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4.0 out of 5 stars
non-stop action in prohibition-era florida, Sep 20 2002
You could say I've been lost in the Florida everglades for the past few years but it's always a pleasure to discover a new author that one enjoys reading, even belatedly, and James Carlos Blake is such an author for me. His novel, Red Grass River, comes at you like a runaway freight train with non-stop action. There are fist-fights, knifings, stompings, gun battles, stalkings, bank robberies, truck robberies, smuggling and even some steamy sex for good measure. The shotgun and the BAR seem favorite weapons in Blakes's prohibition-era Florida. We watch the tenacious Ashley gang thrive and survive as bootleggers, bank robbers and rum runners. They are as good with the ladies as well as their fists and, as such, incur the emnity of the Bakers, a family of tough lawmen, in a decade-long feud. The reader is soaked in the atmosphere of Florida from 1911 to 1924. You can hear the mosquitoes buzzing in your ears, feel the sweat pouring off your skin, see the gators waiting in the swamp grass. People refer to Blake as as writer of historical fiction and certainly Red Grass River makes another time and place come alive. Girls, this is a great guy book and would make the kind of gift the manly man or would-be manly man in your life will appreciate. I give this one four gators out of five.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Violent splendor, Feb 19 2001
Wow - If you like gritty historical fiction with a decidedly violent bent, this is for you. I've never written one of these reviews before, but felt compelled to. Blake's imagery is stunning, making the everglades come alive and drawing an astonishing picture of a tight-knit family of moonshiners, bootleggers, bank robbers and killers in early 20th century Florida, near the site where Miami is being carved from the swamp. The period details are great, and they blend seemlessly with the truly outstanding story. One of those rare books where both the plot and the writing are top notch. Can't wait to read Blake's other books.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Up To Blake's High Standard, Nov 27 2000
This is the third of Blake's books that I have read. "The Friends of Pancho Villa" was a truly stunning performance, as I said in my earlier review on Amazon. I then devoured "In the Rogue Blood." I liked in nearly as much as the first book, and that's saying a lot. Unfortunately. "Red Grass River", doesn't meet the very high standard set by the other two. Maybe because the others were so outstanding, I was expecting too much. This isn't a bad novel really. Blake is too fine a writer for that. But it is peopled with a collection of remarkably unlikable characters. As I got further into the story, I realized more and more that I didn't care about any of them. It wasn't only that they were unlikable, so are most of the characters in the great novels by James Ellroy. They were unsympathetic. I felt no tension, I didn't know what their goals were, and I didn't care if they made it or not. Frankly, I had a hard time finding a 'lead' figure in the story, someone to identify with and pull for. This book lacks passion. Oh, sure, it's full of action, adventure, and history, but it reads like a record of events. It has the feel that historical non-fiction sometimes has...a description without the feeling. That's strange from someone who painted "The Friends of Pancho Villa" with the rawest emotion and heart. James Carlos Blake is a fine writer, and I look forward to reading more of his work, but I recommend those who are new to his work start with "Pancho Villa" or "In The Rogue Blood." In my opinion, both are much better than this fairly unsatisfactory work.
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