The Lawless Legion MC by Patrick Klein; Motorcycle Club Thriller Revs and Sputters

 

The Lawless Legion MC by Patrick Klein; Motorcycle Club Thriller Revs and Sputters

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Patrick Klein’s The Lawless Legion MC is an intense thriller that revs when telling about the creation of an outlaw motorcycle club but it sputters by giving us characters who are too one dimensional to relate to or root for.

Sonny is going nowhere fast. He was just fired from his job at the local bar and has dwindling finances. His buddies Mike, Scott, and Johnny Boy have problems of their own. Sonny is hit with an idea. Since he and his friends have a passion for motorcycles why not form a motorcycle club of outlaws? The club called The Lawless Legion MC goes through various circumstances and capers to obtain new members, capital, and a word of mouth reputation that spreads fear.

The book has a strong beginning as it discusses how and why such clubs are formed usually from a desire to socially connect with others and a need to break out of poverty. Sonny and his buddies live in abject poverty, most of them in the same trailer park. Bills pile up, they owe more than they have, and everyone that they know is divorced, broke, homeless, drunk, addicted, unemployed or trapped in low paying jobs, and don’t see much of a future. It’s not hard to imagine why these guys would find crime a suitable means to escape the life that they have been handed since birth. 

The other thing that draws Sonny and the others into the idea of a motorcycle club is the camaraderie and fellowship that they share. They share a love of motorcycles that’s true but it goes beyond that. They call each other “brother” and treat one another like family. This is particularly true of Sonny, Mike, Scott, and Johnny Boy who have been friends since they were kids. 

Sonny wants to share the financial and influential benefits that this club can bring with those that he is closest to. Because of this strong bond among Sonny and his friends, it is a genuinely upsetting moment for him when one of his friends withdraws from the club when he grows concerned about their violent nature to the point of packing his things and leaving the trailer park without telling anyone. Partly out of concern for the direction that his friends are taking but also because if the Lawless Legion is as successful as they hope to be, he is afraid that they may attack him in retaliation.

While the book has a strong start by showing how a motorcycle club is formed and why members get into it, the interest fizzles the higher that the Lawless Legion climbs. Some of their plans to force competition out of town, get a cut of local drug money, and start a fight club are fun in a darkly comic sort of way. Sonny also shows genuine affection for a woman who is coming out of an abusive relationship. These are moments of good character insight but they don't last.

The Lawless Legion members had more depth when they started out but that depth crumbles as they become involved in a war against various enemies like a rival motorcycle club, an opportunistic police officer, and an acquaintance playing the various sides. 

Once they gain the power and influence that they crave, the members become one-dimensional and interchangeable. Some of the newer recruits are not as distinct as the original group and it can be hard to remember who did what. They also look for any reason or rationale to pick a fight, flash their muscles and attitude, and commit violence towards those that they perceive as an enemy. 

Even when a member of the Lawless Legion leaves, it isn’t looked on as an understanding that he made his choice. Instead it is looked on as a moral failing on his part as someone who betrayed them because he didn’t have the stomach to do what they did. As Sonny and the others are losing their humanity, they resent their former friend for still retaining his. 

Perhaps that’s the point, The Lawless Legion have become dehumanized. They have accepted that violent part of themselves and now there is nothing left, no empathy, no understanding, no real companionship even with each other. Just gain, just taking what they can and hurting anyone that gets in the way. Ironically, in their drive to get the money, power, and respect that they always wanted, they may lose the tight friendship and surrogate family that propelled them in the first place. They will lose their brothers. 

Lit List Short Reviews: Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice by Amy Shannon; Ghost of the Rio Grande The Reluctant Tejano Hero Stands Up To Conspiracy, Murder and Injustice Along The Border or The War and Punitive Expedition By The U.S. Into Mexico 1916-1917 by Don A Holbrook Story by Gilberto Beto Garcia Jr.

 Lit List Short Reviews: Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice by Amy Shannon; Ghost of the Rio Grande The Reluctant Tejano Hero Stands Up To Conspiracy, Murder and Injustice Along The Border or The War and Punitive Expedition By The U.S. Into Mexico 1916-1917 by Don A Holbrook Story by Gilberto Beto Garcia Jr.

Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice by Amy Shannon

Fractured Tears: A Struggle for Justice is an emotional, strong, and inspirational fictionalized account of author Amy Shannon's fight against her abusive husband to obtain justice and live with the short and long term after effects from years of domestic violence.

The fictionalized version of Shannon is called Anna Coleman. She has woken up in the hospital after her husband, Ted beat her. Instead of crying and blaming herself for the abuse, Anna is understandably angry. She has had enough of trying to make a faltering abusive marriage work. Even though their son died and the two have been in mourning, it doesn’t excuse his drug use, his angry fists, his belittling of her, his ever changing moods, and her frequent hospitalizations thanks to his beatings of her. After an intense fight in which she manages to escape to a nearby police station and is taken to the hospital, Anna decides to file for divorce.

Anna is a very strong character dealing with her divorce and the physical and psychological aftereffects of the abuse. While dealing with a stressful court case, Anna has migraines that developed because of the constant beatings and falling down. She also has to cope with betrayal when some of her and her husband’s friends side with Ted. Through it all, Anna has a determination and inner strength to break free from her marriage, assert her independence, and live her own life.

What is particularly admirable about Anna’s story is how much it mirrors her author’s. According to her epilogue, Shannon used her own real life troubled marriage and subsequent divorce as inspiration for her book. There were some major differences between fictional and real life (Shannon actually has children during the divorce but opted to keep them out of the fictional version to keep them free from any publicity. She also did not begin a tentative romance with an attorney as Anna does in the book). However much of Shannon’s real life pain and triumph is echoed in her book. For example, the fight which led to Shannon’s escape to a police station and hospitalization is true to life. Also Anna’s badass speech in court in which she revealed exactly what Ted did to her and that she can’t forgive him for his abuse and betrayal is almost word for word a speech in which Shannon said to her own ex.

It cannot be stressed enough how graphic and realistic the violence is, of course it would be. It can be triggering for some Readers. (Shannon warns of this herself in the opening). But it is truthful about a woman who struggled in a difficult situation and courageously and heroically found her way out in fiction and most importantly in reality.

Don A. Holbrook and Gilberto Beto Garcia Jr tell a suspenseful and exciting Western and Espionage Thriller, Ghost of The Rio Grande The Reluctant Tejano Hero Stands Up to Conspiracy, Murder, and Injustice Along The Border or The War and Punitive Expedition by the U.S. Into Mexico, 1916-1917. 

Fabriciano Garcia is in a huge mess of trouble. He shot a Texas Ranger in self-defense after they tried to evict him and his family from his father-in-law’s ranch. Fabriciano goes on the run and becomes an outlaw with the name of El Fantomas or The Ghost. He caught the attention of Francois LaBorde, an eccentric hotelier. Francois gets Fabriciano involved in more international intrigue involving people with names like Mata Hari and an international war against the Germans and will soon involve the entire world. 

Ghost of the Rio Grande is an interesting mixture of Meso-American Western and International Espionage Thriller. It captures the time when the United States, long believed to hold onto an isolationist largely nationalistic policy, was thrust into a larger international spotlight. One of the key moments in the book is the discovery of the Zimmerman Telegram, a telegram intercepted by British intelligence, which proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States got involved in the war. The book shows how this revelation affected all of the countries involved by showing what the ramifications meant for Germany, The United States, and Mexico. 

The book also takes a hard look at the policies that the United States had with Mexico which led to many decades, even centuries, of fractured relations between the two countries and racist policies towards Central and South American immigrants. This is seen through Fabriciano’s journey from being one of many immigrants trying to make their way in a country that doesn’t always want them there. Racism drives Fabriciano away from his family and restrictive policies drive him to take on a life of crime. Ironically, the international situation allows Fabriciano to aid the country that once turned him away and branded him a criminal.

Fabriciano is an excellent protagonist to understand and root for. Even when he commits illegal acts, he always does it with the best of intentions and for the assistance of others. While on the run, he longs to be back with his wife, Manuela and their children. He becomes close friends with various characters during his time on the run. One in particular is so close to Fabriciano that when he is killed, Fabriciano who faced countless dangers in spying missions, is ready to go on another mission to kill this character’s assassin. He is willing to put his identity on the line for justice for his late friend. Fabriciano is a character of deep convictions and loyalty. This book shows that.

Ghost of the Rio Grande is a fascinating look at a history that is only mildly explored in American history books and brings it to life with interesting characters that take a fresh perspective to that history.