Customer Reviews

Aces and Eights

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I like Loren Estleman, don't get me wrong. He puts things together really well, writes good dialogue, good characters, and a pretty good story. But he really needed in his early books to concentrate more on his facts. I guarantee you this book deserves more than the one star Todd N gave it. But I can't honestly give it any higher than a three. I'm an avid reader of Kirby Jonas westerns because of the fact that he stays so historically accurate with EVERYTHING. I have to say he's the new king of the western novel. But Loren Estleman certainly has his place. If you can pass up a few errors in your history, natural history, and firearms, and a few outstanding contradictions that come from writing too fast, try Estleman out. But make sure to pick up one of those Kirby Jonas books if you want to know the REAL west!

Aces & Eights" is an entertaining novel set in and surrounding the trial of Jack McCall for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok. The main character is Mr. Scout, the prosecuting attorney. The novel contains two, intertwined stories. The courtroom drama is mixed with Scout's romantic liason with a lady in the town. While the courtroom scenes are a bit difficult for the this lawyer to accept, the novel is, overall, entertaining. It's a good blend of character development with action make for a very enjoyable read

There is little to recommend here, I'm afraid. The writing is serviceable, but we expect more than "serviceable" from someone like Estleman with his noted credentials. Therein lies the heavy disappointment.

The tension in the court room never manifests itself in any believable way. It's like any other courtroom drama you've watched while strung out on Quaaludes. Characterization is murky and ahe obviously phoned-in secondary plot of "the kidnapped girlfriend and her mother who is enamored with Death" is straight out of any B-level script rejected by Hollywood.

One gets the impression Estleman wrote this either as a lark or a dare. Despite the fact this novel was a Spur Award winner (and who dropped the ball on that one? We need names and addresses, please, so we can demand restitution) you will do much better reading some of Estleman's other work which I have reviewed.

Don't waste your time with this novel. Life's too short. It's just not very good. A poor effort from a (usually) good writer leaves the reader with a stale taste in his mouth and a busted flush for a hand.

ACES AND EIGHTS is an early Estleman Western for which he won a Spur Award from Western Writers of America, Inc., and justly so. This author's 'take' on Western icons is always fresh and provocative, and this story of Wild Bill Hickock and his nemesis Jack McCall is vintage Estleman. Read his novels on Buffalo Bill Cody (THIS OLD BILL), the O.K. Corral gunfight (BLOODY SEASON), and JOURNEY OF THE DEAD on Pat Garrett (which has just won the 1999 Spur Award for best novel) and sample one of the greatest Western writers at work.

This is a typical piece of work by a quintessential dude about a subject which he would not be qualified to write about without coming West to get a feel for the land, and people who haven't changed so much since 1876 out in South Dakota, get on a horse often for a long while, learn about guns from an expert and practice till he's a good shot, etc.

A fair sample of the expertise of the writer, and of those who granted him an award, can be seen in his having a SWAT Squad in 1876. He is guilty of the equivalent in another of his Award winning books (from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame) which has Pat Garret rubbing his body with a prescription of oil of Oleander, which would have killed him in a very short time when the pores absorbed this deady poison. Another leg slapped in another of his books (Bloody Season)has Doc Holliday making a bed of Mesquite branches.

This sort of thing gets by because of the sort of editors who buy Westerns with no more knowledge of the West than their prospective authors, which has given rise to the term "Ghetto Westerns." This is one. It may be entertaining to those who don't know any better, and might not resent being taken in if they did. I think it's regrettable. Historical novels should be history, not fantasy.

Don't be misled by the synopsis...this is far more court room than card room. While it is intended as a novel, Estleman could have provided far better set up so far as historical points about Hickok; points which are easily accessed and historically correct. The opening sequence is provided as some sort of preface about Hickok, however is endlessly riddled with obvious errors. This "Legend of Wild Bill" fails from the start with speculative shortcomings and utterly ridiculous inaccuracies. It spirals downward into an unimaginative old west court room. For any western buffs, especially those looking for books about Wild Bill, you'll definitely want to leave this one in the dust.