Under Outlaw Flags

by James Reasoner

The law finally puts an end to the Tacker Gang's pursuit of a dishonest living in the Wild West in 1917, offering them jail or a trip to the European front, a place even wilder than the dusty frontier

Genres: Westerns

278 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent pulpy read that incorporates the late Western frontier and World War I. A gang of bank robbers who have hearts of gold are double-crossed and offered a choice: join the Army or do 20 years' hard time. The rest of the book follows their basic training and service in France. Far from the best western or war story I've read but a nice page-turner. Three and a half stars.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An early novel by James Reasoner, it recently became available foe ereaders.

It's 1917 and the old west is not as wild as it used to be. Not dead though.

The Tacker gang are outlaws who specialize in robbing banks. They make a mistake though, set up by a new member, when they try to rob a bank in Reno. Caught and convicted, they are given a choice: twenty years in prison or enlist in the army to go fight the Germans in Europe. The U.S. had just entered the war and the race is on to train and get troops into action.

the five of them, Roy and Jace Tacker, Big Boy Guiness, Aaron Gault, and Drew Matthews go into training. Jace and Aaron become aviators, they love flying, and the rest cavalry, preferring to keep their feet as close to the ground as horseback.

The novel covers their training, deployment to Europe, and their adventures on the battlefield. The author mixes his characters with real life people of the period(Black Jack Pershing and frank Luck) with other fictional people(a grin hit my face at the chance encounter with a couple of fliers named Wentworth and Allard).

Had a great time reading this one.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1917, the Tacker gang is the last Old West-style outlaw gang, robbing banks in Nevada. But when an attempt to rob a large bank in Reno goes awry, the surviving members of the gang are given a choice: go to prison or enlist in the army to fight the Germans overseas.

James Reasoner starts with this premise, fills the story with great characters and then tells a slam-bang, exciting war story.

The first-person narrator is Drew Matthews, a young member of the gang who shares a sense of loyalty and camaraderie with the rest of the gang. He, along with gang leader Roy Tacker, Roy's brother Jace, Aaron and Big Boy, does decide to join the army. Jace and Aaron eventually become aviators, while the remaining three are assigned to a cavalry unit, in which they use horses to deliver dispatches between units.

Drew is a great protagonist. He's brave, smart and shows realistic moral growth over the course of the novel. The novel never excuses the gang for its illegal activity, but we are also made aware of their positive traits--concern for the downtrodden, mutual loyalty, and physical courage.

The pacing is excellent. Even before the gang gets to France, there's plenty of action, including a near-riot in a brothel in which someone decides to bring a machine gun to a fist fight; the botched bank robbery; a fist fight in a train box car; a fist fight in a tent; and the rescue of a pilot whose plane crashes on a lake.

After they get to Europe, Jace and Aaron provide us with aerial action, while Roy, Big Boy and Drew take part in a number of battles on the ground. This includes Drew joining a machine gun unit in a desperate last-stand situation against attacking Germans, Drew getting pinned down in No Man's Land, and (to get back at someone who stole their money back in Nevada) a casino heist while the gang is on leave in Paris.

The book comes to an effective climax when Jace and Aaron are shot down behind German lines. The rest of the gang goes on an unauthorized rescue mission which turns into an improvised attempt to hijack a train and blow up a German munitions dump.

Great book from start to finish.

As a side note: At one point in the story, Reasoner sneaks in a reference to a pair of pulp magazine heroes. I was reading in bed with my wife asleep beside me when I got to this part of the novel and it made me laugh out loud. This woke up my wife. So beware--Reasoner's novels are superb, but if used improperly, can cause marital strife. (Not really. My wife just went back to sleep.)

I messaged the author through Facebook to tell him about this and he replied that he appreciated it, since his subtle shout-outs to pulp heroes don't always get noticed. He quoted his daughter as saying: "You'll write a whole chapter just to get in one joke that three people in the world will get."

Side Note #2: The novel has a framing device set in 1965, with an elderly Drew Matthews telling the story to a reporter. Drew is running a small general store and Reasoner told me that store is a real place and belonged to family members. A little boy eating popsicles and deciding which comic books to buy is, in fact, the author, who leaves the story arguing with a friend over who would read the new Spider Man comic first.

I'm glad I know this, because it makes the novel even more fun. But it does leave a massive plot hole that will keep me up many nights to come. Who got to read Spider Man first?

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I hear about a book I might want to read, I download a sample. Started this sample, finished it, had to order the book. Very rarely do I finish a sample and think, well, dang. Could not put it down. Any fans of westerns, adventure, war stories will love this book.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not quite a western but it has that feel. Excellent book about world war I

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable historical fiction. From the not quite so wild west to the trenches of WWI. The gang is caught attempting to rob a bank and at sentencing given the choice of prison or the war.