In The Dead Run, his first novel featuring outlaw smuggler Jess Galvan, Adam Mansbach not only knocked down the Tex-Mex border wall, but also broke the flimsy barriers dividing noir, fantasy and thriller genres. The Devil's Bag Man, however, makes The Dead Run seem prosaic. Galvan's teen daughter, Sherry, provides a brief plot recap from the first book in an imaginary Facebook-like bio: "I used to live in a cult, but then we left, and so they cut my mom's head off and kidnapped me, but then my dad broke out of prison and ate like this magic human heart and f**king killed everybody--oh, except for the psychotic rapist who kidnapped me; I stabbed him to death myself." In the sequel, Galvan struggles with the godlike superpowers and soul of the 500-year-old Aztec high priest Cucuy, who took over his body when he ate the virgin's human heart. Once again, Sherry is kidnapped, this time by a biker convict who works for a Mexican cartel. All hell breaks loose in the small Mexican coastal town of Rosales when Galvan, Sherry, two warring cartels, a Texas sheriff chasing Galvan and a local farm family square off with guns blazing and blood flowing.
Best known for his irreverent children's book for adults Go the F**k to Sleep, Mansbach is not afraid to push the envelope. The Devil's Bag Man includes a good chunk of Aztec mythology, an army of undead virgins swarming like something out of World War Z, a horde of violent cartel convicts and some good old-fashioned fisticuffs. Strap yourself in for this over-the-top ride along the lawless Mexican-American border. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.