Here’s my four star review of BLOOD AND GOLD by JEFFREY J. MARIOTTE. You can find the review on Goodreads and Amazon.co.uk.
MY REVIEW:
'Interesting character study, pacey, entertaining tale
JOAQUIN MURRIETA has long fascinated me, so I was
waiting for a novel tying his story together. JEFFREY MARIOTTE has provided one
and makes a fine job of it. Murrieta was a Mexican bandit whose gangs raided in
California in the gold rush era of the early 1850s. Mariotte makes no claims to
tell ‘the whole truth’ about him. Doing so is clearly impossible as Murrieta’s
life (and death) is shrouded in controversy and legend, but Mariotte probably
gets as close as anyone can. He writes (with the help of Murrieta’s descendant
PETER who provides background information) a pacey, entertaining tale full of
action and colour. For me, though, the best part is the characterisation,
particularly of Murrieta. He’s a complex, conflicted young man, sometimes
aspiring to be a latter-day ‘Robin Hood’ or the liberator of all oppressed
Mexicans in California. But at other times he’s simply a ruthless killer.
Mariotte has won acclaim and awards writing across genres and in varying
formats. He’s relatively new at the western, but has definitely hit the ground
running!'
JEFFREY J. MARIOTTE is the bestselling, multiple-award-winning author of more than fifty novels ranging across genres, including ‘dark thrillers,’ supernatural thrillers, horror and latterly westerns. He has also produced comic books, short stories, graphic novels, nonfiction and video games. As well as his own original work, he has written novels and comics based on licensed properties such as CSI, Star Trek, Spider-Man, Superman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Conan the Barbarian and more.
Jeff is a three-time winner of the Scribe Award for
best novel, presented by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers,
a co-winner of the Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and a
recipient of the Inkpot Award for his contributions to the fields of science
fiction and fantasy from the San Diego Comic-Con. He's been a finalist for the
Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, the International Horror
Guild Award, the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, the Peacemaker
Award from the Western Fictioneers, and, in the comics’ field, the Harvey and
Glyph Awards.
REVIEWS of O'MEARA'S GOLD:
‘Great action, some very emotional
areas, great characters, and a beautifully written storyline.’
‘Rip-roaring western yarn.’
Here’s one for EMPTY ROOMS: https://andrewmcbrideauthor.blogspot.com/2022/03/author-favourites-empty-rooms-by.html
EMPTY ROOMS earned praise
from two acclaimed police procedural authors.
MICHAEL CONNELLY: ‘Empty Rooms is a
searing, no-holds barred journey into darkness. Jeffrey J. Mariotte knows the
key is character, character, character and has delivered a story about men who
relentlessly work the case at the same time the case works them.”
T. JEFFERSON PARKER: ‘Empty Rooms is
as good and moving as a thriller can be. Keenly observed and deftly written,
it’s something you’ll want on your shelf as long as you have one.’
OTHER REVIEWERS:
‘I have become a big fan of this
author. He is just simply a great storyteller!’
‘Masterpiece.’
REVIEWS of RIVER RUNS RED:
DAVID MORRELL, (creator/ author of
RAMBO): ‘RIVER RUNS RED is a fascinating blend of espionage
and the occult with several jaw-dropping plot twists and one of the best action
sequences I've read in a long time.’
OTHER REVIEWERS:
‘…Blends
unforgettable characters with horror on a truly epic scale.’
‘A pretty wild X-Files-esque supernatural
thriller… a very entertaining beginning to Jeff Mariotte’s Border Trilogy.’
JOAQUIN MURRIETA IN FACT AND FICTION
Getting
back to Joaquin Murrieta: I’m not going to look at the life of the ‘real’ man
as almost all details about his life are, as I said, shrouded in mystery and
controversy, and, anyway, they would spoil your enjoyment of Jeff’s novel. As historian Susan
Lee Johnson says: ‘So many tales have grown up around Murrieta that it is
hard to disentangle the fabulous from the factual.’
The basic
facts are that he was a bandit, born in either Mexico or California who raided
in California in the gold rush days in the early 1850s. How significant he was,
whether he ever acted as ‘the Robin Hood of El Dorado’ or attempted to liberate
all Mexicans in California from American rule are yet more areas of dispute. It
is a fact that in May 1853 the California state legislature listed ‘Five Joaquins’,
suspected criminals whose last names are Muriati (obviously a misspelling of
Murrieta) Ocomorenia, Valenzuela, Botellier and Carillo. On May 11, 1853, the California governor signed an
act creating the "California State Rangers," to be led by Captain
HARRY LOVE, to operate for 3 months, specifically tasked with hunting down
these Joaquins.
An early
artist’s impression of MURRIETA
Murrieta’s
death is particularly controversial so I’ll say no more about it. Read Jeff’s
book! Nor am I going to speculate on the authenticity of the severed head,
supposedly of Murrieta, that was carried around California and displayed to the
public in a jar of alcohol!
Murrieta is believed to have inspired
the fictional character of ZORRO, the lead character in the five-part serial
story, ‘The Curse of Capistrano’ published
in a pulp magazine in 1919, and featured many times since in popular culture.
Joaquin Murrieta has appeared
frequently on radio, in films and in TV series from ‘Death Valley Days’ to ‘The
Big Valley.’ RICARDO MONTALBAN played him twice, on radio and then in a 1969
TV movie called ‘Desperate Mission,’
which looks like the pilot for a TV series that never happened.
On film Murrieta turns up in 1998’s ‘The Mask of Zorro,’ a movie featuring both Murrieta AND Zorro. He features – unhistorically – in the late 1850s in the 1953 RANDOLH SCOTT vehicle ‘The Man behind the Gun.’ In 1965 blue-eyed Anglo actor JEFFREY HUNTER was unlikely casting as Murrieta in a not-bad movie of the same name.
As for Zorro (Spanish for fox,) he’s
been played by a variety of actors on film and TV, from DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS Snr. to
ANTHONY HOPKINS. GUY WILLIAMS played him in a long-running 1950s TV series. He
was finally portrayed by a Hispanic actor - HENRY DARROW – on TV in 1983. In
1990 Darrow re-appeared as Zorro’s father in another TV series.
My favourite Zorro is TYRONE POWER
Jr. in the classic 1940 swashbuckler ‘The
Mark of Zorro,’ where Power fights an epic sword duel with arch-villain
BASIL RATHBONE.
For some political activists of the late
20th and early 21st centuries, Murrieta has symbolized Mexican resistance
against Anglo-American economic and cultural domination in California. In the late 20th
century a Los Angeles Chicano community centre was named Centro Joaquin
Murrieta de Aztla.
Other reviews of BLOOD AND GOLD:
‘Brilliantly
written and nonstop action… highly recommended for anyone who loves some historical
fiction mixed with legend.’
‘An important tale… with a surprise ending.’
‘Will
satisfy both aficionados of gory shoot 'em ups, and scholars of ethnic studies
and California history…Amazing.’
‘Great
story.’
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