A World of Thieves: A Novel [Paperback]

James Carlos Blake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 24, 2002

In 1928 New Orleans, eighteen-year-old Sonny LaSalle is a top prep student and champion amateur boxer -- and he venerates his fraternal twin uncles, Buck and Russell, armed robbers who love their profession. Sonny secretly believes that he, too, is a natural outlaw and persuades his uncles to take him on as a partner. But when a bank job goes bad, Sonny is sent to jail, where he unintentionally kills a policeman who is the son of the most feared lawman in Louisiana, widely known as "John Bones."

After nine months in the infamous Angola penitentiary, Sonny makes a harrowing escape and manages to reunite with Buck and Russell. The carefree trio head out for the boomtowns of west Texas, where the money flows as freely as the oil, unaware that vengeance follows close behind, as the cool, calculating John Bones begins a relentless campaign to hunt down Sonny ... no matter what.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, December 2001: James Carlos Blake has written several novels, but this is the first that can be categorized wholeheartedly as a mystery. Set in the Southwest of 1928, it tells the story of three men who go on a journey of robbery and unintentional murder throughout Louisiana and Texas.

Sonny LaSalle is only a few years younger than his twin uncles, Russell and Buck, and he adores them and their way of life, which involves mostly robbing banks and rigging gambling scams. When he suggests that they take him on as a third partner, they indulge him and let him drive the getaway car on a bank robbery. Sonny is immediately caught and put in a holding cell where a fight breaks out. When Sonny hits a rookie cop who is trying to break up the fight, he inadvertently kills him and is sent to the infamous Angola prison in Louisiana for the long haul. But it's not in Sonny's nature to stay cooped up for long, and he soon escapes, doing what only a few have done before him: running along the levee to freedom and back to his uncles.

From then on, these charming felons career across the landscape stealing just enough money to keep them comfortable, meeting women, and helping damsels in distress. What these carefree villains do not know, but the reader does, is that the rookie cop's father, John Isley Bonham, is not going to simply let Sonny go free. Bonham is a longtime deputy sheriff near retirement. His life has been tragic, and the only joy he ever had was through his son. Bonham is said to have killed more men than any cop in the state. Although he's always claimed self- defense, rumor has it that some of the killings were, in fact, executions. Now he starts his slow, relentless campaign to hunt Sonny down and kill him. Russell, Buck, and Sonny do kill some innocent people, it's true, but compared to Bonham they are amateurs--and Bonham is closing in on them.

For fans of Daniel Woodrell, James Lee Burke, and Robbers, last year's exceptional first novel by Christopher Cook, this book is a must. --Otto Penzler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Blake revisits familiar territory with another story of an outlaw, this time set in Prohibition-era Louisiana and Texas. Sonny LaSalle, the tragic hero, is orphaned at age 18 and decides to take up with his two beloved uncles, lifelong criminals. After a bank robbery gone wrong, he lands in jail, where he accidentally kills a policeman who is the son of a very influential, very frightening man. Sonny is sentenced to 30 years at the Angola penitentiary but soon escapes with his uncles' help. They head to the oil boomtowns of west Texas, accompanied by long-suffering girlfriends and pursued by the revenge-hungry father, whose activities are described in superviolent chapters interspersed with the main story line. This is a fast-moving story with plenty of action and graphic detail but not really the "thriller" it claims to be. The outcome is all too predictable--the love of danger leads the trio straight past any chance at happiness and headlong into disaster. Still, the journey downward will appeal to noir fans. Carrie Bissey
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (December 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060512474
• ISBN-13: 978-0060512477
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #908,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pales, May 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A World of Thieves: A Novel (Hardcover)

As a big fan of Blake I was surely disappointed that he's covering the same ground as in the past and covered it better in the past. The same relationships exist between the characters, their careers and their women as in Red Grass River. The action passages offer some bright spots (loved the prison break), but they appear between cliche scenes and his desire to show you he's done his homework on all things 1920's (the egg in the radiator, song titles, ginger jake etc.) but what bothers me most is this piece just doesn't seem to have any soul. Here's to hoping the next one has some.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sadly, this one disappoints, July 23, 2002

By 

P. Zrimsek "zrim" (Northfield, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A World of Thieves: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm a big James Carlos Blake fan and it is painful to have to give A World of Thieves a mixed review. If this book had been written by another author and I had not read Red Grass River, I certainly would be singing the praises of this book. However, I know that Blake can do much better and really all he has done with this book is rewrite Red Grass River, moving the setting from the Everglades to Angola Prison in Louisianna and West Texas.

If you are new to Blake, do yourself a favor and read Red Grass River or In the Rogue Blood and wait until this one comes out in paperback. I think Blake does a tremendous job in recreating the underbelly of past American eras. His characters tend to be people living on the edge, pushed to violence by the forces of society. Rugged individualists. People who will kill savagely without missing a beat. But also people who have a tender heart towards their families and even complete strangers. One minute the protagonist is holding up a mom and pop grocery--the next he is helping an old man change a tire along the side of a hot dusty Texas highway.

There are no easy answers or platitudes in Blake's books. Violence usually begets violence. And if you need happy, conventional endings, look elsewhere. But if you like to turn over a rock and see what's crawling underneath, then I can highly recommend Blake's work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A swashbuckler set in the late '20's, March 18, 2002

By 

T. E. Vaughn (Chattanooga, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A World of Thieves: A Novel (Hardcover)

Instead of horses, they use cars and instead of swords, they have guns, but this picaresque novel harkens back to the swashbucklers of the past. It is a tale of a young man, his twin uncles and their life as armed robbers in the southwest of the 1920's.

All of the characters are interesting: the youthful protagonist Sonny with worldliness that belies his years and whose "nature" makes him an armed robber; the twins Russell and Buck who served honorably in the Great War, but chose robbery for the thrills (and the money); the women, whores, molls and accomplices; the "professional" criminals; and the implacable, violent pursuer. Some of these are stock characters, the criminals are all rather likeable and the prison guards sadistic, but the author handles then with a deftness that is never dull. The book is full of period touches and is probably an accurate picture of the time and place.

The only shame is that the heroes are criminals whose activities cost innocent people their lives. There is no justification for the crimes other than that it is what the La Salle boys want to do and that it is easier than working for the things they want. As one character opines, "Robbery is supposed to be risky. Otherwise everyone would do it." Sonny, Buck and Russell are charming, brave and funny, but they ARE criminals not noble fighters against tyranny. But, hey, it's a novel not a social science tract.

This is a book meant for film and the scriptwriters wouldn't need to change a thing. It was an enjoyable read, full of great scenes, memorable if not admirable characters, an evocation of a brief turbulent and violent time now quickly fading from memory. Well done, Mr. Blake!