Butch Cassidy: The Lost Years by William W. Johnstone is the fourth book in the Bad Men of the West series. I didn’t know it and since each book seem to have a different person as the protagonist, it doesn’t matter much. The book was published 2013 by Kensington and I listened to the audiobook published by graphic audio, with a full voice acted cast, sound effects and music. This is a western story taking place in the 1950s. A fair warning though, this is the first western I have ever read and it really wasn’t my thing so the review will be affected by it, but let’s start with the plot.
The story is about Butch Cassidy, a legendary robber who has grown too old for that life. Deciding to settle down, he become a rancher. Getting a loyal bunch of crew, one of crew’s father dies and are scammed by the railroad company he worked for. Deciding that it wasn’t fair, Cassidy take up the gun once more, this time to rob from the rich and give to the poor.
As you can imagine, it is Robin Hood but in the west with cowboys so the story is familiar. The main character Cassidy, taking on the name Jim Strickland, is the idealized version. He is older, which is the most unique about him, but all the girls like him, he is honest, filled with honor and is legendary. He supposes to be brave and smart, spending the start of the book convincing a young robber how bad that life is only to go back to that life with the attitude that its justice because they give to the poor. The argument, stealing from the bad, works for children but are a twisted morality at best and the book really pushes that we should admire these brave men for robbing trains just because they don’t kill and give it to people in need.
I… Cannot really speak about the other characters. All the characters have the personality of carboards. They react, being angry when needed. Hitting people if necessary but I don’t get a feeling for why they do what they do or if actually have much of a personality. Cassidy, being the one telling the story, is not much better. He has all the traits of the ideal cowboy but none of it really tell me much of his personality. His good sides are only there to ensure everyone knows he is perfect, and the bad sides aren’t there. He hardly feels like a person, he feels more like one of those legends told to children. So, realism isn’t this books focus.
The story was… Well, I was bored throughout it. It is slow, it takes around half the book before they start robbing to give to the poor and then it is just what you will expect. Guns, bar fights, a beautiful girl half the main characters age who loves him and plenty of action. None of this interest me which is why I really aren’t the best person, or the target audience for reading this book.
Though women might like this book, this book is clearly targeted towards men, and it often came through in the text such as when the woman he loves, Daisy, takes care of him and Cassidy says that he needs to go back to his ranch before the sheriff finds out he is gone and get suspicious. She tells him that she will tell the sheriff that Cassidy has spent the night with him and he is shocked since it will ruin her reputation. She then asks him if he thinks she cares about that. Let me as a historian and woman answer that, yes, she should. Since a woman’s reputation back then was everything. If it was ruined, she wouldn’t be able to be hired, married and certainly not be seen in any places where decent folk where. Her only option then would be to either marry Cassidy or become a whore so yes, she should care but of course she doesn’t.
The author tries to write it off as a noble trait, she cares more about him than her reputation but that only makes it obvious that the author has no idea what the reputation was to a woman back in the day. It was her lifeline, her everything. Women weren’t allowed to own things, or even own themselves. They were the property of their husband or father and only with a good reputation were they able to get a certain amount of freedom such as get a work and support themselves. It wasn’t like man who wouldn’t get his reputation tarnished and if he did, he could always work it to become better. A woman did not have that choice so in this case, the author might try to write it as a noble trait but it is just plain stupidity on Daisy’s part. It also isn’t the first time in the book this happen so it makes it even more obvious that the author has little understanding of women during this period. Not that it matter to much since Daisy is obviously just there to be a love interest and has little personality outside loving Cassidy.
If the people in this book had more of a personality, or at least it was more about their lives and struggles I might have enjoyed it but for now it just tries so hard to be one of those old western books or movies. I guess it succeeds, but since I rarely like the old western movies either so this one didn’t have much chance with me.
I read positive reviews of this book to try and understand why so many seem to like it and most just seem to describe it as a well written and entertaining. It is a pleasure read, which make it the male version of a trash romance. It is supposed to be entertaining, and exciting read and if you like action, which the targeted audience often do, this will check those boxes. I can agree that it is well-written. You can feel that the author has experience, or someone with experience in the background and it has some interesting historical facts such as the introduction of the automobile, and the like.
I personally could not get into it and cannot give it more than a 3 out of 10, only giving it a three because of the well-written story, but many who actually like western stories gave this one a far higher rating so don’t let it bother you too much. I had hope that this one would change my feelings toward westerns but it didn’t and considering that it started on minus it is still impressive that it didn’t get a 1.
I would recommend it for those who enjoy westerns but if you are like me, then don’t. This one will not change your opinion of western stories. If you like them before, you will like this one and if you didn’t.., Well, you can imagine the result.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
Read with Senefer 