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God Is a Bullet
The feral wasteland of the southern California desert and the badlands of Mexico: these are the settings for Boston Teran’s searing debut novel—a dark, wrenching thriller about personal conviction, retribution, and survival.
Fall 1970. In a remote playa a twelve-year-old boy stumbles upon a hideous scene in a dust-strewn trailer: the savage murder of a woman that will remain unsolved for twenty-five years.
Christmas week, 1995. A fourteen-year-old girl is kidnapped by a bloodthirsty satanic cult that calls itself the Left-Handed Path. The leader, Cyrus, considers murder the “ultimate freedom, ultimate joy…ultimate service.” His “tribe” is a group of drug-fueled young psychopaths honing their skills under the tutelage of a master. Helter Skelter. And then some.
Bob Hightower, the girl’s father, is a cop, suddenly more desperate than he ever imagined possible. There are no clues to his daughter’s whereabouts, only a scene of unfathomable carnage—the mutilated corpses of her mother and stepfather—left behind by the kidnappers. His only hope is a fierce ex-cult member named Case Hardin, a woman tempered to an extraordinary strength by what she’s endured, who’s just getting off the junkie trail in a halfway house in Hollywood. Bob has absolutely no reason, and every need, to trust her.
Case suspects that the killings, committed within fifty miles of each other and separated by a quarter of a century, are part of a byzantine nightmare she knows too well, a nightmare that has now engulfed Bob’s daughter. Their quest—he for his child, she to exorcise her demons—becomes a primal hunt-and-chase through a savage subculture of drugs and ritualistic violence (“the black land of plenty”) that takes them inexorably toward the limits of physical and psychological torment and trauma.
God Is a Bullet is an indelible story of people who must discover what it means to surrender oneself completely—to drugs, or power, or faith, or love—and, when necessary, what it takes to come back. It is a stunning debut.
Fall 1970. In a remote playa a twelve-year-old boy stumbles upon a hideous scene in a dust-strewn trailer: the savage murder of a woman that will remain unsolved for twenty-five years.
Christmas week, 1995. A fourteen-year-old girl is kidnapped by a bloodthirsty satanic cult that calls itself the Left-Handed Path. The leader, Cyrus, considers murder the “ultimate freedom, ultimate joy…ultimate service.” His “tribe” is a group of drug-fueled young psychopaths honing their skills under the tutelage of a master. Helter Skelter. And then some.
Bob Hightower, the girl’s father, is a cop, suddenly more desperate than he ever imagined possible. There are no clues to his daughter’s whereabouts, only a scene of unfathomable carnage—the mutilated corpses of her mother and stepfather—left behind by the kidnappers. His only hope is a fierce ex-cult member named Case Hardin, a woman tempered to an extraordinary strength by what she’s endured, who’s just getting off the junkie trail in a halfway house in Hollywood. Bob has absolutely no reason, and every need, to trust her.
Case suspects that the killings, committed within fifty miles of each other and separated by a quarter of a century, are part of a byzantine nightmare she knows too well, a nightmare that has now engulfed Bob’s daughter. Their quest—he for his child, she to exorcise her demons—becomes a primal hunt-and-chase through a savage subculture of drugs and ritualistic violence (“the black land of plenty”) that takes them inexorably toward the limits of physical and psychological torment and trauma.
God Is a Bullet is an indelible story of people who must discover what it means to surrender oneself completely—to drugs, or power, or faith, or love—and, when necessary, what it takes to come back. It is a stunning debut.
301 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Boston Teran
16 books178 followersBoston Teran is the internationally acclaimed author of twelve novels, many of them translated into foreign languages. He has been named alongside great American writers like Hemingway and Larry McMurtry, as well as filmmakers John Ford and Sam Peckinpah, for his singular voice and ability to weave timely social and political themes into sweeping page turners that pierce straight into America's soul. GOD IS A BULLET, currently in film development, is considered a cult classic that has been compared to such seminal works as Joan Didion's THE WHITE ALBUM and John Ford's THE SEARCHERS. NEVER COUNT OUT THE DEAD has been called a modern equivalent of MacBeth. THE CREED OF VIOLENCE sold to Universal, with Todd Field (Little Children) set to direct and Daniel Graig in the starring role.
The author has been nominated or won over 17 awards, including The EDGAR AWARD for Best First Novel and the FOREWORD "Book of the Year Award" as well as the INTERNATIONAL IMPACT AWARD OF DUBLIN for Best Novel, the Best Novel of the Year in Japan and the John Creasy Award in England.
The author has been nominated or won over 17 awards, including The EDGAR AWARD for Best First Novel and the FOREWORD "Book of the Year Award" as well as the INTERNATIONAL IMPACT AWARD OF DUBLIN for Best Novel, the Best Novel of the Year in Japan and the John Creasy Award in England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
January 6, 2012
Bob Hightower is a by-the-book sheriff's deputy in a small California town right up until the night that his ex-wife and her new husband are butchered in what appears to be a demented cult killing, reminiscent of the Manson Family. Even worse, Bob's young daughter, Gabi, has been taken by the killers. Traditional police methods turn up no leads to the killer or to Gabi, who may be dead or alive. Hightower is nearly at the end of his rope when he receives a letter from a young woman named Case Hardin. Hardin is an ex-junkie who was herself the victim of a satanic cult. Case sees a photograph of the crime scene and believes that a madman named Cyrus who once brutalized her is the same one who has killed Bob's ex-wife and taken his daughter.
Case offers to help Hightower find his daughter. He is totally repelled by Case but has no options other than to follow her on the slim hope that she may be able to lead him to Gabi. What follows is a descent into hell as Case leads Bob into the netherworld of the deeply disturbed young man who leads the cult. Hard actions and even harder questions follow, and Bob's faith and his world view are called into question in ways he never could have imagined.
This is an extremely dark and compelling book with a considerable amount of graphic violence, and it certainly will not be everyone's cup of tea. But Teran, the author of the excellent The Creed of Violence, has imagined here a brutal, no-holds-barred world in which no prisoners are taken and no mercy is asked for or given. And by the end of the book, not only Bob Hightower's view of the world will be called into question.
Case offers to help Hightower find his daughter. He is totally repelled by Case but has no options other than to follow her on the slim hope that she may be able to lead him to Gabi. What follows is a descent into hell as Case leads Bob into the netherworld of the deeply disturbed young man who leads the cult. Hard actions and even harder questions follow, and Bob's faith and his world view are called into question in ways he never could have imagined.
This is an extremely dark and compelling book with a considerable amount of graphic violence, and it certainly will not be everyone's cup of tea. But Teran, the author of the excellent The Creed of Violence, has imagined here a brutal, no-holds-barred world in which no prisoners are taken and no mercy is asked for or given. And by the end of the book, not only Bob Hightower's view of the world will be called into question.
February 11, 2015
Couldn't Stand the Machine Gun Style - 2 Stars
This Winner of the 2000 CWA New Blood Dagger just did not do it for me. I have a reading challenge to compare the winners of the this award with the Winners of the Edgar Award for best first novel. In 2000, the later award was won by The Skull Mantra and this volume was nominate for both awards.
Unfortunately, The Skull Mantra proved to be far superior and I abandoned God is a Bullet after reading around 40%. This amounts largely to taste. I found the setup of the story to be clunky, confusing and forced. I found myself unable to buy into the premise.
Beyond this, the writing style grated on my nerves. The author uses a staccato, machine-gun style of writing. The sentences are short, the conversations terse and the scenes change at a frenetic pace. I have abandoned more than one book written in this style as I find it to be obnoxious.
The fact that I chalk most of my dislike up to taste is the only reason that I did not give it one star. It is award winning and both the Edgar award committee and the Crime Writer's Association award committee saw fit to nominate and in the case of the latter, give it an award. Someone found value in this book. It just wasn't me.
This Winner of the 2000 CWA New Blood Dagger just did not do it for me. I have a reading challenge to compare the winners of the this award with the Winners of the Edgar Award for best first novel. In 2000, the later award was won by The Skull Mantra and this volume was nominate for both awards.
Unfortunately, The Skull Mantra proved to be far superior and I abandoned God is a Bullet after reading around 40%. This amounts largely to taste. I found the setup of the story to be clunky, confusing and forced. I found myself unable to buy into the premise.
Beyond this, the writing style grated on my nerves. The author uses a staccato, machine-gun style of writing. The sentences are short, the conversations terse and the scenes change at a frenetic pace. I have abandoned more than one book written in this style as I find it to be obnoxious.
The fact that I chalk most of my dislike up to taste is the only reason that I did not give it one star. It is award winning and both the Edgar award committee and the Crime Writer's Association award committee saw fit to nominate and in the case of the latter, give it an award. Someone found value in this book. It just wasn't me.
January 16, 2020
This was a very slow read for me.
I should add "re-read" ...2nd time around.
This is the 1st Boston Teran book published as far as I know.
It's nowhere as good as “his" later novels but it has its moments.
The author(s) excels in the descriptive action sequences only to strand the reader on the shoals of ponderous psychological aphorisms and the characters emotional depth.
I don't need that crap. "Emotional depth".
Not in a thriller, anyway.
I can't take away my original 5 star rating.
It's a great thriller but there are way too many pages of various characters engaging in pompous internal dialogue, philosophical masturbation.
Kill the sonsabitches that require killing and get on with the narrative... I don't need mournful reflections.
Other than that, this is a nigh perfect thriller.
Instead of 2 or 3 of Harlan Coben's, reach for one of Boston Teran's next round.
I should add "re-read" ...2nd time around.
This is the 1st Boston Teran book published as far as I know.
It's nowhere as good as “his" later novels but it has its moments.
The author(s) excels in the descriptive action sequences only to strand the reader on the shoals of ponderous psychological aphorisms and the characters emotional depth.
I don't need that crap. "Emotional depth".
Not in a thriller, anyway.
I can't take away my original 5 star rating.
It's a great thriller but there are way too many pages of various characters engaging in pompous internal dialogue, philosophical masturbation.
Kill the sonsabitches that require killing and get on with the narrative... I don't need mournful reflections.
Other than that, this is a nigh perfect thriller.
Instead of 2 or 3 of Harlan Coben's, reach for one of Boston Teran's next round.
December 19, 2019
God is a Bullet won the Dagger award for best debut besides being nominated for the Edgar in the same category. Award recognition in two continents, stacatto prose, morally ambiguous characters, gritty narrative and the blurb called it a cult classic. So it was as close to a sure bet as any new author I have read. Well it sure taught me a thing or two about expectations. This is a turgid, overwritten mess.
Teran is an pseudonym and apparently he is very guarded about his privacy. A Google search led me to one of his rare interviews. He explains how in the age of social media, creative artists are increasingly being judged on their personal and political beliefs rather than by the content of their work. It is a claim with some merit but frankly refusing to use his real identity for that reason seems strange. He writes shitty crime novels, he is not Batman. I shared this story because I thought his action is consistent with my main criticism of the book - his pretentiousness. It is actually funny how pretentious the writing is and how Teran in completely in awe of his own prose. The gap between how good he thinks he is and how bad it actually is, is massive.
Bob Hightower, a desk jockey of a cop teams up with Case, recovering junkie and former cult member to rescue his abducted daughter from a sex crazed, drug dealing cult. I do not read cozies as I believe sugarcoating the violence never does a crime book justice. But the violence is needlessly shocking here. Teran almost fetishizes child abuse and rape. The action scenes are too contrived and the protagonist keeps taking stupid decisions. He once shoots at cops in order to skate on a trespassing charge. Teran explains it as Hightower being grief stricken. But there are a lots of similar plotting issues which just appear illogical and lazy. For example the cult leader has an endless supply of disposable henchmen. But he is written as a complete nut case and not someone smart enough to have that many followers.
Teran seems to be one of those authors who think grittiness invariably equals depth. Every other page has a paragraph on existential angst. Dialogue is philosophical grandstanding. Questions like 'Who are you?' elicit replies like 'Spawn of death.' 'What's the time?' brings answers like 'Time to cross over.' No one speaks that way all the time. This is cynicism without maturity, philosophy without practicality. It is interesting to start with but gets tedious real quick.
I am a staunch atheist and I got tired of the two hundredth time someone says God is Dead and Life is crap. He browbeats us with so much bleakness that it becomes background noise after a while. Most of the characters quote Dylan and I am a huge fan. But again Teran misses the point. Dylan would be another forgotten country singer instead of a Nobel laurete if he did not have that strand of pitch black humor running through his work. Teran completely lacks that, way too self consciously serious. I shared the author's taste and agreed with what he is saying and it was still a drag for me. So for people who do not share similar viewpoints, I will say God is a Bullet is too long, too drab, too self indulgent and too vile to really invest any time in it. Rating - 2/5
Teran is an pseudonym and apparently he is very guarded about his privacy. A Google search led me to one of his rare interviews. He explains how in the age of social media, creative artists are increasingly being judged on their personal and political beliefs rather than by the content of their work. It is a claim with some merit but frankly refusing to use his real identity for that reason seems strange. He writes shitty crime novels, he is not Batman. I shared this story because I thought his action is consistent with my main criticism of the book - his pretentiousness. It is actually funny how pretentious the writing is and how Teran in completely in awe of his own prose. The gap between how good he thinks he is and how bad it actually is, is massive.
Bob Hightower, a desk jockey of a cop teams up with Case, recovering junkie and former cult member to rescue his abducted daughter from a sex crazed, drug dealing cult. I do not read cozies as I believe sugarcoating the violence never does a crime book justice. But the violence is needlessly shocking here. Teran almost fetishizes child abuse and rape. The action scenes are too contrived and the protagonist keeps taking stupid decisions. He once shoots at cops in order to skate on a trespassing charge. Teran explains it as Hightower being grief stricken. But there are a lots of similar plotting issues which just appear illogical and lazy. For example the cult leader has an endless supply of disposable henchmen. But he is written as a complete nut case and not someone smart enough to have that many followers.
Teran seems to be one of those authors who think grittiness invariably equals depth. Every other page has a paragraph on existential angst. Dialogue is philosophical grandstanding. Questions like 'Who are you?' elicit replies like 'Spawn of death.' 'What's the time?' brings answers like 'Time to cross over.' No one speaks that way all the time. This is cynicism without maturity, philosophy without practicality. It is interesting to start with but gets tedious real quick.
I am a staunch atheist and I got tired of the two hundredth time someone says God is Dead and Life is crap. He browbeats us with so much bleakness that it becomes background noise after a while. Most of the characters quote Dylan and I am a huge fan. But again Teran misses the point. Dylan would be another forgotten country singer instead of a Nobel laurete if he did not have that strand of pitch black humor running through his work. Teran completely lacks that, way too self consciously serious. I shared the author's taste and agreed with what he is saying and it was still a drag for me. So for people who do not share similar viewpoints, I will say God is a Bullet is too long, too drab, too self indulgent and too vile to really invest any time in it. Rating - 2/5
June 29, 2016
Just read on the author's website that this book is based on a true story --- Mind Blown!
October 6, 2019
20 year old title but new to me. Moves effortlessly into a top place in my all-time thriller list. A tough, dark read but more stylish and experimental than most genre authors muster in an entire career. For me, it blew the doors off. If if doesn’t work for you, then mute my reviews because we won’t be seeing eye to eye on many books. Blistering novel.
May 27, 2022
I can't imagine this would ever have been in line for a reissue if it weren't for the movie. Not every book needs to be in print.
September 21, 2014
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this thriller as much as I did. I was expecting nothing more than gory details offered for shock value and there was plenty of that but quite a bit more. It was a psychological study of what people have to do to survive in a less than perfect world. Cyrus is the head of a Charles Manson style cult that traffics in drugs, prostitution, murder and mayhem and some of the story delves into the roots of his evil. We are given glimpses of his connections to polite society when he's hired to murder a man having an affair with the sheriff's wife. For reasons of his own, Cyrus has his crew murder not only the man but his wife as well, and then abducts her adolescent daughter to punish a grandfather who we later discover helped to make him the man he has become. The girl's father, a sheriff's department desk jockey begins a desperate search to rescue his daughter. Bob Hightower is contacted by a recovering heroine addict who has inside information about Cyrus because she is an escapee from his cult. Case was used and abused by Cyrus and his minions and there are graphic flashbacks that also gives us a glimpse of the fate of Bob's daughter. Case teams up with Bob and the chase is on. I found myself caring about Case and Bob in this riveting tale while I tried to imagine myself in a similar situation.
April 21, 2009
I just saw someone rated Haunted as the worst book they'd ever read, and it reminded me of good old dog bullet god bullet. My friend Pål and I read it together, thought we'd get a little book discussion partnership going, and this was the worst choice, it ruined our project. Though come to think about it, we could at least commiserate on its awfulness.
I recommend this highly for creative writing classes to read and dissect and rewrite... anyone with half an intention could write better than Boston Teran, who has a great name by the way.
This remains for now the absolutely worst book I've ever read, but the future is open.
I recommend this highly for creative writing classes to read and dissect and rewrite... anyone with half an intention could write better than Boston Teran, who has a great name by the way.
This remains for now the absolutely worst book I've ever read, but the future is open.
December 29, 2010
Boston Teran? Boston Te-h-ran? Give us a break mate. But his book is as likely to make you boke as his name. Crime novels like this must make James Lee and Elmore weep, as it almost did to me. It's like he's trying to write the most violent, most terrifying, most piercing commentary on the vileness of the human condition EVER, and it's toe-curlingly awful. The dialogue. Where do I begin? The unnecessary cruelty. The complete and utter lack of humour that made something like The Crosskiller readable. This wasn't.
April 29, 2013
a stunning first novel, unrelenting in its ferocity, with realistic characters scattered throughout and protagonists who act from a consistent sense of righteousness, no matter which side of the narrative they inhabit. There are no compromises at play here: the narrative is brutal, and unrelenting, and as tough as the transformation of Bob Hightower into Bob Whatever is, it's nothing against watching the struggle as 'supporting' character Case fights against a return to her 'Headcase' beginnings. The only weakness is an occasional lapse into overwritten internal monologues that verge on hysteria, but it's allowable in such a highly-strung and tense story.
October 27, 2013
A cult classic I loved this book. The writing is as fast paced as the story but at times is almost poetic. I first read this book at University and have just re read it some fifteen years later and was not disappointed. The subject matter is dark but it also deals with a lot of self philosophy. What is god and what is religion? I have ordered back copies of all of Boston Terans other books after reading this. Not perfect but made me think and had a great story line.
May 4, 2015
I guess this book gets compared to James Ellroy a lot?
Its not an unwarranted comparison, but this isn't like elder statesman Ellroy. Its like, this actually is your daddy's Ellroy knockoff. In at least two key ways, God is a Bullet has got a lot more in common with Ellroy's early 1980s Lloyd Hopkins stuff than the massively multivolume historical crime-n-conspiracy books he writes now.
First: This is Border fic. SoCal lit crime. Poetic splattercore set in LA and San Diego and the desert between Calexico and Yuma.
Apparently, its based off a trip Boston Teran (who, full disclosure, may not even be a real person) made while working as some sort of fixer to rescue a young girl from a cult in Mexico. Apparently, shit got dark. Boston Teran decided to write a book about it.
What I'm saying is, whatever he/she/it lived? You know what Boston Teran wants you to know? The same thing I guess Ellroy wanted you to know when he opened Blood on the Moon with schoolboy-rape. They want you to know shit got dark dark.
...is the sentence in this book immediately following a description of fields as "black and hopeless" and shortly before a description of an impromptu rape party by a group of nameless, faceless, but otherwise average Tijuanan factory workers who the protagonist proceeds to murder.
Welcome to the Mexico-as-a-carnival-of-horrors genre. Its what you get when you season a genre-stew with journo-voyeurism and/or vestigial racism. Man on Fire lives here. Cormac McCarthy and Sam Hawken and Roberto Bolaño do to. A big part of this subgenre's appeal is wrapped up in the way it makes a nice place look like some sort of war zone. Blood on the Moon and God is a Bullet both take place pretty much in my backyard. I've been here for a while. It ain't all crazy cults and serial killers.
But perhaps an even bigger part of this subgenre's appeal is in the way it makes reality palatable. Bad shit goes down in Mexico. I can't make it through Borderland Beat sometimes without wincing. But I read this book. Teran pulls that trick with cinema.
Thats the other point of comparison with Ellroy, by the way. Cinema. Like the cold open of Blood's a Rover or the stutter-cut montage finale of White Jazz, Teran knows how to frame an image. Especially toward the last half of God is a Bullet, despite the purple prose, pretension and self-conscious grit, memorable images abound.
As Case (the female protagonist) follows a foot chase in her truck:
A character:
There's more in there like that. Teran conjures a hellscape and populates it icons. And when it hits the fan, Teran lets you watch, like the silver screen.
That's what kept me reading: The tension between the lit shit and the pulp. Sure the dialogue is tortured and every character is this close to a monologue on the nature of reality. Sure the psychology skips back and forth across the line between realism and hysteria. Sure the similes are occasionally unintentionally funny. But by the time the book climaxed with an apocalyptic gutterfight, I was hooked. I didn't care.
Its not an unwarranted comparison, but this isn't like elder statesman Ellroy. Its like, this actually is your daddy's Ellroy knockoff. In at least two key ways, God is a Bullet has got a lot more in common with Ellroy's early 1980s Lloyd Hopkins stuff than the massively multivolume historical crime-n-conspiracy books he writes now.
First: This is Border fic. SoCal lit crime. Poetic splattercore set in LA and San Diego and the desert between Calexico and Yuma.
Apparently, its based off a trip Boston Teran (who, full disclosure, may not even be a real person) made while working as some sort of fixer to rescue a young girl from a cult in Mexico. Apparently, shit got dark. Boston Teran decided to write a book about it.
What I'm saying is, whatever he/she/it lived? You know what Boston Teran wants you to know? The same thing I guess Ellroy wanted you to know when he opened Blood on the Moon with schoolboy-rape. They want you to know shit got dark dark.
A hallucination of self-blame for all the events that ever happened starts to tear away the little place he has left inside himself for clear thinking.
...is the sentence in this book immediately following a description of fields as "black and hopeless" and shortly before a description of an impromptu rape party by a group of nameless, faceless, but otherwise average Tijuanan factory workers who the protagonist proceeds to murder.
Welcome to the Mexico-as-a-carnival-of-horrors genre. Its what you get when you season a genre-stew with journo-voyeurism and/or vestigial racism. Man on Fire lives here. Cormac McCarthy and Sam Hawken and Roberto Bolaño do to. A big part of this subgenre's appeal is wrapped up in the way it makes a nice place look like some sort of war zone. Blood on the Moon and God is a Bullet both take place pretty much in my backyard. I've been here for a while. It ain't all crazy cults and serial killers.
But perhaps an even bigger part of this subgenre's appeal is in the way it makes reality palatable. Bad shit goes down in Mexico. I can't make it through Borderland Beat sometimes without wincing. But I read this book. Teran pulls that trick with cinema.
Thats the other point of comparison with Ellroy, by the way. Cinema. Like the cold open of Blood's a Rover or the stutter-cut montage finale of White Jazz, Teran knows how to frame an image. Especially toward the last half of God is a Bullet, despite the purple prose, pretension and self-conscious grit, memorable images abound.
As Case (the female protagonist) follows a foot chase in her truck:
She cuts her headlights and blows through a stop sign. The torqued out engine burns down the black empty street. Down a strobe of trees where slits of moonlight slip through the flywheel clipped frames Granny Boy and Bob, Granny Boy and Bob, Granny Boy and Bob. Then Granny Boy's gone.
A character:
[Hitches] forward with his prosthetic arm and leg, and those dogs whirling around him, he's like some bio-mechanical entity.
There's more in there like that. Teran conjures a hellscape and populates it icons. And when it hits the fan, Teran lets you watch, like the silver screen.
That's what kept me reading: The tension between the lit shit and the pulp. Sure the dialogue is tortured and every character is this close to a monologue on the nature of reality. Sure the psychology skips back and forth across the line between realism and hysteria. Sure the similes are occasionally unintentionally funny. But by the time the book climaxed with an apocalyptic gutterfight, I was hooked. I didn't care.
April 19, 2016
It's Christmas 1995 and a 14 year old girl is kidnapped by a Satanic cult. Her father
is a small town cop and he goes on a desperate mission to find her. His only hope of
finding her is with an ex cult member named Case Hardin. The leader of this cult is one
of the worst around and even with Case the odds of them finding her are slim and none.
He only seems to go after people who have done something to him in the past and
he never seems to forget. So someone in the cops family has done something to the cult
leader and for this they will suffer terrible consequences. If you like books on drugs and
cults you will like this one. It is not for the squeamish. I gave it a 4.
is a small town cop and he goes on a desperate mission to find her. His only hope of
finding her is with an ex cult member named Case Hardin. The leader of this cult is one
of the worst around and even with Case the odds of them finding her are slim and none.
He only seems to go after people who have done something to him in the past and
he never seems to forget. So someone in the cops family has done something to the cult
leader and for this they will suffer terrible consequences. If you like books on drugs and
cults you will like this one. It is not for the squeamish. I gave it a 4.
August 22, 2016
Violent and nihilistic thriller set on both sides of the US-Mexico border. A former cult member and ex-junkie and a god-fearing, desk jockey police officer team up to retrieve the officer's daughter from the clutches of a psychopathic cult leader, without knowing that there's more to it than a simple case of murder and kidnapping. It's rough stuff, powerfully executed; and although there are moments when the dialogue gets a bit new age and the plotting gets a tad scruffy around the edges, there are enough pleasurable moments of action and finely wrought prose to overcome this. Fine stuff.
August 22, 2009
Super violent, over-the-top pulp thriller that crosses elements of The Searchers with the Manson family (and a satisfying touch of The Missouri Breaks at the end). Case, the junkie bad girl heroine, is as tough as they come, which is good news, because she'll need to be. Teran's first book, and still his best. I suspect "Teran" is pen name.
January 2, 2010
A fourteen-year-old girl is kidnapped by a satanic cult that calls itself the Left-Handed Path. The leader, Cyrus,is a vicious,sadistic,& one of the scariest characters ever in a book I've read. This was an amazing debut novel.
April 4, 2009
I learned from this book that there's a point where I'm unable to suspend disbelief, let alone tolerate impossible plot elements and coincidences and abhorrent behavior by humans.
February 15, 2010
Had me crying by page 50. Definitely intend to read everything else this author's written.
December 3, 2018
Here's a tip to anyone considering reading the work of Boston Teran: begin with a book other than this one. I suggest starting with, perhaps, The Creed of Violence and The Country I Lived In, and then look over some of his other fine works before jumping in with both feet on God Is A Bullet. Why? Simply put, I wouldn't want anyone to be turned off prematurely to what is a very unique voice in the literary world, whose prose can be dense and challenging, and whose plots can be very, very dark.
Such is the case here. This is by far the harshest, darkest, and most violent of all the books I've read by this author. The world he takes the reader to is unforgiving, filled with bleak landscapes, desperately twisted characters, and some really disturbing images and language. Not for the faint of heart, to be certain.
However, if you're a fan of the author already and somehow missed this one, go for it. It's worth the effort, although I admit to having several periods of thinking, "ok, this is over the top and more prolonged than necessary" while reading. This is also the first time reading this author that I found myself looking forward to being finished. But, without spoiling anything, the ending is worth the read.
The main characters, a cop (former desk jockey) Bob Hightower, and a recovering junkie called Case, form the crux of the story's path. He's in pursuit of a seriously sociopathic cult leader to recover his kidnapped daughter, and is helpless to find her without Case's assistance. Why? Because she used to be part of the cult and knows their leader, his habits, patterns, and black, black heart. More than once while reading I had flashbacks to the relationship between Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Case is a complex character who is Bob's only chance to find his daughter, but teaming with her is challenging in its own right. She and Bob are opposite ends of a spectrum initially, as the author explores religious themes, beliefs, and, as one might suspect from the title, god.
By the book's end, one can't help but root for Case and hope for Bob, as they go through seven shades of hell in this journey of gore and merciless violence to recover his child. No matter how far fetched the story seems to become, there is something compelling about Teran's writing that keeps the reader locked in. I can't say I identify with either Bob, Case, or any of the sundry other individuals who inhabit the pages, but I was pulling for her and him the entire tense trip.
It's a bit exhausting, a tiny bit revolting, and very much challenging to read God Is A Bullet. But I am glad I did and still recommend this unusual author. Just avoid making this your introduction to him and draw your own conclusions.
Such is the case here. This is by far the harshest, darkest, and most violent of all the books I've read by this author. The world he takes the reader to is unforgiving, filled with bleak landscapes, desperately twisted characters, and some really disturbing images and language. Not for the faint of heart, to be certain.
However, if you're a fan of the author already and somehow missed this one, go for it. It's worth the effort, although I admit to having several periods of thinking, "ok, this is over the top and more prolonged than necessary" while reading. This is also the first time reading this author that I found myself looking forward to being finished. But, without spoiling anything, the ending is worth the read.
The main characters, a cop (former desk jockey) Bob Hightower, and a recovering junkie called Case, form the crux of the story's path. He's in pursuit of a seriously sociopathic cult leader to recover his kidnapped daughter, and is helpless to find her without Case's assistance. Why? Because she used to be part of the cult and knows their leader, his habits, patterns, and black, black heart. More than once while reading I had flashbacks to the relationship between Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Case is a complex character who is Bob's only chance to find his daughter, but teaming with her is challenging in its own right. She and Bob are opposite ends of a spectrum initially, as the author explores religious themes, beliefs, and, as one might suspect from the title, god.
By the book's end, one can't help but root for Case and hope for Bob, as they go through seven shades of hell in this journey of gore and merciless violence to recover his child. No matter how far fetched the story seems to become, there is something compelling about Teran's writing that keeps the reader locked in. I can't say I identify with either Bob, Case, or any of the sundry other individuals who inhabit the pages, but I was pulling for her and him the entire tense trip.
It's a bit exhausting, a tiny bit revolting, and very much challenging to read God Is A Bullet. But I am glad I did and still recommend this unusual author. Just avoid making this your introduction to him and draw your own conclusions.
January 21, 2010
This is my first review online so I will try to be cohereant, make my thoughts clear, and not give away any spoilers.
First off, what a violent, bloody, horrific but immersive book this is. I loved the main characters, they were well thought out and drove me to turn page after page to find out what they did, what they were thinking, and how they could get through this with some shred of their souls. You feel their pain, live their horrors, and want/need them to come out the other end of this nightmare in one piece. I did not feel that way about the lesser people in the book. I found myself not really caring if they were there or not. Just give me Case, Bob Whoever, Cyrus, and Gabi. The rest filled in the stereotypes and gave little else back in return. But, damn there are parts in this book where I could feel my soul get darker, taste the metallic tinges of blood, and feel my anger well up in me.
The plot is a series of locations, violence, drugs, and gang rape. It is certainly not for light reading or the fint of heart. Every place is described in gritty detail, every deplorable act described just enough where you dont want to read anymore of it, every glimmer of hope shredded to nothing, and it all works.
The writing itself seems a little self indulgent at times and I felt at those times the book suffered from it. Also either the editing of this book was horrible or the writer was trying to capture Cormac McCarthy but not ever achieving it.
Overall I did love the book and cant wait to ead more from Teran.
First off, what a violent, bloody, horrific but immersive book this is. I loved the main characters, they were well thought out and drove me to turn page after page to find out what they did, what they were thinking, and how they could get through this with some shred of their souls. You feel their pain, live their horrors, and want/need them to come out the other end of this nightmare in one piece. I did not feel that way about the lesser people in the book. I found myself not really caring if they were there or not. Just give me Case, Bob Whoever, Cyrus, and Gabi. The rest filled in the stereotypes and gave little else back in return. But, damn there are parts in this book where I could feel my soul get darker, taste the metallic tinges of blood, and feel my anger well up in me.
The plot is a series of locations, violence, drugs, and gang rape. It is certainly not for light reading or the fint of heart. Every place is described in gritty detail, every deplorable act described just enough where you dont want to read anymore of it, every glimmer of hope shredded to nothing, and it all works.
The writing itself seems a little self indulgent at times and I felt at those times the book suffered from it. Also either the editing of this book was horrible or the writer was trying to capture Cormac McCarthy but not ever achieving it.
Overall I did love the book and cant wait to ead more from Teran.
August 6, 2017
Boston Teran has a real talent for writing some of the best prose of any current author. He truly does transport you to these bizarre and horrifying worlds as you walk alongside these characters. This novel is probably one of the best examples of that. It isn't an easy one to get through but it greatly rewards you and the third act pays off beautifully. Also has one of the nastiest villains I have ever read. If you are into noir pulpy crime thrillers, this should be right up your alley.
July 23, 2024
God and Satan, why they're no different than the government or McDonald's. Just franchises to keep the money coming in by giving the locals something they can depend on.
-- Edward Constantza,
"Letter to the Editor,"
Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
1984
"There ain't no pity for the pitiful."
She's not a saint, but she's not a congressman either."
"Great tattoo art does not come from bullshit stencils like you see in those dick shop windows," he says. "You can preconceive on paper, of course, but in the end the real masterpiece quality shit, like I'm doin' right here, is drawn. It's all hand and eye coordination... Like a pilot. Plus vision. You have to have the vision.
It's got to fit the skin. It's modeled to the flesh, and so it becomes the flesh as the flesh becomes it. And it is the only true art that breathes. And like all true art, it dies when you die. That's how it is circumscribed, since there are limits to the flesh and limits to the art. It's like a marriage, babe. Which is black art unto itself."
"A hole looks into a hole and sees itself and looks full."
She hears him begin to cry. She knows he is crying because he thinks he has failed some higher order. She wants to tell him that the world works best without God, because the world is compromise, and impurity, and truth -- yeah, even truth -- and none of those are God. Not really.
Bob watches her arm fiddle a bit, then come up with a closed hand. She opens it clandestinely. In the palm is a Frontier cartridge -- a good old gliding metal jacket with brass bullet for better, deeper penetration.
"Take a look. This is the ultimate life form, the highest art form. The great equalizer. It crosses all political, social, and religious lines. It has no ties. It plays no favorites. It cuts both ways. It is as simple and profound as any fuckin' parable the Bible could slop up through all that magisterial garbage. It carries history on its back. All life falls before it. All faith resides within that virgin brass casing. The virgin birth, baby.
Yeah. It births new religions and bears down on old ones. There's god, Coyote. Grin and bear it."
February 28, 2023
An incredible book. As someone who recently started reading again it was a gripping and highly entertaining book that was perfect to hold my attention and never had a dull moment. All characters were written incredibly well and had believable motivations and their own separate storylines which were subtly connected and then amalgamated together in a perfect way over time. Beautifully written, Boston Teran has a way of describing things that is unique and helps you visual things in a wonderful way.
August 2, 2022
“God is a Bullet” is a drug fuelled rollercoaster ride into the heart of darkness and it is not for the faint of heart.
It is one of the best books I have ever read and the characters are dark and dirty.
I was blown away by the story and every page had me wondering what was going to happen next. When I had to tear myself away from reading the book, I could not stop thinking about it. It was one of those books that gets inside your head like a parasite and doesn’t want to let go.
I would not suggest this book for people who are unfamiliar with the darker sides of life!
“God is a Bullet” ranks in my top 10 books of all time and I have read 10’s of 1000’s of books in my lifetime. Read it at your own risk!! Read it if you dare!!
It is one of the best books I have ever read and the characters are dark and dirty.
I was blown away by the story and every page had me wondering what was going to happen next. When I had to tear myself away from reading the book, I could not stop thinking about it. It was one of those books that gets inside your head like a parasite and doesn’t want to let go.
I would not suggest this book for people who are unfamiliar with the darker sides of life!
“God is a Bullet” ranks in my top 10 books of all time and I have read 10’s of 1000’s of books in my lifetime. Read it at your own risk!! Read it if you dare!!
July 19, 2024
*2 shit quality amateur stick-and-poke face tattoos, out of 5*
First off, let me start by saying that I really dig the premise of this book: Down-on-his luck square/vanilla divorced desk cop teams up with a recovering junkie/violent cult member to rescue his kidnapped daughter from said/aforementioned violent cult, leading our heroes down a blood-soaked rabbit hole of gritty "hiding just beneath the surface of America" underground crime and savagery.
Mr. Teran does indeed attempt to spin this yarn, but he gets so caught up in being in love with his own edgy prose, philosophical circle jerking, and existential angst that he delivers a pretty weak plot, forced action sequences, and shallow paper-thin characters. It feels like he is just trying way too hard to be this edgy new Cormac McCarthy, but Cormac he is not.
There's real potential here with the plot and characters, but the author spends too much time wanting the readers to "feel" gritty and nihilistic that he forgets to focus on building an actual world or story that displays these things with some degree of believability or scope.
I am not shy about violence or mature subject matters (human trafficking, rape, drug abuse, people taking shotgun blasts to the guts), but in the pages of this book it just felt all for show, not really earned, and no real payoff. What could have been a badass villain in the cult leader of Cyrus turns into a discount-bin version of The Joker. The two main protagonists Bob and Case are forced to have chemistry, but really have none, and both seem to speak out of character at times in weird old-timey, too-wise-for -their-years catchphrases and poetic waxing. Plus they make stupid stupid decisions and somehow get away with murder, literally and figuratively.
I think I am just disappointed. Could I have done better myself? No, I couldn't have. But, sometimes you run across a story premise that is just plain wasted in someone's hands, and it bums you out, y'know?
MILD SPOILER:
Someone uses a pissed off rattlesnake that has been INJECTED WITH SPEED OR METH to attack someone else, and it made me chuckle quite a bit.
"god is like, a bullet, y'know?" - that one annoying kid in your philosophy 101 class.
First off, let me start by saying that I really dig the premise of this book: Down-on-his luck square/vanilla divorced desk cop teams up with a recovering junkie/violent cult member to rescue his kidnapped daughter from said/aforementioned violent cult, leading our heroes down a blood-soaked rabbit hole of gritty "hiding just beneath the surface of America" underground crime and savagery.
Mr. Teran does indeed attempt to spin this yarn, but he gets so caught up in being in love with his own edgy prose, philosophical circle jerking, and existential angst that he delivers a pretty weak plot, forced action sequences, and shallow paper-thin characters. It feels like he is just trying way too hard to be this edgy new Cormac McCarthy, but Cormac he is not.
There's real potential here with the plot and characters, but the author spends too much time wanting the readers to "feel" gritty and nihilistic that he forgets to focus on building an actual world or story that displays these things with some degree of believability or scope.
I am not shy about violence or mature subject matters (human trafficking, rape, drug abuse, people taking shotgun blasts to the guts), but in the pages of this book it just felt all for show, not really earned, and no real payoff. What could have been a badass villain in the cult leader of Cyrus turns into a discount-bin version of The Joker. The two main protagonists Bob and Case are forced to have chemistry, but really have none, and both seem to speak out of character at times in weird old-timey, too-wise-for -their-years catchphrases and poetic waxing. Plus they make stupid stupid decisions and somehow get away with murder, literally and figuratively.
I think I am just disappointed. Could I have done better myself? No, I couldn't have. But, sometimes you run across a story premise that is just plain wasted in someone's hands, and it bums you out, y'know?
MILD SPOILER:
Someone uses a pissed off rattlesnake that has been INJECTED WITH SPEED OR METH to attack someone else, and it made me chuckle quite a bit.
"god is like, a bullet, y'know?" - that one annoying kid in your philosophy 101 class.
April 22, 2021
Fancy reading a fucked up carnival of horrors based on a true story written by a dude who could be two or three people under a pseudonym?
I’ve got ya covered. GOD IS A BULLET is a horribly underrated book.
A vicious, bleak, black metal quest into the bloody bowels of the Southern California desert / US / Mexico border.
Bob is a boring, churchgoing, desk riding cop on a desperate search for his abducted daughter. She has been taken by the monstrous Cyrus and his ferocious band of lunatic disciples in a crazy cosmic horror/satanist style cult called ‘Left-Handed Path’.
Imagine if Man on Fire, The Searchers and True Detective bumped uglies and birthed a biting blood soaked Mad Max/Near Dark mutant baby. It fucking shreds!
Bob teams up with Case, a fierce jaw-breaking warrior woman who’s an ex-junkie, prostitute, ex-cult member, guiding Bob down the path to hell. I love that they aren’t prodigious John Wick types. They are normal flawed damaged people who put up a fight against gnarly enemies with more courage than survival skills. I can see where Steig Larsson pinched ideas for Lisbeth Salander and Blomkvist.
Dialogue is sharp, terse, whip-smart. You can taste the violence and feel the grotesquerie. I haven’t reread it in years, but each location and character are still vividly tattooed on my grey-matter. It drips with dread, horrible death a constant looming presence like a giant black hand over everything waiting to descend.
It’s written in an Ellroy-esque way. Every line is muscular with bite. Full of slang, street-poetry, lit-meets-pulp, noir like blood in moonlight.
I may have hyped this thing up. It’s a debut, so it’s not perfect, but this harsh, mean eyed beauty has been on my inspiration shelf for 15 years and makes many look like they’re punch-pulling. I can’t promise you’ll be the same, but there’s only one way to find out.
No compromises, unrelenting and brutal look at humans reduced to their animalistic nature. I’d give anything for Jeremy Saulnier to adapt it. Check out Boston’s other books, too
I’ve got ya covered. GOD IS A BULLET is a horribly underrated book.
A vicious, bleak, black metal quest into the bloody bowels of the Southern California desert / US / Mexico border.
Bob is a boring, churchgoing, desk riding cop on a desperate search for his abducted daughter. She has been taken by the monstrous Cyrus and his ferocious band of lunatic disciples in a crazy cosmic horror/satanist style cult called ‘Left-Handed Path’.
Imagine if Man on Fire, The Searchers and True Detective bumped uglies and birthed a biting blood soaked Mad Max/Near Dark mutant baby. It fucking shreds!
Bob teams up with Case, a fierce jaw-breaking warrior woman who’s an ex-junkie, prostitute, ex-cult member, guiding Bob down the path to hell. I love that they aren’t prodigious John Wick types. They are normal flawed damaged people who put up a fight against gnarly enemies with more courage than survival skills. I can see where Steig Larsson pinched ideas for Lisbeth Salander and Blomkvist.
Dialogue is sharp, terse, whip-smart. You can taste the violence and feel the grotesquerie. I haven’t reread it in years, but each location and character are still vividly tattooed on my grey-matter. It drips with dread, horrible death a constant looming presence like a giant black hand over everything waiting to descend.
It’s written in an Ellroy-esque way. Every line is muscular with bite. Full of slang, street-poetry, lit-meets-pulp, noir like blood in moonlight.
I may have hyped this thing up. It’s a debut, so it’s not perfect, but this harsh, mean eyed beauty has been on my inspiration shelf for 15 years and makes many look like they’re punch-pulling. I can’t promise you’ll be the same, but there’s only one way to find out.
No compromises, unrelenting and brutal look at humans reduced to their animalistic nature. I’d give anything for Jeremy Saulnier to adapt it. Check out Boston’s other books, too
February 16, 2023
Bechdel oui
Diversité non
J’abandonne. Je n’arrive plus à lire ce genre de récits ultra gores.
J’ai pourtant lu des Stephen King par dizaines, il y a des années… mais ma sensibilité a évolué, progressivement.
Meurtres, mutilation, drogue, tortures, viols, viols d’enfants. Viols de cadavres, mutilations d’enfants, combinaisons de plusieurs de ces éléments, de tous les éléments à la fois…? Et on recommence.
J’abandonne.
Je ne sais pas si la petite Gabi a survécu, mais après son calvaire (13 ans, kidnappée droguée volée mutilée par ses ravisseurs), je lui souhaite presque d’avoir trouvé une mort rapide et indolore (même si ça n’a pas l’air d’être le genre du bouquin) plutôt que de vivre avec ce trauma.
Ce genre de livre n’est plus pour moi.
Diversité non
J’abandonne. Je n’arrive plus à lire ce genre de récits ultra gores.
J’ai pourtant lu des Stephen King par dizaines, il y a des années… mais ma sensibilité a évolué, progressivement.
Meurtres, mutilation, drogue, tortures, viols, viols d’enfants. Viols de cadavres, mutilations d’enfants, combinaisons de plusieurs de ces éléments, de tous les éléments à la fois…? Et on recommence.
J’abandonne.
Je ne sais pas si la petite Gabi a survécu, mais après son calvaire (13 ans, kidnappée droguée volée mutilée par ses ravisseurs), je lui souhaite presque d’avoir trouvé une mort rapide et indolore (même si ça n’a pas l’air d’être le genre du bouquin) plutôt que de vivre avec ce trauma.
Ce genre de livre n’est plus pour moi.
October 12, 2014
This book is very much not my kind of book, but my book club picked it and I try to read them so that when we meet I can say something. This one just wasn't for me. It was so odd to start with and I found myself very confused. I tried to keep reading, but after a few pages just didn't care if I figured it out.
April 12, 2016
Ugh. No thank you. Couldn't handle it.
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