Violence, loyalty and the tension between American ideals of individual freedom and law and order are at the heart of T.C. Boyle's (San Miguel) riveting and provocative The Harder They Come.
Sten is a Vietnam veteran, ex-Marine and retired high school principal. While Sten is on vacation in Costa Rica with his wife, Carolee, an armed bandit hijacks the group's tour bus. Sten, furious, strangles the gunman and kills him. Despite his initial fears of retribution, the Costa Rican authorities assure him that he's actually done them a favor. Back in Mendocino he's given a hero's welcome, and eventually joins a local citizen's group to guard against the South American drug dealers they fear are establishing themselves in the neighboring forests. Meanwhile, his schizophrenic son, Adam, takes up with the much older and somewhat embittered Sara, whose anti-government activism fuels Adam's paranoia and his embrace of survivalism. When he kills a member of Sten's patrol who has stopped him about his erratic behavior, this sets off a massive manhunt, shattering Sten and Carolee.
The narrative point of view shifts among Sten, Sara and Adam, though the story ultimately belongs to Sten. Each character's voice is convincing. Sara and especially Sten's contradictions are believable even when they shock, like Sten's easy dismissal of anyone who is not white and middle class or his hair-trigger temper. And it's these contradictions, held both individually and in America's cultural identity, that give the novel its power. The Harder They Come uses a larger-than-life plot, told with white-hot tension, to mine its characters' paradoxes with unfailing insight and compassion. --Jeanette Zwart, freelance writer and reviewer