The Bones of the Wolfe is the fifth novel in Blake’s Wolfe family saga, a cross-border noir featuring a crime family based in Brownsville, a Texas, and points south of the border. The family business is gun smuggling. The novels span long periods and feature a variety of different family members. Here, we get Rudy and Frank who take charge of a missing (hijacked) shipment of arms in Mexico, but then are tasked by the 115-year old family matriarch, Aunt Catalina, thinks that maybe a sex movie star in a film that came along with the missing guns might be a long-estranged family member. Of course, nothing in life is ever easy and the missing princess is in Baja on the arm of a cartel leader. Somehow Rudy, Frank, and Rayo are going to have to figure out a way to get her out of the cartels clutches, but it’s not as if a hurricane is bearing down or is it? The exciting action here is all in the final third with a slow buildup through the middle pages.

Don't worry if you didn't read the earlier books- I hadn't and this was a fine standalone, especially if you're looking for a noir thriller of sorts with lots of bad guys who are sometimes good guys. It's complicated but entertaining. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

First time reading this author and I will say I was thoroughly entertained with this book. The story follows the Wolfe family and their business some legal and some not so much. Opens with what you think is a regular transaction of guns and ammo but after the offload from boat to truck the truck is hijacked and everyone is killed. Here is when you really begin to follow Rudy and Frank. Tracking and finding the persons who stole the guns they are back in Texas with other family members upstairs in the bar that is family owned when watching some porno films confiscated from the men. During one of the scenes, a female cousin comes back later and asks for two still photos of an actress in the film. After getting the stills she goes to Aunt Catalina the 115-year-old matriarch of the family and she knows that there is a resemblance to a lost relative.
Rudy and Frank are later called to the home and are given instructions to find the girl in the photo and bring her to her Aunt Catalina, they are also not to tell their uncle what is going on. Here is when the story takes off and you are taken from Texas to New Mexico, California then to Mexico the sea of Cortez. There is a lot going on but is done in a way that the story continues and you what to know what happens next and where is the author taking you. I found myself caught up with the characters and I really enjoyed this book.

Another park of Wolfes'' life, full of guns, guts and outlaw glory of its finest. Remarkable characters, a nice shark (hope poor fish din't get food poisoning). A bit softer than the first your parts, but a definitely a fine tale about this strange family.

Published by Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press on July 7, 2020

Criminal enterprises are more interesting than most legitimate businesses. Stories about crime families are more likely to capture the imagination than stories about upright families because the problems faced by criminals are outside the ken of law-abiding people. A reader might relate to a story about emotionally distant parents or drug dependent siblings, but we are fascinated by Michael Corleone’s decision to put the family business ahead of his loyalty to Fredo, simply because the decision to kill a disloyal brother is one that we’re never likely to ponder. At the same time, criminals like Tony Soprano remind us that members of crime families have problems in common with members of straight-and-narrow families.

The Wolfe family has roots in Ireland and Mexico. From its family base in Brownsville, Texas and in concert with the Mexican side of the family, the Wolfes now smuggle guns and engage in other outlaw activities on both sides of the border. The Wolfes place great value on education and family bonds. They operate their business using reliable management techniques, most of which would be recognizable in any legitimate business. Some of their management strategies, on the other hand, are more violent than those employed in a typical family business. Like many other families, however, the Wolfes go to bat for each other. Unlike some families, they inevitably place family ahead of profit.

The Bones of the Wolfe is the fifth novel in James Carlos Blake’s series about the Wolfe family. They are a likeable group.

The story begins with the hijacking of a shipment of guns that are being delivered to a cartel. The family member in charge of security, Mateo Wolfe, orchestrates a quick and successful response. As two Wolfe brothers, Frank and Rudy, are celebrating by screening a particularly good porn DVD that came into their possession during the gun recovery, their cousins — Rayo Luna and Jessie Juliet — insist on joining them, and then on providing commentary about the acting.

Jessie notices that one of the actresses, Kitty Quick, bears a striking resemblance to a woman she saw in an old family photograph. She shares the discovery with the family matriarch, Catalina Wolfe, who at 115 has seen a great deal and is revered by the rest of the family. Catalina instructs Frank and Rudy to find Kitty, who might be a descendent of Catalina’s lost sister. Rudy and Frank would not think of disobeying, so they embark on a quest that takes them to Los Angeles and then to Mexico, where they must persuade Kitty to leave the cartel kingpin with whom she is staying. This leads to a harrowing chase that includes an escape in a boat across the Gulf of Mexico during a hurricane. Fun stuff.

Blake pulls this off because he has mastered the art of writing an action novel with literary flair. He creates atmosphere and characterization without deadening the pace by creating too much. The main characters kill when they deem it necessary but they don’t go out of their way to be violent and in other respects behave quite decently. While the plot is less meaty than some of the earlier books in the series, the streamlined storytelling makes The Bones of the Wolfe a fast and exciting read.

RECOMMENDED

I received a free electronic copy of the ARC of this novel from Netgalley, James Carlos Blake, and Mysterious Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. A Border Noir, with internal problems in Mexico as well as cartel involvement in daily life, The Bones of the Wolfe, of course, contains violence, some sexual content, and more violence. It is handled very well. If you can't watch the evening news you might want to give this a miss. That said, I live my life on the border. You will recognize those folks in this fictional border tale who are the good guys. They may come as a surprise to some of us.

The Bones of Wolfe is a family saga, modern-day, taking place in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico. There is a deal of time spent in Baja California and the Sea of Cortez, but for the most part we are in northern Mexico. The Wolfe family spreads far and wide on both sides of the international border between the US and Mexico. Many families do, in our neck of the woods. Mexico is a political system in turmoil and Washington D.C. isn't far behind. I read this novel with a sense of foreboding. You probably will, as well. It is a lesson I hope we don't need to learn...

I enjoyed this book because it's well written and I liked the characters.
The plot is well crafted and the characters are fleshed out.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I didn't realize when I requested this one that it was a book in a series. I might recommend picking up the earlier books first, but not absolutely necessary. Quirky characters. Not quite my fancy.

Fast paced, with all the motifs of gun running, drugs business, family loyalties among crooks, easy killing in Mexico and border with Texas... along with feisty women living in sexist world, you could practically write plot yourself .. it's one adventure after another, until a desired woman Kiity enters the scene. Then a real story line commences.
Forced into porn movie business good family friend Rayo organises a kidnapping to get Kiiity away. Reasonably entertaining .. sexist ... derivative ..

THE BONES OF WOLFE: A BORDER NOIR by James Carlos Blake is another book in the Wolfe Family Series that follows the border family’s hidden business interests; this time around it involves gun running to supply high quantities of quality arms headed up by Rudy and Frank Wolfe, but an inside setup resulting in the death of a relative and others of their group sends them off in search of the traitor; only to discover he has made it possible for the ambush to take place so that a cartel could steal them before the transaction was to take place.

Investigation into who was involved leads to the discovery of a porno film that appears to be professionally made, but the unsettling resemblance of one of the young women in the film to their elder aunt leaves them wondering how the girl could appear to be an identical twin to an older picture their aunt has of a relative from years ago.

The Wolfe family are formidable opponents to anyone who they come up against & are powerful with the strength their of legitimate businesses and hidden activities that have resulted in wealth and loyalty amongst locals, but they would seem to be no match for the cartel they have come up against, as their mission to learn more of the mysterious young woman at the behest of their aunt who demands that they put themselves in harm’s way to learn the truth (about whether the girl is a distant relative) is perilous every step of the way.

Enjoyable border tale as are the other books in this series, and I’m very much in disagreement with the few negative reviews of this one, and I look forward to the next book involving the Wolfe family activities on both sides of the border.

4 stars.

I have ready every good by Blake and up to recently was one of my favorite authors. His books about the Wolfe family started out good but have gone down in quality. But this book is bad at a whole other level. Insipid, poorly written no real plot and no characters or dialogue. It works better as a parody of this kind book than as an actual book. I cannot believe that it was written by the same guy who wrote such great books as the Pistolteer and Handsome Harry. I usually try to be charitable about most of the books I read, particularly on netgalley where I am given free books. But I can’t with this one. Skip it.

I found the plot predictable from the beginning. The bad guys are the good guys: handsome, rich, sexy, unlimited almost fantasy resources, unlimited beer. The women are the same. The Wolfe family reaches beyond the bonds of blood and all are criminals, although they don't seem to dirty their hands on drugs - smuggling stolen guns and people 'in a good way' seems to be their work. when one of their gun-running endeavors goes awry, brothers Rudy and Frank become embroiled in a confusing plot to 'free' a porn star from an impossibly portrayed wealthy drug lord and his gang hidden in a fortress in the hills. Kitty, the porn star bears a striking resemblance to their 110-year old Aunt Carmeita's family and she has instructed them not to return without her. Involved in gang wars where each gang is almost indistinguishable from the next - and the reader hardly cares - they attempt a super-human rescue aided by Matteao, another Wolfe family member.
Since each character is so superficially handled, this reader was unable to sympathize or get involved in the plot in a real way. I felt obligated rather than interested in finishing it The end was total fantasy and left me feeling the characters were cartoons of themselves. Actually, had the author tried a little harder and written a gut-busting comedy about the same topic, I might have enjoyed it.
As yet unpublished, the book cannot be reviewed on Amazon. It is i my WordPress Blog.

<i> The Bones of Wolfe </i> is a fictional account of the exploits of a large crime family in the southern US and Mexico. Frank and Rudy are two brothers who specialize in smuggling people but are happy to branch out to help out the family. <i> The Bones of Wolfe </i> is the most recent installment of the prolific author, James Carlos Blake.

The family loses a gun shipment and must recover their losses. During the recovery Rudy and Frank are gifted some high quality porno films one of which shows a young girl who looks identical to their Aunt Catalina’s lost sister. Catalina engages the two boys to go looking for the girl because she may be the only link to her sister. What appears to be an easy recovery job turns out to be a lot more complicated than anyone expects.

The story itself is fast paced and exciting for the most part. However, I find the writing style to be a distraction. The majority of the book is in a narrative form. I feel there is not enough variety to keep one’s interest. There is very little direct dialogue. Most of the dialogue is done is an indirect voice and becomes mainly a monologue. I feel that most situations are described rather than lived. For example, Rudy says Frank can tell when anyone is lying, but this is never explained or demonstrated. We just have to take Rudy’s word for it. As well, when Mateo phones to describe what he knows he puts everyone on speaker phone and then he goes through a long winded monologue about what he has learned and does not even allow questions. Again it is a narrative only.

For interest I also like to see more description of the surroundings and countryside to get a feel for where the story is taking place. Blake does not give us that very often. I would also like to see more character descriptions to a get to know the characters.

I recommend this book to those like fast paced action packed novels. I give it a 3 on 5 because I want to see more character development and dialogue, and not just a narrative. I want to thank Net Galley and The Mysterious Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

James Carlos Blake is back with another engrossing installment of the Wolfe family. He continues to write engrossing tales.