This fun, flamboyant read is [Boessenecker's] ninth book, and it reads a little like a wall of wanted posters, handlebar mustaches and all ... Most of the reference material Boessenecker uses is from the period, like contemporary newspaper reports, and the fervid prose has seeped into the text. But that’s much of the fun of the book; short, dramatic scenes and crosscutting violence.
Blends the research skills of a historian and the approach of a novelist ... Many authors have written about Wells Fargo and stagecoach and train robbers, but Boessenecker finally sees to it that those who 'rode shotgun' (a term coined by later fiction writers) finally get their due.
A rip-roaring history ... a readable if old-fashioned exercise in criminal yarn spinning ... Though clearly for Old West buffs, this is an enjoyable excursion.
The short biographies are well researched, and readers will enjoy learning the histories of the men and much more ... Boessenecker’s unembellished writing style does periodically flatten the action of the wild stories of the men he profiles, and the volume of detail could be tedious to some. But Old West enthusiasts will find this collection of particular interest; its detail is rich enough to offer new knowledge to even the most avid student of this place and time.
