Bank Robber

Wilson Young #3

by Giles Tippette

Wilson Young isn't about to let a bunch of low-life carpetbaggers steal his small Texas spread. But what he calls protecting his land, a jury calls murder. Young busts out of jail and, with no other choice, straps on his gun to make his way outside the law. Becoming a legend is easy, but living to enjoy it is another story.

Genres: Westerns

228 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 28, 1985

Reviews

[Robert]

I found this 1970 novel reprinted in my local library. After Wilson's land is stolen by carpetbaggers he becomes a bank robber on horseback. He's smart and quick but one his his gang is hotheaded and not too bright, causing problems. Wilson's weakness is his loyalty. Eventually he gets distracted and the story takes a different direction. Basic plotline, it's all about what happens along the way and what goes through Wilson's mind. Different style than today's novels.

[Daniel]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.75 of 5

I love the American Southwest and for escapism fiction, I must confess that I have a sort of closet interest in reading what is popularly termed 'westerns.' But I also have to admit that I haven't read a wide variety of authors and I'm not particularly well-versed in who's who in westerns. So when I saw this book available I initially thought this was a self-published book. What a surprise to learn that Giles Tippette wrote a good number of books in the 1980's through the 1990's.

The Bank Robber tells the story of Wilson Young, a young man who came out of the Civil War with no job to go back to and his land stolen out from under him. In order to survive, Young looks for a means to get money. Since what he knows how to do best is hold a gun. So what sounds like an easier job than robbing banks?

As the book opens, Young and two others are robbing a bank, but one of the trio has a bit of a hot-head and is ready to shoot an employee, but Young stops it with a threat. On their get-away, heading to Mexico, they lose a horse (and the money) in a river. Young isn't very happy with his associates, who he sees as bunglers. He tries to make his way into Mexico, passing himself of as a horse dealer.

I definitely liked the idea and setting for this book. Wilson Young has a lot of interesting potential as an old west character (on the wrong side of the law but through a series of unfortunate circumstances) and it might be interesting to read some of the other books (I've since discovered that there are a series of Wilson Young stories). But I will admit that when I was first reading this, I thought that this might be a self-published novel. Some of the dialog was weak and "cheesy" - ie:

Les nor I didn't say anything.
Tod wouldn't let it lay. "I mean it, goddamit! Next time I'll shoot the one that's doing the interferin'."
That done it. I turned on him. "Listen, you goddam harebrain! You ought to thank Les for what he done. He maybe saved your sorry neck from the gallows. ..."

And in the plotting, past portions of the book are completely ignored to plow ahead. As the book is winding down, Wilson has become interested in the daughter of a Mexican rancher. He says, "All I knew was that she hadn't been out of my mind for fifteen minutes ever since I'd seen her." And yet, only a few pages prior to this he mentions that he hadn't realized how much he liked her until he got back to the ranch. And was there ever any mention of his thinking about her? Not until he says he couldn't stop.

It's a fairly quick read and the character of Wilson Young makes this worth considering, but it's clear why I hadn't heard of author Giles Tippette before, despite having spent a bit of time browsing the "westerns" aisle of used book shops.

Looking for a good book? The Bank Robber, by Giles Tippette is a quick read with an intriguing main character but the story itself is on the weak side.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.