A World of Thieves: A Novel
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 ofDaniel  Woodrell,James Lee Burke,  andRobbers, 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.