playing by "commercial" rules. His characters are both ugly and beautiful, capable of extreme selfishness and sacrifice, almost in the same breath. In short, they are real. The book tackles immigration, terrorism, and patriotism, and somehow does so in an understated way. It's the story of a couple Mexican cousins, Happy and Godo, who've fought in a hypocritical war only to return banged up and unwanted, and who put their new "skills" to use to fix their fractured family, sending the darling baby of the family, Roque, across the border to fetch his uncle who's been deported. How tough could it be? Pretty d*mn tough. No one, nothing are what they seem. From the double dealing US government to the unspeakable inhumanities of the drug lords and cartels on the human smuggling pipeline, "Running" plays out like a frantic game of hide and seek, taking the reader down Mexico's dusty roads and into the cracks of an America many will never see. With an ending that is spot-on perfect. As flawless as it gets. And Corbett even manages to squeeze in a love story that cuts and lingers long after the book is put down. And what makes "Running" such a rare treat is the writing itself, which too often in mysteries is relegated to an afterthought. Here, the prose reads poetic and poignant; it's lyrical and rhythmic, stark and illumining, with lines that will break your heart. If this novel doesn't win major awards or isn't optioned into a Blockbuster, I lose what little faith I have left in the arts. "Do They Know I'm Running?" is the real deal, the best book you will read all year.