crippled jack

by Boston Teran

Crippled Jack is a revisionist western set against a landmark era in American folklore. Those were the years of poverty, homelessness and hatred between the classes. In that time when bloodthirsty violence ruled the day, a boy was bound and gagged and left to die in the desert. He was not yet nine and suffered what they called the palsy. there was a note pinned to his chest - It's up to God now.

But the boy did not die. Fate and history merged in his will to live. He was found by a horseman, known as The Coffin Maker, who was at war with the profiteers of the day, the Czars of business, the lords of industry. The Coffin Maker becomes the star on the boy's horizon, and the boy will grow to become an expert marksman known as Crippled Jack who comes of age during the labor wars consuming the West and whose friends will be enemies of the state. He will come to love a woman who escaped the orphan trains and is a reporter covering the bloodshed sweeping the nation. Together they will usher in a new America. An America that has every intention of turning the country upside down, so that it may stand right side up.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical

280 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2022

About the author

Boston 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.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resilience
Boston Teran writes fascinating stories with unorthodox characters that intrigue and embed themselves into unique historical moments. Crippled Jack is a joy to read with its expressive literary writing, flowing from tortured souls and the mistreated to profound events and a landscape of poverty, brutality and greed. Set in the United States labour wars of the 1870s through to the 1890s, this story's themes reverberate into our world.

A young eight-year-old boy who has palsy is left bound in the desert by his family, unable and unwilling to support him anymore, with a note pinned to his chest saying

“It’s up to God now.”

Of all people to come across the boy having spent two days crawling through the desert dust, with no water or food, is Ledru Drum, aka The Coffin Maker. A man currently with a posse on his tail. The boy impacts the compassionate side of Drum with his resilience, unforgiving honesty, and personable nature. Drum takes the boy with him and renames him, Matthew. The story embarks on the adventure of Matthew with his crippled body defying all the odds and becoming a hired marksman like his benefactor and becoming known by the moniker of Crippled Jack. Fate will draw him into the conflict between mine owners and workers, with a few detectives setting their sights on taking him out.

Matthew meets a woman, Nola Dyle, who sees beyond his broken body, and recognises many of the difficulties and prejudices she encountered in life, and how she struggled to achieve the journalist position she now holds. Both are drawn to Mary “Mother” Jones, who rose to prominence during the labour wars for her fight against mine owners by organising strikes for the miners and their families to seek better pay and conditions. The battles saw the corrupt law system and the mine owners’ forces engage in worker intimidation, beatings, and murder. Boston Teran heats this cauldron of resistance and menace into a fascinating tale that satisfies on so many levels, not least by the way he develops complex relationships, and illustrates many unique motivations and aspirations with his colourful characters.

I have been fortunate to read several Boston Teran books, always gripping and always introducing new and exciting perspectives on recognised themes. The chapters are short (which I prefer) and provide energetic momentum throughout the book. I highly recommend this novel and thank Boston Teran and Julia Drake for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review.

[Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I say this about every Boston Teran novel I’ve read but this might be his/her/their greatest work yet. Who is Boston Teran? Some hold it’s a committee of writers… a Federation of like minded artists. Me? I don’t care. Boston Teran writes novels where the central figures are radicals who live outside the rules of law and governance. They carry on fights for the disenfranchised. And they do so gloriously.

In my teenage years in high school my political path was drawn. Reading Studs Terkel, Lincoln Steffens, Langston Hughes, Seymour Krim, Paul Krassner, Hunter S. Thompson and similar malcontents formed my political viewpoint. While I was in the last 2 years of high school there were all these bastards I despised who wanted me to drop out, join the military and set my tender ass down in Vietnam. I had close friends and relatives who literally died “for their country”, the charlatans, the oligarchs, the goddamned Republicans.
Fighting brown revolutionaries in a small, foreign land and for what?

Maybe I can blame it all -my revolutionary bend- on Bob Dylan for he introduced me to Woody Guthrie who in turn introduced me to Ramblin’ Jack Elliott & Pete Seeger who in turn -by way of ancient folk ballads- taught me about Joe Hill, the Industrial Workers of the World, and Mother Jones… who figure prominently in this novel.

Maybe I was just born with a natural affinity for anarchy and the decades gone Anarchists who fought the Frank Norris defined Octopus of the oligarchs.

This one is a poignant tale of an orphan, a crippled child afflicted with a palsy in his hand and a lame leg he drags to pitifully move himself, tied up like a bundle, left behind like a worthless package of shame by a father who can no longer feed their family- two girls and the mother. Pinned to his clothing: It’s Up To God Now .

The boy is rescued by a cowboy-anarchist who has a ragged group of Pinkertons on his trail and a hefty bounty on his head. He will teach this boy the wicked ways of the world and how to counter his clumsy gait and most importantly how to fire a rifle with precise and deadly accuracy.

He names the kid Matthew and gives him his own last name: Drum. But the Pinks and the militias will come to know him as The Coffin Maker.

There is much violence and page upon page of action-packed narrow escapes from the agents of capitalism and their subjugation of the impoverished and starving day wagerers who work and die down in their mines. To their aid shuffles the mysterious marksman nicknamed “Crippled Jack”.

If you love Westerns, tales of chivalry and derring-do and your politics hew Left… this one was written for you.

Highest rating!

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UPDATE August 9th, 2023

This novel has been named a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the category of Historical Fiction!

[Tara Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my, what an incredible story. I don't have the words for a just review but it will remain as one of the best I've ever read.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, I'll keep this simple:

If you are familiar with the mysterious Boston Teran or a bona fide fan, then here's all you need to know-- it is compelling, heartbreaking, engaging, poetic, hypnotic, evocative, emotional, and just another damned fine example of authorship. Read it.

If you're unfamiliar with this author and wondering if this is the best place to begin, my suggestion is read God Is A Bullet first. Once you're hooked (I would imagine that's pretty good odds), then have at Crippled Jack or any of the other incredible works of BT.

In any event, I am impressed by the continued level of literary excellence in these novels and happy to give a full five stars with no caveats or reservations.

[Peter Kalnin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Boston Teran writing at his best, and leaving the romanticized version of the old west out of the text altogether: he tells a riveting story that holds the reader's rapt attention. Historically accurate social and economic problems create life-and-death difficulties for average individuals, adults and children alike, so the dramatic tension of the novel arises from believable situations (such as employers overworking and underpaying their workers to the point of desperation). The characterizations are marvelously developed in their seeming simplicity, which makes their motivations clear and understandable, driving the story's plot-line forward with apparent ease. I have loved Teran's novels since I first read God is a Bullet decades ago, and I am not at all disappointed by his latest work. I most highly recommend Crippled Jack which is Naturalism at its finest.

[I got an advanced publication of this novel in exchange for "an honest review." Since I have devoured this book today when it came in the mail, I feel this truly is an honest review.]

[Deb Washere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow and wow! Boston Teran has once again created a novel that is full of colourful characters and a page turning journey full of visually descriptive mental imagery.
It’s an amazing story!
I love how the author has intertwined fiction with a horrific part of early American history.
This is a story about the injustices committed against the working class and those who are brave enough to do something about it. This tale is old as time; it is just as relevant today, as it was then.
I couldn’t help but see the parallels between then and now.
The rich get richer and the working class get them there.
Slavery isn’t dead. We just call it working for minimum wage now.

[David Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow, and another wow! To read this book is to be swept along on an avalanche of history and memorable characters. And the fight goes on today because human souls are, all too human.

I received this book directly from the publisher. I can't thank you enough.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4*

[Chelsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This historical novel follows a boy, who was left for dead in the desert by his family. During a time when families were struggling and life was tough, this novel follows the boy as his life changes after he is saved by a criminal. Was this fate for the note that was pinned to his chest? Cripple Jack has he becomes known has taken in everything that has The Coffin Maker has taught him and uses this to his advantage instead of going through life mad that he is a cripple. In a time of railroad tycoons, The Pinkerton's, and families trying to survive the Wild West this novel was different in that it was told through cripple jack's point of view. You learn to understand why he makes the decisions he does and in the end, fate once again plays an unexpected role. I really enjoyed reading about life during this time. I want to think the author for sending me a free copy of this novel.

[Larry Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crippled Jack by Boston Tehran is excellent historical fiction, which is something I usually don’t go in for. But it is American History needing to be told of post Civil war industrial and westward expansion spawning robber barons, see Jay Gould, and the labor union movement, see Mary “Mother” Jones. The period, post slavery, where the tenant farms and working conditions of day labor resembled closely that of slavery, and the exploitation of men, women and children in the accumulation of capital and wealth.

The story of young crippled Jack, abandoned by his despairing parents, bundled, tied and with the note pinned to him “In god’s hands now”… found by Ledru Drum, aka the Coffin Maker, who takes him on teaches him to gain strength and how to bear arms, shoot and fight back. His mother Drum also schools Jack on the discipline of survival and the development of principles needed to take on the system that holds him, and the working poor, down.

Agency of Capitalism. “Wolves of the empire is what I called them. They’re Pinkertons. You know what a Pinkerton is?” The boy did not. “Well, young Mister Matthew…they carry badges, but they are not the law. Though they act like such. They are an army of paid trash. A posse, militia, a gang that works for the wealthy mine owner, the oil company lord, the industrial robber baron. Their job is to keep the poor and disenfranchised in place. Even though they themselves are of that class.” Drum flicked his cigarette ash at the fire. “We need a few dead kings on the altar to even up the score.” “Why dey afta’ you, Mista Drum?”

The Time. “The Great Depression of ’73 stripped America of its rampant sense of invincibility. There had been a drive after the Civil War to connect the country by rail to achieve its gluttonous dreams of manifest destiny. So the government, in all its left-handed wisdom, offered huge land grants and subsidies to a burgeoning industry. The aspiring railroad president had become the Lord of the Manor. When loans could not be repaid, it was left to the worker to bear the brunt of corporate avarice and instability. Across America the railroad companies lowered wages, increased work hours. Double headers—two locomotives pulling one long extended train—meant a single crew was forced to do the work of two. Across the next few years among the workers, you would hear words like— protest, organize, unionize, strike. Then came the hints of violence, then the violence itself. Railways began to hire security of their own to protect what they owned. Skullcrackers with badges and writs is what they were, often under the aegis of the Pinkertons. Famous already for exacting their own brand of cruel and clever reality.”

Drum Schools Jack. “A Lord of the Lords of the Manor,” said Drum. “Parasites with bankrolls. Like Gould. Remember the name. The bastard owns one mile in ten of every bit of track that crosses the country. All that and Western Union. The money he cheats from his workers he uses to pay his private police to make sure he’s not killed.” “We kill one of theirs and we are murderers and assassins,” he said. “They kill one of ours and they’re exterminating vermin…anarchists…filthy anarchists…filthy radicals…America haters.”

Jay Gould’s Way. “The Union Pacific called their new surge of Pinkertons Fact Gathering Committees. They should have been defined as Death Squads. Gould had had the acute foresight to take over first the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company, and then Western Union itself. This gave him control of the national media. And so Western Union became the propaganda arm of the railroad, allowing it to defame and destroy labor organizations and strikers by constantly describing them as virulent radicals who meant to undermine the American way of life and turn the country into a socialist dictatorship. Published reports in the newspapers began to surface that Mary Jones, the infamous labor organizer who was coming to speak to a rally at the Houston Fairgrounds, was, in fact, part of a veiled plot to incite a riot. And that she and her anti-American “minions” should be denied access to the fairgrounds.”

Nathan Neihart, Principle Shareholder in the Americanus Mining Co. Leadville Colorado. “This anti-capitalism union crap is scaring off investors.” “Then we’ll have to scare them all back,” said Neihart. “And how do we do that?” “By being bigger and better braggarts. And poisoning the air with little words like ‘socialists’ and ‘anarchists.’ Because in the end every fool knows socialists and anarchists want your money…not their own. But yours.”

Mary Jones interview w/Nola Dye. “It took me years to become friends with death,” said Mary. “I have come to learn that death is not always my enemy, but a valiant ally, for just as the good will die or be killed, so will the bad.”… “Mary Jones just opened up to Nola about her life. Of her girlhood in Ireland, she said, “My first memories are of the food riots in Ireland. The landowners had given the farmers pitifully small parcels of land, barely enough to plant to make the payments, and unless they thrived on starving were eventually run off, to be replaced by another wave of desperate farmers. And when they finally revolted they were put down by thugs the landowners hired. Trash with a badge… like here.”

Crippled Jack w/Nola Dye. “Have ta’ lie ta’ convins ya’self.” It was a dismal reality that aroused her anger. She sat on the bed practically beside him. “If they can weaken you a little today,” she said, “what can you look forward to tomorrow?” - “In a moment of clear eyed transparency he admitted he knew who he was, and what he was, and what he’d done and what he intended to do, and that he would get what he deserved…fairly or unfairly. And death’s meaning wouldn’t change it. “I stand by ta’ blood I shed,” and that was the last he said.” … “I’ve never spoken of this to anyone,” she said. “I carry too much shame.” Matthew cupped her face in his hands. “I know one thin’,” he said. “Yes?” “I know—” “Know what?” “Shame is a cos’ly enemy. It haz defeated me…many times.” “Yes,” she said. “I understand. That…has been me.”

Mary Jones w/Crippled Jack. “God gave you that hand,” she said. “And that body. It is part of the blessing, like so many others who crawled out of the womb, broken…but who answered the call. And by their actions bear witness and so make others believe.” … “Matthew…we are here to raise hell. You, in your way. Me, in mine. “I knew before the telling. I knew Ledru Drum. I knew that beast dog of his. I knew the old Missus Drum. Knew her like one sister knows another. Shared sufferings and joys, we did. And not in equal measure. And I was born with a special sense to know what I see, before I even see it.”

The Children Take the Stage. “You’re to have the children at the stage door at seven. That attendant will guide you in. You and Joe must be quick and steady.” Matthew nodded. “A number of theatre hands will guard the stage. If something or anything should befall me…I want you to take my place.” To say Matthew looked shocked would be an understatement. “You know what has to be said…Do so for as long as you can.” “I’m na’ able ta’.” “I don’t give a tinker’s curse about being able…it’s being willing that matters.” … “the curtain was fully open to expose this cast of impoverished children it was as if they had been all struck mute at the same thorny moment. “Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of America,” said Mary Jones. “I’d like to introduce you to the children of another America. One that lives and dies in the shadows of your good fortune.” There was a growing murmur among the audience. People now stood to see better, to try and understand how this could have happened. They were as much enraged as they were shocked. “These children are in desperate need of help…
“ The mayor had entered the theatre, followed by members of the Denver police and a string of newspapermen scrambling to get as close to the stage as possible. “You can walk out, you can walk away,” shouted Mary Jones. “But these children will still be here. You are creating an underclass of destitution.” … “The Mayor’s private security team took Mary Jones by force but she kept right on fighting the cause, defying their attempts to silence her, or the theatregoers denouncing her. She was a fever nowhere near breaking.” Then Crippled Jack steps forward, rifle over shoulder…

Nola Dye Questions Mary Jones. “And I have a question that Neihart once asked that I ask.” “Indeed,” said the woman. “If the union gets power to negotiate, to demand, to…in effect have a central say in what happens everywhere…what is to stop the union from becoming just as corrupt as the people you’re fighting now?” “It is a thought I live with all the time. And the answer is always the same.” “And that is?” “The only way to stop them is with people like you…and people like me.” Because if the union gains power and goes corrupt, there will always be a generation of newly poor, newly disenfranchised, and newly exploited to fight them.”

Neihart Pushes Harder. “notified by corporate flier—FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY, THERE IS TO BE NO SMOKING OR TALKING DURING AN EMPLOYEE’S WORK SHIFT. If any shift boss captain fails to completely comply with said flier sent out this morning…they will be immediately terminated.”

[Leadville Strike of 1880 -Some historians believe the Leadville miners’ strike of 1880, might have been intentionally provoked by the Chrysolite Company as a way of hiding the company’s other problems. Whether true or not, the claim reflects the fact that changes at the struggling Chrysolite provided the immediate source of miners’ grievances. First, the company attempted to take $1 per month from employees to fund a kind of compulsory medical insurance before backing off the plan in the face of opposition. Next, the company banned talking and smoking during working hours, presumably in the name of safety. Finally, the company replaced several underground foremen, claiming that the foremen had been allowing miners to slack off. This action was the last straw. Source Colorado Encyclopedia]

Push Comes to Shove Leadville Miners Strike. “There was violence everywhere across the Hill. Packets of men from both sides of the political battlefield squabbling, lashing out at each other, mob like cat and mouse fistfights, security police charging the ranks of protesting miners. But order was being reinstated—militant, corporate, state run order. And from the length of the line of troops marching up the Hill, that stretched all the way back to the rail depot, looked to Nola to be at least a thousand men. Guards were being posted on the slopes along that road up to the Hill, with orders to arrest, and if necessary, shoot, anyone who did not comply with the cease-and-desist orders. A curfew would be put in place within hours, and for all practical purposes Leadville would be under martial law. … for the rest, what number she wondered were lost souls, hobos, vagrants, refugees from the homeless camps, maybe former miners, itinerants, foreigners, sharecroppers, day laborers, who’d signed on in desperation as a means to three meals a day and a place to sleep? How many were now part of an Army fighting against their own self interests? It was the tale of a disjointed and tragic America, thought Nola. An America trying to pull itself up by the bootstraps of another man’s boots.” … “Mary Jones was arrested that evening. She was taken into custody at her tent, by two companies of state militia. The charges were inciting violence and conspiracy to commit murder.”

The State of Capital. “The reality—the Nola Dye Drum murder brought a much more fevered interest to the press releases, and the Americanus had the finest rise in its stock price since the initial public offering, even with the stranglehold of the strike.” … “This is where Neihart proved his financial genius. He did not bring in strike breakers to reopen the mine. He did not solicit blacks or foreigners, or any of the other social tribes that were desperate enough to cross the picket line. He let the mine sit empty. He relied on people’s greed to boost the price. “It may take a week to break the strike, it may take a month, or a year. But one thing is sure…the silver will be there and the miners won’t.” And then there was the price of silver on the American market. Something neither they nor Neihart could control. A recession would prove a strike is “gambling with destruction.”

Into the Hills in Pursuit of Crippled Jack. “Flares were being fired off up through the Stripe, lighting the way for men to make the fight. And if that were not enough, fireworks were being set off higher yet above the passage. There was gunfire soon after. Hunters were shooting into shadows they thought to be Crippled Jack. From Turquoise Lake, it made for an unreal scene. Great shocks of light like cannon fire and smoke billowing across the blackness, as if the Stripe itself were some ancient fortress under siege. The painter there would live to see his renderings of that scene copied, embellished, altered by others…” … Ledru Drum. “What is it, Matthew?” “I failt’.” “How’d you come to that idea?” “I camit’d ta’ ultimate sin.” “And what sin was that?” “I outliv’d my amm’nition.” Drum reached out. “Remember back, son…to the desert where I found you…It’s up to God now.” “What happened next would be a point of conjecture and debate. He was seen from a dozen quarters rising up behind the rocks where he had hid. A rifle in each hand, the smoking barrels resting on each shoulder, walking toward his hunters across open ground with that odd hitch.”

“We’ll need another casket.” “Yes,” said Harriet, looking into the room where Nola Dye Drum lay. “Place it beside his wife.” … “What I’d put on the stone,” said Harriet after due consideration… “They made the fight.”

The death of Nola Dye had aroused suspicions in fellow newspapermen. And after Nathan Neihart sold his rights in the Americanus to an eastern syndicate for a quiet fortune, a rumor began to circulate that the engineer’s report might have been, at the very least, doctored. How the engineer had been in the employ of the syndicate that bought the mine. And when they sent a second crew down, it was discovered the Americanus was an empty hole. That the ore taken from it had been seeded there. That the Americanus was, for all practical purposes, a scam.

Yet… “Neihart leaned out flashing a telegram… started to read from the telegram… “Stock prices soaring… Stop. May set one day trading record… Stop. “Consortium interested in buyout… Stop. Will arrive in Leadville tomorrow… Stop. Believe deal within striking distance… Stop.” He held up a last dispatch. “And this… is the most telling.” He read again. “Believe deal can be struck with union that will guarantee further rise in stock prices… Stop.”

“As for Mary Jones and the Federation—you cannot strike a closed down, useless mine. They believed Neihart had forced the strike to temporarily drive up prices on word from the engineer’s report, while he consummated the deal. When asked, Mary Jones said, “We accept this temporary defeat with greater resolve.”

“Nathan Neihart brought in a renowned architect to build an Ice Palace that he would finance. It was to be constructed on Constitution Hill. A property that Neihart owned. The idea was to turn Leadville into a winter resort, a tourist attraction that would employ local citizens. It would be a castle made of ice. … Neihart was there skating, and he was alone. He was a fine and stylish skater. But, of course, he’d had much practice, as he had skated through every criminal act, every corruption, every one of life’s pitfalls, with the grace of a great skater.” But you can only skate so long. “He tried to escape. It was a ridiculous sight. His skate blades chopping wildly at the ice to make good getting away.”

[Bob Prol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story by Teran. I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. If it sucked, I’d tell you.

This story was fast paced, with great characters. A western with a lot of timeless themes worked in. Good against evil, owners against workers, the questions of who owns the truth, and love and death. It was one of my best reads this summer.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: Roger D., Virginia
“Crippled Jack” A Novel, Boston Teran - ©2022
Brutus Productions, Inc., High Top Publications LLC, Los Angeles, CA
[pre-publication copy/uncorrected galley proof edition 8/23/22]
The author’s 15th novel; 280 pages.

[author’s dedication]
"To those who make the fight, who understand all too well
the shadows closing in from every corner of our darkest thoughts,
words and deeds, and if they must, die with a dream on their faces."

Boston Teran’s latest book, “Crippled Jack”, identified (by the author/publisher) as a “revisionist, western”, historical novel, is set against a landmark era in American folklore: the violent and valiant struggle for workers’ rights amid the era of ever expanding midwestern mining - its investors’/executives’ greed and corruption, and the emerging struggle to establish America’s workers unions.

Through skilled writing and a tersely driven narrative by Boston Teran, the horrendous abuse inflicted on laborers in the mid-west mines and on their families (circa 1873) by the mining ‘executives’ and their hired ‘enforcers’, leaves nothing to the imagination – thanks to the author’s detailed, third person narration, and the ‘no holds barred’, skilled word-painting.

The novel follows the unswerving determination and fortitude of the main character from early childhood to adulthood - one very young Marion Eno, son of a Utah coalmining schoolteacher, ostracized by the mine managers for compiling a list of the miners’ ‘demands’. The Enos, father, wife, and three children, are left to wander. Because the father would not stoop to begging, Marion was abandoned. The young boy was discovered and soon dubbed ‘Matthew Drum’ by his rescuer Ledru Drum and Drum’s companion dog ‘Corporal Billy’. Drum discovers the abandoned Marion with only a small note attached: “It’s up to God now” - an ironic and poignant reference to the dramatic biblical account of Abraham and his son Isaac in scripture of Genesis.

In that time when bloodthirsty violence ruled the day a boy was bound and gagged and left to die in the desert. He was not yet nine and suffered what they called the palsy.
There was a [‘torn piece of scripture’] pinned to [the child’s chest]: “It’s up to God now.”
But the boy did not die. Fate and history merged in his will to live. He was found by a horseman
who was at war with the [mining] profiteers of the day. [The man] was known as
‘The Coffin Maker’….and together they will usher in a new America.
An America that has every intention of turning the country upside down,
so that it may stand right side up.
[from the book’s jacket cover]

The book’s cover itself, at first glance, implies a story of ‘them and us’, of Southwest desert border walls, bars of steel, of ‘refugees’, of ‘them and us’.

Early on, when Drum and newly named ‘Matthew’ are getting acquainted, this is their camp fireside conversation:
"They sat beside the fire life two longtime pards. The wind kicked up burning ash
from the fire and the night around them lit up with a thousand tiny starbursts.
'Well, young Matthew…I got a question for you.'
'Yes, sir?' 'How’s your talent for lying?' "

The broad historical context which author Teran chose for “Crippled Jack” is America’s “Long Depression” [c. 1873]: After the transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad was completed in 1869, "businessmen and politicians immediately clamored for another," and so the Northern Pacific Railroad was proposed. Jay Cooke & Co. tried to raise money for the railroad and attract investors, but as PBS writes, by September 18, 1873, they realized that they'd overextended themselves in investments and so declared bankruptcy. Suspending all deposit withdrawals, people and banks around the country panicked.

Clipped dialogue and vivid word-painting engage the reader and propel the narrative and sets the scenes throughout the novel (two excerpted examples from the early portion of the story):

"Drum left the bodies in the road where they lay. A statement for scavenger and stranger alike.
He and the boy’s shadows lengthened as they rode and when they stopped
to rest and water the mounts, Drum said: 'You haven’t spoken a word all day.'
The boy looked at anything but Mister Drum.
'Never seen men killed?' said Drum. ‘The real way of it?'
'No, sir.'
‘It isn’t fair, really', said Drum, washing his face with a wet handkerchief.
'What?’
'Being thrown into the world life you have. I’m sure there’s no comfort knowing you’re not the first, and you won’t be the last. But there it is.'
The boy looked at the man with uncertainty.
'You a killa, aren’ you, Mista Drum?'
'I am that', said Drum. 'Among other things.'
As they went to mount up, the boy said, 'Mista Drum….what gonna happen
ta me…Whahe da I go?' "
__________________
"It began to rain that day. A slashing downpour that quickly flooded the roads. Lightning in the gray black sky flashed before them, and Drum saw the remains of an abandoned farm on the crest of the hill.
“ 'There,' he said to the boy. 'Follow me.'
The rook of the house had long since caved in from a fire. But the huge barn itself was serviceable, and it is there they camped to wait out the storm.
Drum stood at the open door smoking and watched the rain fall upon the darkness. The dog ‘Corporal Billy’ lay at his boots, the eternal watchman. The boy was poking the fire with a stick. Strangers they were, at the raw edge of the world.
'Mista Drum…what you gonna do wit me? Gonna drop me on some street corner somewhere?
If ‘ya mean to, at least tell me.' ”

Matthew encounters a group of young thugs who try to intimidate him – and their parting taunting words instill in him a new self-awareness:
“ 'How old are you?' one of them said.
'Almost nine.' Matt answered.
'Nine?.….That rifle a Remington?' Matthew nodded.
'Loaded?'
'No good ‘ith it weren’.'
'......right,' said one of their number.
They tried to coerce him, bribe him first with beer, and then with whiskey, to take a shot at that rail trash down by the [train] trestle.
'You don’t have to kill no one….just give them a little testimonial.'
And like that they were on their way, and the boy heard one of them repeat what he’d said,
'Tough little cracker.'
Then it settled in, what they’d said, as they strode through the crowd, drunken and nasty.
The way he’d been looked at and talked to.
He was not some lame thing to be mocked or made sport of, shunned, cast off, stared at.
He was…a tough cracker, bearing a rifle."

As the novel unfolds in rapid fashion, Boston Teran consistently paints and builds the intensity, the animosity, and life-threatening danger of resisting injustice – ‘speaking truth to power’. The host of characters are deftly ‘painted’ and woven; and the narrative throughout is both tender and raw, carefully linked and revealed at just the right moment in the drama….and, of course, a thrilling and deeply poignant ending.

Teran’s writing in “Crippled Jack” is tight, vivid, and rapid-fire throughout the 280 pages/105 chapters - the lengthiest ‘chapter’ being only four pages…..some only two pages – making this a true page-turner with no places to stop and catch your breath!
Teran’ writing design held this reviewer’s full attention with every page-turn. And the breath-taking pace and the storyline’s twists, turns made for one hugely engaging, ‘un-put’er-down’ reading experience.

Review – Roger Dowdy, Richmond, VA
9-20-22

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really captures you from the outset. I love how, although this is set in the old west, it touches on a lot of issues that are still at the forefront of society today. If you're looking for an idealized western (like Louis L'Amour book or a John Wayne film), this isn't for you. This is real, it's gritty at times, and it pulls no punches. Inequality had been a serious issue in America, with the rich overworking the poor, and the disabled being viewed as disposable. The characters were absolutely amazing, and I loved "Coffin" and "Jack". Highly recommend if you love gripping dramas that take a hard look at all too common struggles humanity faces.

[Brodie Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story of post-Civil War westward expansion focuses on society’s growing pains when robber barons exploited both natural resources and labor in the silver mines of Colorado. The tale begins when a palsy-stricken young boy is left to die in barren wasteland but survives when he is found by the “Coffin Maker,” an angel of death who avenges the subjugated masses. The boy grows into “Crippled Jack,” an expert marksman who assumes the Coffin Maker’s social justice mantle. Crippled Jack’s journey intersects with those of Nola, a principled young newspaperwoman, and Mary Jones, a firebrand speaker against oppressive labor practices.

The powerful narrative unfolds the plight of downtrodden workers like those who toil at a Leadville mine where smoke-blackened “runoff down the hillface looked like blood that had rusted over.” Bearing witness to atrocities instills in Jack, Nola and Mary an unshakeable conviction for their cause. But their passion for real, lasting change comes with a foreboding sense that Leadville might be their final challenge, since bloodshed is inevitable when confronting powerful magnates and their legions of Pinkertons. Far from a genre Western, critical events from 19th-century Leadville labor strife provide rich historical backdrop for this heavily fictionalized account that strives for a moral reckoning that surely wasn’t achieved in the cases of many of the workers on whose backs our nation expanded. Words come with a directness in quick chapter scenes that build a timeless-feeling story of the men and women on opposite sides, the oppressors and the oppressed, and propel it to a powerful conclusion. Boston Teran is a pseudonym used for 15 books in 20-plus-year career during which the writer’s real identity has never been revealed.

Was this review helpful? I am an avid reader of historical fiction, and author, and more of my reviews can be found at www.brodiecurtis.com

[Ainun Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Our survival demands we are one."

It is a tremendous book! I was nervous before starting because I have neither read any western book nor I have any idea what America was like around that time. But in the first few pages, the author introduces us to a boy, later named Matthew, who was left to die on the street by his family. Why? Because they were poor and a crippled child was nothing except for a burden. I could feet my heart break. How many times have I heard or seen kids dying, robbed out of their childhood due to poverty? Way more than I would like to. The words flowed easily. Moreover, the plot and the interesting characters kept me captivated from the beginning to the end. Definitely recommend!❤️

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

It starts with a desperation that's hard to read, especially since the author's writing is so vivid that you can picture every terrible bit. But stick with it as humanity comes next. The book does a lot of swinging back and forth between the two extremes, making for a much more honest (and, to my mind, readable) depiction of the Old West. To emphasize, this is not a classic Western, so don't pass it by because Westerns aren't your thing. If you like writing so intense that characters and images are imprinted in your brain, this is your book.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really disappointed with this book, especially from an author that I consider to be very talented. The beginning of the book was very gripping. Later as I got into the middle and ending I realized that the main character is not the focus of the story. Which is okay but the other characters are stereotypes and uninteresting. All of the characters’ motivations are unclear and I really didn’t care about them.

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not my first Boston Teran read but my first of theirs that was a historical novel. This novel is all about deep thoughts, heart and plenty of action. Honestly the last 30 pages flew by as the action cranked up. Loved the ending and can't recommend it highly to all readers.

[SadafKhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the dirt poor Wild West, a young crippled boy left to die by his desperate parents for refusing to beg is saved by a hunted man who teaches him to fight back against the rich owners who are exploiting their workforces.

[Roger Prindle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who is this guy? The mysterious Boston Teran writes another great historical novel. This one is set in Colorado during the coal field wars of 1913-1915. Of course Mary(Mother) Jones shows up, but other than her, all the names of people and organizations have been changed to protect the guilty.

[Doreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/5/2023 This absolutely led me to a deep dive on Mother Jones. Fascinating stuff. Full review tk at CriminalElement.com.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book captures you right from the beginning and keeps you on the edge of your seat through out the book. Great story telling to the very end!