Bones: Brothers, Horses, Cartels, and the Borderland Dream

Dallas Observer editor Tone’s first book tells the saga of José Treviño, a family man who left Mexico in his teens and built a stable life as a bricklayer in Dallas. While he lived a life of toil, his younger brother Miguel, nicknamed Forty, rapidly rose in the Mexican Zeta cartel. So in 2010 when José abruptly became a racehorse owner, he caught the attention of rookie FBI agent Scott Lawson, who was certain of José’s involvement in a money-laundering scheme for Forty. Lawson was correct: the racehorse operation involved numerous other people, including some of José’s immediate family, several Mexicans with ties to Forty, and white Americans in the horse business, including Tyler Graham, the young scion of a family who owned a stud farm and who willingly agreed to cooperate with Lawson. Tone’s tale is convoluted, mixing monetary transactions with horse racing and breeding and investigative minutiae, but parallels emerge between his three principals. José is a humble, hardworking guy trying to do well by his family. José’s business, regardless of where the money comes from, is essential to Graham’s own ambitions for his stud farm. Lawson comes from a law-enforcement background and wants to make his father proud and protect his fellow citizens. Tone follows these three players through the ensuing trial. By the end of the book, their drastically different fates serve as a bleak reminder that the American Dream is not accessible to everyone. Agent: David Patterson, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (Aug.)