A Hanging in Sweetwater

by Stephen Overholser

Boomer Jones, a fifteen-year-old runaway, becomes involved in a bloody range war between ruthless ranchers and defenseless homesteaders

Genres: Westerns

316 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boomer Jones is our first-person narrator, a sixteen-year old who has tired of life working for his dad in New England and runs away, heading west towards Wyoming. It isn't the days of the early west but instead 1889 and he is in way over his head, falling from his dying horse sick from thirst. He is taken in by a woman named Ella who has a plot of land by herself and her friend Chase Malone who lives down the road and owns a trading post-style hangout. There's also an aging Cheyenne outcast named White Wolf who lives in the woods nearby.

I was on page 110 (of 186), in the middle of this fun story, with all of these life-loving friends, humorously dealing with rumor and hardship together, us readers seeing more in the situation than young Boomer, when I realized that the name of this book is "A Hanging in Sweetwater"... and there had not actually been a hanging yet. The author Overholser outdoes himself, subtly creating a frightening world with real menace and adult nuance through the eyes of young Boomer that actually appears pleasant and hopeful on its face.

Verdict: A good short pocket western, great characters and dialogue with nuance, humor, hope, despair, justice, injustice, and tension.

Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13

[Ted Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Overholser does an adequate job of portraying the struggles of our country's pioneers in this early western drama, A HANGINGINSWEETWATER. He does a good job of developing the characters, setting the storyline, and leading us to a surprise ending.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent western of a young man who runs away from home and finds himself in Wyoming in the middle of a battle between homesteaders and ranchers. I really liked this book, but I have read the same basic story in a slightly different setting before.