The Pistoleer: A Novel of John Wesley Hardin
Dec 2016 · Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
3.5star
2 reviews
Ebook
464
Pages
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About this ebook
The award-winning author’s “fearless” debut novel chronicles the life of a legendary Texas outlaw with “a ruthless sensibility . . . spare and tough” (Publishers Weekly).
Some called him a Texas hero. Some called him the Devil himself. But on one point they all agreed. While he was alive, John Wesley Hardin was the deadliest man in Texas.
A killer at fifteen, in the next few years he became skilled enough with his pistols to back down Wild Bill Hickok in the street. The law finally caught up with him when he was twenty-five. By then, he had killed as many as forty men and been shot so many times that, it was said, he carried a pound of lead in his flesh.
In jail he became a scholar, studying law books until he won himself freedom, and afterwards he tried to lead an upright life. It was not to be. By the time he was killed in 1895, Hardin was an anachronism—the last true gunfighter of the Old West.
With each chapter told from a different character’s perspective, The Pistoleer is “a genuine tour-de-force” of Western historical fiction from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning author of In the Rogue Blood (Rocky Mountain News).
“Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Detailed and cinematic.” —Publishers Weekly
“An achievement by any standards, but as a first novel is simply astounding.” —Roundup Magazine
Some called him a Texas hero. Some called him the Devil himself. But on one point they all agreed. While he was alive, John Wesley Hardin was the deadliest man in Texas.
A killer at fifteen, in the next few years he became skilled enough with his pistols to back down Wild Bill Hickok in the street. The law finally caught up with him when he was twenty-five. By then, he had killed as many as forty men and been shot so many times that, it was said, he carried a pound of lead in his flesh.
In jail he became a scholar, studying law books until he won himself freedom, and afterwards he tried to lead an upright life. It was not to be. By the time he was killed in 1895, Hardin was an anachronism—the last true gunfighter of the Old West.
With each chapter told from a different character’s perspective, The Pistoleer is “a genuine tour-de-force” of Western historical fiction from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning author of In the Rogue Blood (Rocky Mountain News).
“Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Detailed and cinematic.” —Publishers Weekly
“An achievement by any standards, but as a first novel is simply astounding.” —Roundup Magazine
Ratings and reviews
3.5
2 reviews
About the author
James Carlos Blake is the author of twelve novels. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and a recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for In the Rogue Blood. He was born in Mexico, raised in Texas, and now lives in Arizona.
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