T.C. Boyle’s ‘Wild Child’: dark humor, nature and Botox

Throughout this dazzling collection -- which veers from California to France, from the present to the past -- Boyle’s stories have a habit of gazing back upon themselves with eyebrows cocked in wonder. And with good reason. Boyle is a master who has earned the right to be giddy about his bravura creations, which often turn on such pungent moments. Take for instance the mother of a Venezuelan relief pitcher in ‘The Unlucky Mother of Aquiles Maldonado.’ When she’s spirited off by a band of grubby guerrillas and secreted in a jungle compound (her son’s lucrative career in the States and his Hummer make their family a conspicuous target for kidnapping), she merely goes about doing what she does best: making arepas and taking care of boys. In the end, Aquiles’ multimillion-dollar arm comes in handy during an explosive rescue attempt that, like so much of Boyle’s work, good-naturedly toys with the limits of credulity.