The Last Shootist by Miles Hood Swarthout

The Last Shootist

Miles Hood Swarthout
350 pages
Forge
Oct 2014
Hardcover
Literature & Fiction WSBN
3
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1
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<p>Young Gillom Rogers has just given the <i>coup de grace</i> to a famous gunfighter involved in a bloody saloon shootout in 1901 El Paso, Texas. After swiping J.B. Books's matched Remington pistols off his body, Gillom thinks he may be able to ride this spectacle to fame and glory as <i>the last shootist</i><i>. </i>But Gillom is an eighteen-year-old with lots of growing up to do, and showing off his new pistols quickly gets him into a gunfight he didn't bargain for.</p><p>Gillom sets out for adventure, determined to become a shootist like his hero, John Bernard Books. On his dangerous journey into manhood, he runs into yellow journalists, a New Mexican horse breaker, and a train robber. When he meets a Hispanic saloon dancer named Anel in the booming copper mining town of Bisbee, Arizona, Gillom Rogers is forced to reconsider what kind of man he really wants to be. </p><p>Miles Swarthout's <i>The Last Shootist </i>is the sequel to one of the most famous Westerns ever written, and concludes the tale of a junior shootist's coming-of-age in a dazzling gunfight in a deadly pimp's whorehouse, as a trio of fiery teenagers ride hard into a new twentieth century.</p>
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A new Western classic

Bought a copy last week at a Barnes and Noble bookstore. It is a rare feat when a sequel tops the original--particularly when the original (The Shootist) is a bona fide classic--but The Last Shootist has done just that. Swarthout's development of each of the main characters is superb, and for sure I can't imagine a better depiction of an eighteen-year-old protagonist. The dialogue is equally superb. Not only is the story line compelling from start to finish, but its pace is brisk throughout--literally never a dull moment. Finally, Swarthout manages to pull off a dramatic, surprising and satisfying ending. This book easily merits a five-star rating and, in my view, is nothing short of a new Western classic. Read more

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About this book
Pages 350
Publisher Forge
Published 2014
Readers 3

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