Customer Reviews

Outrage at Blanco

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Outrage at Blanco is Bill Crider at his best. The characters are real and engaging. Their growth throughout the plot makes them believable. The reader is at once sympathetic and outraged when ruthless outlaws ravage first Ellie Taine's body by raping her, and then her home by killing her husband. As Ellie moves from being the victim to the hunter one cannot help but want to tag along. The rejuvenation of long-ill Jonathon Crossland lets the reader's own heart leap. A must read for all Crider fans and western enthusiasts.

As a fan of Bill Crider, a writer known more for his mysteries than his westerns, I ordered this out-of-print western anxious to compare his early writing style with his later mystery genre. And the comparison is favorable in that Crider's many books have retained a vigorous story-telling style with perceptive characterizations. In some ways, we have read this story before--a lady is raped, her husband killed, a bank is robbed, and she decides to exact vengeance upon the perpetrators. As she seeks out this goal, she travels with the father of one of the bank robbers who was killed early in the story. The story progresses well and all works out in the end, at least almost!

Plenty of action adorns this saga of amoral bank robbers who seem to have little regard for human life and whose insensitivity is equal to their own selfishness. Leaving a trail of death and violence in their wake, they pound out a path of destruction and hatred to everyone including each other. In the process they shoot a sheriff, and cause grave suspicion to infect their own gang. Eventually, injury and violence becomes self-directed and they meet their own destiny as they seek to escape judgment.

On the surface, this seems to be typical kind of western, yet a deeper look reveals a journey of human growth, perception, and purposeful living. The woman realizes that she receives little satisfaction from her vengeance and the father realizes that he is on the last ride of his life. Recognizing the sadness of his own son's life, he sets out to self-actualize his world by helping the woman. In the end we see the results of crime, of goodness, of fortitude, and mostly of living a life of integrity.

This is an unusual book in that it seems to reside somewhere deeper in the emotions than most westerns. Many books are quickly forgotten and although rich in story are poor in lasting value. Outrage at Blanco, however, contains a thoughtful depth, giving the reader pause and resulting in an emotional charge that remains for quite sometime. I do wish the final bank robber/murderer had not escaped unscathed except for an ankle injury, and I was saddened that the son died without a recognition of his own failings, but aside from those events, the book was a satisfying read. Excellent writing, smooth prose, precise dialog, and terse events come together to form an outstanding contribution to the Western genre. Highly recommended.