THE KIMES GANG [Paperback]

Michael Koch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2005

The Kimes Gang is a fascinating story of youthful boys who began their outlaw ways as vagrants and thieves and graduated to bank robbery and murder. The gang's various crimes covered several southwestern states including Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. Political corruption all the way to the governor's office in Oklahoma is well researched and discussed. The main characters are brothers Matt and George Kimes but also include brothers Roy and Clyde Brandon, Herman Barker, Elmer Inman, and the notorious safecracker Ray Terrill, among others. This book reads as a virtual who's who of crime in the southwest during the 1920s. If interested in this genre, you will be riveted by this book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mike was born and raised in Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and then began work as a fingerprint examiner at the FBI in Washington, D.C. He worked there a couple of years and then moved to Oklahoma in 1977 and began working for the State of Oklahoma. He currently works as an investigator for the Pardon and Parole Board. Mike is interested in Oklahoma's rich history of lawmen and outlaws. Mike is a member of a Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahombres, Inc., Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association, Inc. (WOLA) and National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History, Inc. (NOLA). Mike is a historical researcher and consultant to authors and was a consultant in 1997 Towers Productions for the A & E television show of "The Barker Gang." Mike has written several stories for the Oklahombres quarterly journal. "The Kimes Gang" is his first book. Mike is divorced with one son and enjoys watching golf, football and basketball.

Product Details

• Paperback: 428 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1418471283
• ISBN-13: 978-1418471286
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,485,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WOW!!!, November 11, 2005

By 

G Walters (Arkansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: THE KIMES GANG (Paperback)

This long awaited book was a big disappointment. This book goes to show writers that anyone can get a book published by paying a publishing house such as Authorhouse to print the book for you. Koch needed an editor bad. A reviewer of this book stated that Koch had spent time interviewing family members. Obviously he didn't read the many footnotes, which distracted from book, the author did not interview any family members. He used another researcher's interviews. This would have been a good book if the author had cut the book by about half and stuck to the actual events and crimes of the Kimes boys, which are fascinating and still deserve a book written about them since this one is almost unreadable. There was no sense in going on about Ray Terrell and members of the Barker Gang. The author admits he didn't think they were involved so why make them a large part of the book. In fact they were more part of the book than the Kimes brothers were.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Off-track, March 6, 2006

By 

Rick "Mad Dog" Mattix (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: THE KIMES GANG (Paperback)

I had high hopes for this book but it's at best only a fair retelling of the Kimes brothers' saga with a tremendous amount of irrelvant filler. Many researchers in the last few years have debunked the myth of the "Kimes-Terrill gang" and Koch could have easily done likewise here in a couple of paragraphs, thus allowing him to explore Matt and George Kimes in more depth. Instead, he devotes over half the book to the exploits and misadventures of Ray Terrill, Herman Barker, Elmer Inman, Q.P. McGhee and others who had little or nothing to do with the story. Sometimes three or four chapters in a row on the Barker-Inman-Terrill gang! In between are recitals of Kimes gang robberies, usually ending with a few lines about how it was doubtful that Ray Terrill was there. Very pointless, actually, and soon monotonous. If you're looking for a book covering both gangs, Dee Cordry's recent work on the early history of the Oklahoma Crime Bureau works better. If you want a great history of the Kimes gang, I think it's probably yet to come.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A well researched story., June 12, 2005

By 

R. D. Morgan (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: THE KIMES GANG (Paperback)

An outstanding telling of the infamous Kimes Gang saga.Also crammed with much information concerning nearly all the roving gangs of Oklahoma bank bandits of the day.If one has an interest in 1920s bank robbers and the lawmen who pursued them, this lengthy informitive narritive neatly fills the void... R.D.Morgan, Author of "The Tri-State Terror: The Life and Crimes of Wilbur Underhill."