Midnight, July 14, 1881. Two men, both legends, meet for what they believe will be their last time. Then they go their separate ways, to lead completely different lives.William H. Bonney and Sheriff Pat Garrett. One goes on to become the stuff of dime novels and myth, the other, the most despised man in New Mexico. William H. Bonney is given his freedom by his old poker and whiskey buddy under oath he never return to New Mexico again. Sheriff Garrett believes that the name Billy the Kid would die once word was out that he, Garrett, had shot and killed the Kid.The White Sands Region, New Mexico, 1908, twenty-seven years after the alleged death of Billy the Kid. Rumors abound throughout New Mexico and the United States that the Kid is still alive. Those who believe that the Kid is dead have labeled Garrett a traitor. Billy has become a legend and when Sheriff Garrett is assassinated, the list of suspects who wanted a shot at him is endless. With Garrett's death, many secrets go to the grave with him, including the identity of his killer.
Excellent book especially in light of new facts re: Billy the Kid and his 'death'. Bill Brooks is an exceptional author and you can't go wrong with any of his books..especially the Westerns. jm
A Contemporary Classic
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
Brooks'new novel is a poetic tour de force, a literary exploration of the old west as only the most playful and -- simultaneously -- the most poignant imagination could bring to it. I was captured from the first sentences: a dead Billy the Kid -- or perhaps not-dead Billy the Kid -- denies all, recalls all. This is not your father's Western. It has little likeness to the traditional genre, but it has everything to do with contemporary literature, that kind of delightful exploration of truth which is always multiple and never quite certain of itself. Brooks is able to make Billy the Kid a vulnerable, wistful poet of sorts, one who reads Shakespeare and Voltaire, and who kills villains only when forced to. This Billy the Kid is sometimes lonely, sometimes stupid, sometimes conflicted, but always full of a wistful reflection on the human condition, and always full of sad dreams, "like a bird whose wings are boken," as Brooks puts it. In the end, a dying Billy recognizes in his journal that "All the words in the world cannot tell the true story of even a single life." The only problem with this novel was that it had to end.
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