The Prince of Deadly Weapons: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A twisted pleasure to read that's very hard to put down!
Review: "Write what you know" is not a bad bit of advice for a writer, especially if what you know is that particular neighborhood in the great metropolis of the human psyche through which sweetness and light pass only after making a wrong turn, and then only with the windows rolled up, the doors locked, 911 on the cell phone speed dial, and one thumb poised on the send button.

After reading Boston Teran's work, I'd lay odds that he keeps a pied-a-terre in that very same neighborhood, a place he can drop in on when life gets too cheery. Fans of noir fiction should take no small amount of pleasure in the knowledge that Teran has found a room with such a deliciously disturbing view.

Boston Teran's latest, THE PRINCE OF DEADLY WEAPONS, delivers the award-winning author's trademark cast of finely drawn, deeply flawed characters, murky morality, and flat-out nasty violence, all presented at a carefully metered pace that maintains just the right anxious buzz from first page to last.

THE PRINCE OF DEADLY WEAPONS is at its core an exploration of deception, served up in a cornucopia of flavors, each with its own particular motivation, and each with its own unique toll. Whether the motivation is greed, lust, love, truth, or redemption, there is a price to be paid, and there's no running out on the bill.

In the story, a federal agent is brutally murdered in a cheap roadside motel while waiting for a meeting with Taylor Greene, the son of Nathan, a wealthy California businessman whose extracurricular activities have drawn the attention of the Feds. Days later, Taylor dies in an apparent suicide. On the eve of a memorial service for Taylor, Dane Rudd arrives, a mysterious and charismatic young man with a remarkable story: corneal transplants have restored eyesight lost in a viscous random assault. The organ donor is none other than Taylor Greene, a fact that binds Dane to the people in Taylor's troubled life, and to their ambitions. Dane soon finds himself up to his neck in dirty dealings and familial dysfunction, compelled to learn the truth behind Taylor's death by vision that is restored by far more than a surgical procedure.

Boston Teran has a special knack for the down-and-dirty, fueled apparently by his real life. In notes on his website, he describes the inspiration for various elements of the three books he has published to date, much of it drawn from a childhood of the sort that in different hands would find its expression in fifty minute installments on a therapist's couch.

But if life has indeed dealt Boston Teran a lousy hand, he has played it masterfully, and split the pot with his lucky readers. His characters are possessed of the kind of street-level realism that is the hallmark of well-written crime fiction, and his story lines tangle and weave the various personalities in juxtapositions that drive the narrative on a combustible mixture of foreboding, dread, and inevitability. THE PRINCE OF DEADLY WEAPONS, like Boston Teran's previous work, is a twisted pleasure to read. When you can put it down, you're happy to shut all that nasty business between the covers.

--- Reviewed by Bob Rhubart

Rating:
Summary: Slightly Off the Mark
Review: Boston Teran's third novel, "The Prince of Deadly Weapons", is a complex and at times confusing tale of redemption and revenge. Six months following the assumed suicide of Taylor Greene, the son of a wealthy developer, an enigmatic Dane Rudd shows up to attend a memorial service for Greene. Taylor Greene was an organ donor, and Rudd, as it turns out, is the recipient of Taylor's corneas. The mysterious Rudd sticks around, endearing himself to the dead boy's father, and entangling himself in an unofficial investigation of Greene's death.

Unlike the parched and barren southern California wasteland in which Teran set his first two blockbuster mystery-thrillers ("God is a Bullet" and Never Count Out the Dead"), "Deadly Weapons" is set in the more-lush, but none-the-less barren, California Sacramento River delta. The delta is an overlooked region of the west, full of contradictions and extremes - a land virtually lost in time within the shadow of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Teran is true to his literary accolades in painting a vivid picture of the people and geography of the delta. But unlike the his first two efforts, in which the brutality of the characters, deeds, and settings literally grab the reader by the throat refusing to let go, "Deadly Weapons" tends to meander into too much a somber study of lost lives and missed opportunities. One can't help feeling that Teran tried to hard to make this novel "important", and in the process blunted the edge of what should have been another creative, dark, and compelling tale.

All things considered, though, this is a book worth reading. Teran still demonstrates a unique literary talent, spinning the most simple phase or event in an engaging cross between prose and poetry. Despite its shortcomings, Boston Teran can write, and I'll look forward to his next installment.

Rating:
Summary: Slightly Off the Mark
Review: Boston Teran's third novel, "The Prince of Deadly Weapons", is a complex and at times confusing tale of redemption and revenge. Six months following the assumed suicide of Taylor Greene, the son of a wealthy developer, an enigmatic Dane Rudd shows up to attend a memorial service for Greene. Taylor Greene was an organ donor, and Rudd, as it turns out, is the recipient of Taylor's corneas. The mysterious Rudd sticks around, endearing himself to the dead boy's father, and entangling himself in an unofficial investigation of Greene's death.

Unlike the parched and barren southern California wasteland in which Teran set his first two blockbuster mystery-thrillers ("God is a Bullet" and Never Count Out the Dead"), "Deadly Weapons" is set in the more-lush, but none-the-less barren, California Sacramento River delta. The delta is an overlooked region of the west, full of contradictions and extremes - a land virtually lost in time within the shadow of San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Teran is true to his literary accolades in painting a vivid picture of the people and geography of the delta. But unlike the his first two efforts, in which the brutality of the characters, deeds, and settings literally grab the reader by the throat refusing to let go, "Deadly Weapons" tends to meander into too much a somber study of lost lives and missed opportunities. One can't help feeling that Teran tried to hard to make this novel "important", and in the process blunted the edge of what should have been another creative, dark, and compelling tale.

All things considered, though, this is a book worth reading. Teran still demonstrates a unique literary talent, spinning the most simple phase or event in an engaging cross between prose and poetry. Despite its shortcomings, Boston Teran can write, and I'll look forward to his next installment.

Rating:
Summary: Great ambition, flawed execution.
Review: Every family has secrets. When Taylor Greene learns about his, he contacts a Federal Reserve officer. On the night they are scheduled to meet, however, the agent is gunned down in his hotel room. Days later, the reportedly despondent Taylor is also found dead.

Months later, Dane Rudd shows up at a memorial service for Taylor, ostensibly to express his gratitude upon receiving the deceased's corneas. But Dane's easygoing manner conceals a more complex persona and agenda. Dane has come to town to discover the truth behind Taylor's demise. The classic "outsider", he expertly maneuvers through the deadly labyrinth that is Rio Vista, California, creating fierce enemies as easily as he inspires warm friendship.

Known and admired for his excesses, Teran has delivered a surprisingly low key piece of work, a California gothic that focuses on the complex relationships that exist between the members of his large and colorful cast of characters, expertly delving into their motivations, loves and hates. Doing so, he examines the powerful pull of family ties, and of loyalties forged under extreme conditions. This tension forms the core of this cornucopia of tragedies. .

Although Teran's prose has matured, he is still given to lapses where he lets his wordplay get in the way of his storytelling. To witness: "We are mere pauses, and like the windmill wheel moving across the eye of the sun in a blink we are there then gone, there then gone, there then gone." Misfires like this and the repetitive nature of the dialogue between Dane and love interest Essie are what the late John D. MacDonald once labeled as "author intrusions", a way for the author to call attention to how nice he's writing. Still, these lapses are forgivable, ultimately inflicting little damage to this agreeable, tightly paced novel.

Rating:
Summary: Great ambition, flawed execution.
Review: Every family has secrets. When Taylor Greene learns about his, he contacts a Federal Reserve officer. On the night they are scheduled to meet, however, the agent is gunned down in his hotel room. Days later, the reportedly despondent Taylor is also found dead.

Months later, Dane Rudd shows up at a memorial service for Taylor, ostensibly to express his gratitude upon receiving the deceased's corneas. But Dane's easygoing manner conceals a more complex persona and agenda. Dane has come to town to discover the truth behind Taylor's demise. The classic "outsider", he expertly maneuvers through the deadly labyrinth that is Rio Vista, California, creating fierce enemies as easily as he inspires warm friendship.

Known and admired for his excesses, Teran has delivered a surprisingly low key piece of work, a California gothic that focuses on the complex relationships that exist between the members of his large and colorful cast of characters, expertly delving into their motivations, loves and hates. Doing so, he examines the powerful pull of family ties, and of loyalties forged under extreme conditions. This tension forms the core of this cornucopia of tragedies. .

Although Teran's prose has matured, he is still given to lapses where he lets his wordplay get in the way of his storytelling. To witness: "We are mere pauses, and like the windmill wheel moving across the eye of the sun in a blink we are there then gone, there then gone, there then gone." Misfires like this and the repetitive nature of the dialogue between Dane and love interest Essie are what the late John D. MacDonald once labeled as "author intrusions", a way for the author to call attention to how nice he's writing. Still, these lapses are forgivable, ultimately inflicting little damage to this agreeable, tightly paced novel.

Rating:
Summary: powerful thriller
Review: Taylor Greene is The California golden boy as heir to a huge fortune, but he is not tainted by the power money can buy. He loves and is loved by his parents and his godparents until the mask of perfection melts away on the day he learns his parents and godparents are money launderers and murderers. Taylor sets up a meeting with William Reynolds, an agent of the Federal Government, but before that meeting can come to pass the Fed is murdered and two weeks later Taylor is dead as well.

Dane Rudd, the recipient of Taylor's corneas comes to Rio Vista, California ostensibly to thank Taylor's parents for giving him the gift of sight. In reality Dane has infiltrated Taylor's intimate circle in the hopes of finding out what Taylor was going to tell the dead agent. He has the help of Essie, the woman Taylor loved and ultimately died for, but the investigation he started to stay out of jail becomes a chance for redemption for Dane because until he came to Rio Vista he was no better than the Greenes were.

Boston Teran has a lyrical and literary style of writing so readers feel that they are reading a poetic ballad. Although Taylor only has one scene in the book, he makes an impact on every character through their actions and reaction to his death. The author has captured the essence of evil and imbued several of his characters with it, making them monsters as malignant as Hannibal Lechter ever was. This is a very powerful novel that impacts the reader strongly on the emotional level.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A slightly different track
Review: Though not quite as good as his previous two books, THE PRICE OF DEADLY WEAPONS is one of the better crime fiction books of the year. The intersecting cast of characters can get confusing, but the payoff is worth the trip. It seems that Boston Teran is trying something new here but is staying within the "world" that we have come to expect from him. I would recommend reading his previous books in order (God is a Bullet & Never Count out the Dead) before taking on this one -- you'll see why. Boston Teran is someone to watch and read.

Rating:
Summary: A slightly different track
Review: Though not quite as good as his previous two books, THE PRICE OF DEADLY WEAPONS is one of the better crime fiction books of the year. The intersecting cast of characters can get confusing, but the payoff is worth the trip. It seems that Boston Teran is trying something new here but is staying within the "world" that we have come to expect from him. I would recommend reading his previous books in order (God is a Bullet & Never Count out the Dead) before taking on this one -- you'll see why. Boston Teran is someone to watch and read.