"Everything in this book is true," writes Elizabeth Gonzalez James in her Author's Note at the end of THE BULLET SWALLOWER, "except for the stuff I made up." She then goes on to explain that the character at the heart of her novel, Antonio Sonoro, is based on her real-life ancestor, as well as the stories that grew up around his colorful and violent personal history. She also knits together other historical figures and places into her fictional narrative, though with more than a little sprinkling of magical realism.

The novel opens in the early 1800s in a gold mining town on the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo del Norte, if you're from south of the border). In a prologue that resonates with the weight of myth or folklore, she tells a tale of a man, Alferez Antonio Sonoro, "born with gold in his eyes." He lets greed get in the way of both generosity and good sense, and the disaster that unfolds will reverberate for generations.

"THE BULLET SWALLOWER is likely to prompt not only belly laughs and gasps of shock and outrage, but also deep reflection on what it means to traverse --- and police --- this border region."

Alferez's grandson, Antonio, is a young husband and father in 1895. Having heard rumors of a train bound for Houston and full of Mexican artifacts looted by whites, he hatches a grandiose train robbery scheme and reluctantly involves his much less gung-ho brother as a co-conspirator. To say that things don't go according to plan is putting it very mildly. Readers are likely to lose track of just how many near-death experiences Antonio encounters on his journey to Houston and back across the border.

Speaking of death, it's embodied here in the shadowy figure of Remedio, a sort of Grim Reaper who appears not only to Antonio, but also to his grandson Jaime, a well-known actor and musician living in Mexico City in the 1960s. Jaime is handed an ancient, mysterious (and very smelly) book that seems to suggest his ancestral lineage is full of villains and evildoers. Is he fated to repeat the mistakes of the past?

The book Jaime reads, as well as the figure of Remedio, links the narratives of Antonio and Jaime. Both struggle, especially in the novel’s final sections, with questions of inheritance and legacy --- and with the very real possibility of a family curse.

If this all sounds like a picaresque romp, on one level it is. But as the Author's Note suggests, this wildly entertaining novel also has its basis in fact --- not just James’ own family history, but also the violent history of law enforcement in the Texas borderlands, the ever-changing claims of land ownership, and the ever-evolving approach to managing this harsh but vital place. Unfortunately, some of the most gruesome details are rooted in fact, and Antonio's final chapters are all too plausible. The book’s funny, outlandish moments are, in part, what make these tragic ones all the more powerful as a result.

THE BULLET SWALLOWER is likely to prompt not only belly laughs and gasps of shock and outrage, but also deep reflection on what it means to traverse --- and police --- this border region.