Beating the Devil

By W.C. Jameson

Carlos, a young man who has grown up near El Paso, Texas, succumbs to the allure of Mexico and crosses the Rio Grande to embark on a mythic journey. Bearing the scars of a cruel childhood, Carlos is eager to escape the United States, a country he finds insipid, inauthentic, and hypocritical. In contrast, the northern Mexico countryside offers him a chaotic reality in which he battles a gigantic foe in a boxing match, eats snakes, and befriends a hunchbacked dwarf who tells tales of brutality and revolution in Carlos's newly adopted homeland. It is from this dwarf that Carlos learns of Chávez, guerilla champion of the oppressed who is engaged in a battle of attrition and vengeance against the militia henchmen of Joaquin Mueller, a land- and power-hungry hacendado . Carlos joins the outlaw Chávez and his band of men in their struggle against Mueller. It is a struggle that will overwhelm Carlos with death and loss, setting him on a path for revenge of his own.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826340393
• ISBN13: 9780826340399
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

A Gripping Yarn

Carlos, who rides the hinge of time into old Mexico as centuries change from the 19th to 20th Century, narrates his story and you soon realize he is a haunted man in a haunted land. He is a young man on a quest, on a search for meaning that leads him to a dwarf, to Chavez, a guerilla chieftain, and to Joaquin Mueller, who abuses the land and its people as he grabs more and more land and power. The times are brutal and they turn Carlos inside out and let him see who he really is, and let him decide if he likes what he sees. Few people get to know how they will measure up in such a time, and you will thrill to a story well-told of a mission that is both raw and emotional.

Stunning and Memorable

I admit that this is a very biased review because I helped W.C. Jameson with the editing on this stunning story. However, Beating the Devil is such a memorable reading experience that no one can go away from this tale without being profoundly touched by young Carlos' adventure deep into the Sierra Madres. This is prose at its best: lyrical,fast paced, and succinct. Though often violent and gut-wrenching the underlying beauty of a man in search of truth, justice, love and himself is a strong and worthy saving grace. I highly recommend this novel without reservation. Laurie Wagner Buyer