Desperadoes by Ron Hansen

Live again those thrilling days of yesteryear, when six-guns blazed and train robbers became as famous as rock stars, when the lawman and the fugitive were sometimes good friends, when good-hearted women stood by their men.

This is the story of the Dalton Gang. Author Ron Hansen casts his novel as a reminiscence written by Emmett Dalton, the last survivor of the gang, who ended his days in California as "a real-estate broker, a building contractor, a scriptwriter for Western movies, a church man, a Rotarian, a member of Moose Lodge 29, which is a true comeuppance for a desperado of the Old West...." And, amazingly, most of the tale as told here is true. Emmett Dalton did indeed survive the foiled bank robbery which spelled the end for two of his brothers, and, after 14 years in prison, became rich in California, even starring in a movie of the gang's exploits, playing his younger self!

Hanson's writing skill makes this novel much more than an adventure story or a run-of-the-mill historical novel. The narrator tells the story in a matter-of-fact dead-pan fashion, which sometimes lends itself to flashes of humor and surprisingly descriptive eloquence. For example, two of the gang, in leisure hours, are portrayed as "...leaping from the tin roof of a shed onto their saddles." I guess I never thought that such skills, often seen in movies, had to be practiced. One piece of description (among many such) reports that a train stoker "smelled worse than sparrows burned dead in a chimney." This concrete and descriptive tone is also used in the many depictions of violent death, which are not humorous in the least.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the novel is the revelation of why the Daltons seemingly drifted from being peace officers into being outlaws. The leader of the gang, Bob Dalton, confesses to obsessing about "how famous I'm going to be." As Emmett Dalton lies recuperating from the last shoot-out, lines of the curious stretch around the block to peer into a window at him. He says, "...I wished my brother Bob were alive instead of me because I know that he'd love that; how he'd love that."

And Emmett Dalton did become famous and was able to capitalize on his fame to make money in California. The irony of it all!

I recommend this book. It is great fun to read.