God Is a Bullet - Hardcover

Teran, Boston

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375401881 ISBN 13: 9780375401886

Publisher: Knopf, 1999

Synopsis

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.

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 Back Cover:

"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

"In a word: 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, author of Fade Away and One False Move

"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 P. Pelecanos, author of King Suckerman and The Sweet Forever

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0375401881
• ISBN 13: 9780375401886
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 301