God Is a Bullet - Softcover

Boston Teran

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330369415 ISBN 13: 9780330369411

Publisher: Pan Macmillan, 2001

Synopsis

During Christmas week in 1995, a fourteen-year-old girl is kidnapped by a bloodthirsty satanic cult. Bob Hightower, the girl's father and a small-town cop, embarks on a desperate mission to find her but his only hope lies with Case Hardin, an ex-cult member and ex-junkie living in a halfway house in Hollywood. Their quest - his for his child, hers to exorcise her demons - becomes a primal hunt-and-chase through a savage sub-culture of drugs and ritualistic violence. But it is Bob who holds the final card to throw into the macabre 'game', the twentieth enigma of the tarot, the angel who signals Judgement . . 'An absolutely stupendous debut novel' Mark Timlin, Independent 'It's a roller-coaster of an experience, noir as a purging metaphysical experience that will take your breath away' Guardian Frightening, ferocious first novel about satanic cults fuelled by drugs and armed to the teeth in the awesome deserts of the American Southwest' Daily Telegraph 'Beautifully written, occasionally creepy and always compelling, it's a striking debut' Dublin Evening Herald

About this title

From the Publisher

"[A] tautly paced and harrowing debut thriller . . . Cynical and DeLillo-like in its observations, paced with present-tense immediacy, Teran's hard-boiled prose does not belittle the tragedy at this novel's core. Not for the faint-hearted, the book is as addictive as illegal substances."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Boston Teran writes like an angel, shining a clear light on the deeds of the devil in this hunt-and-chase thriller. God is a Bullet is a stunner of a suspense novel, body-slamming its way down an uncharted rocky terrain of pain, fear, horror, bravery and redemption . . .Teran's voice is fresh, unique and explosive. He has delivered a work that is too good, too important and too painful to be ignored."
                -- Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of Sleepers and Apaches

"God is a Bullet defies description. Nothing I have ever read, NOTHING, has filled me with the exciting sense of dread and fear I felt while reading this extraordinary first novel. Everything about this book is perfect: the story is astounding, the characters are etched in my brain, the real-time style is riveting, and Teran's dialogue is carved out of granite. It will be a long while before I get this story and these characters out of my head. It is just a terrific experience."
        --William Diehl, author of Reign in Hell and Primal Fear

"God is a Bullet is an intense, emotional reading experience, an unrelenting thriller populated with full-bodied, deeply-drawn characters. Boston Teran locates the heart beneath the darkness and delivers something human and true."        
        --George Pelecanos, author of The Sweet Forever

"In a word: Wow. God is a Bullet is a shotgun blast to the gut--a kick-ass, in-your-face tour de force from start to finish. Every page carries a fresh wallop and a nightmarish jolt. Boston
Teran's haunting words stay with you long after you turn the final page. I'm still stunned."
        --Harlan Coben, Edgar Award-winning author of Fade Away and One False Move
"God is a Bullet is a go-juice pumped, drag-you-down-the-street thriller that is also a haunting novel about survival of the human spirit. It has claimed a permanent part of my imagination. I can't let it go... honestly, I don't want to let it go. It's that good."
        --Fred Willard, author of Down on Ponce

Comments from booksellers:
"I love it . . .a truly original, if not slightly disturbing, novel."
        --Matt Hawthorne, Booksource in St. Louis

"God is a Bullet is an incredible piece of work! A halogen light in a room full of dim bulbs, it has blockbuster written all over it. Teran--who has a talent for growing memorable characters from unlikely material--had my rapt attention from the first page through to the end."
        --Maggie Griffin, Partners & Crime bookstore in Manhattan

From the Inside Flap

steland 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--th

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0330369415
• ISBN 13: 9780330369411
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320