Title: By Your Deeds
Author: Boston Teran
Publisher: High Top Publishing
ASBN: B01CZ3RTGM
Pages: 233
Genre: Political thriller
Reviewed by: Dan Macintosh
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In ways similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Boston Teran’s By Your Deeds story mixes political/social intrigue with a fictitious search for a historical remnant. The setting is in the 20s, a world where the rise of Nazism, communism and American paranoia all collided. Into this volatile and confusing time period, we’re introduced to Harlan Gamble – a wounded war hero, searching for the lost grave of Genghis Khan – and the young, smart and (eventually) sexy Violette Sier, Gamble’s attorney and inevitable love interest. What ensues is a lot of world travel and clashing ideals, where good and evil sometimes appear to be relative and subjective terms.
Rather than tell his story chronologically, Teran jumps around, playing a little fast and loose with time and geography. The reader may be in the relatively primitive streets of Mongolia one moment, for instance, and the more cosmopolitan New York City the next. No matter where our characters find themselves, though, the world is a treacherously dangerous place.
The story is best told from Sier’s perspective. Born into a family where the law profession is held in high esteem, Sier is a rare female attorney in a male-dominated profession. Although she never refers to herself as such, Sier is a kind of feminist lawyer, even taking in fellow female lawyers as borders. Teran paints Sier as a woman who is tough as nails. She has to be. She is also one of only two female primary characters in Teran’s story. The other is Missus Jackobee, who hires Sier to be Gamble’s attorney. In fact, it is Jackobee who points a mirror back at Sier and forces her to come to grips with how she has sacrificed much of her femininity for the cause of her career.
Missus Jackobee is likely the sort of woman Sier only dreams of becoming. She is a mysteriously complicated character. She’s a world player without any obvious loyalties. She is worldly, and unafraid of exploring vices of any kind, whether sexual or chemical. Jackobee also mentors Sier to some degree, like a tempting devil sitting atop her shoulder.
It’s easy to picture Harrison Ford playing Gamble with a devil-may-car reckless abandon. He’s brave to a fault, and – to some degree — a more physically adventurous, male version of Missus Jackobee. Gabriel the Dragon, Gamble’s Mongolian tour guide and fellow adventurer, is also pivotal to the story. Without him, Gamble would not be able to navigate his exotic travels. Gabriel needs Gamble just as much as Gamble relies upon Gabriel, however. At one point, Gabriel tells his friend that Gamble gives him relevance. It’s also worth noting Gabriel is a homosexual during a time when such a sexual identity was not even close to acceptable, as it is today. If it were not for Gamble’s adventures, Gabriel would likely spend too much of his time hanging around brothels and opium dens, without much purpose.
Characters in By Your Deeds talk a lot about the future. As we look back at all the competing ideologies that fought for world dominance back in the 20s, these indeed were days where future societies were solidified, for better or worse. This was a time when the value of democratic government was being questioned and put to the test around the world. It was both an exciting and scary time to be alive. The reader is aware that these conflicts would only intensify as the 20th century raced to its end.
Lovers of modern history will eat this book up. It’s filled with the sorts of building blocks that would one day comprise the foundation of the Cold War. Best of all, it puts flesh and blood onto the pages of history. These were, after all, real people struggling to make sense of it all.
