Three historical novels (well, kind-of in The Cartel’s case) that also happen to be among the very best novels of 2015. The periods depicted: the history of the drug war, the history of America’s war (Civil, Indian, and for Civilization itself), and the creation of the Jesus myth no less.
Under Tiberius by Nick Tosches…Tosches entertains the fascinating theory that Jesus was really just a paid pawn of an exiled Roman speechwriter for Tiberius named Gaius Fulvius Falconius in a scheme to swindle superstitious Jews out of their money with bogus miracles and phony platitudes. The incendiary nature of the book may disguise Tosches real point: that religious prophets and politicians overlap more than they don’t, and both know very well how to manipulate men into seeing something that isn’t there. A revelatory work on the nature of power both real and imagined. Grade: A
The Winter Family by Clifford Jackman…A band of vicious union army officers are kicked out of the military following barbaric tactics during The Civil War, and so begins a brutal, bleak, and brilliant down-and-dirty epic that understands something far too few historical works do: the place to be during the most notable times is with the worst people. This band of outlaws is involved in all the great turmoils of their time: from hunting down klansmen post-Civil War to just as viciously trying to bust up the Democratic Party of Chicago in a riotous mayoral election (when Republicans wanted to turn the country into an effective one-party state) to being bounty hunters in Arizona to being the subject of bounties themselves all throughout the book. While also detailing the paid killings of “Indians” the book introduces us to a half dozen unforgettable characters at the core of this band of outlaws like psychotic Sergeant Quentin Ross, quick-draw child prodigy Will Shakespeare, an ex-slave particularly good at close-combat, and the leader of them Augustus Winter, a killer with a mesmerizing philosophy. Rather than just list-off great historical moments (cough, “Zebulon Finch, cough), “The Winter Family” exposes new angles and sides to them you likely haven’t been taught in history class, and its pulsing action puts you right at the center of history’s ugliest secrets. One of a kind and (hopefully) a cult classic. Grade: A
The Cartel by Don Winslow…The best known book out of the three, and I can certainly see why: it’s technically a sequel but it stands perfectly on its own. [For proof: I haven’t read the first book and I still think this is one of the best books of 2015.] It starts out as a generic duel between a drug lord and a cop which we’ve seen a million times, but the story keeps peeling back into concentric circles of violence so that it’s eventually got dozens of main characters and plots going at once. Only then do you realize what Winslow is doing: he’s not telling a story of the drug war he’s telling the story of the drug war, showing the swirl of violence sucking the entirety of Mexico down. It’s an ingenious strategy for something that starts a little more humbly and–sadly–ends that way too: the book’s ending is as morally simplistic as everything else the book has refuted for six hundred great pages. [I also wasn’t thrilled by the death of an intriguing female character close towards the end after she’s just secured a big deal.] The book’s one big flaw is that the DEA agent hero is just not as interesting as everyone else around him, no surprise, and I think that’s why it works so much better when it’s focusing on nearly anyone else–from drug cartel hitmen to reporters to even an elderly land owner defending his property from Los Zetas in a perfect five-page stretch of the book.. Grade: A
The Cartel seems like a good book.
i like the book the winter family
I have not heard of these books, but I will definitely keep my eye on them.