GONE TO TEXAS

Another historical western from Wright (The Woodsman, paper, 1986; The Captives, 1987, etc.), this time about rebel boys Peyton Lewis and Fletcher Rucker, who join Frank and Jesse James in their first broad-daylight, easy-as-pie, post—Civil War bank robbery. When Jesse murders a schoolboy in cold blood as they ride out of town, disaffected Peyton and Fletcher leave for Texas with their $10,000 takings. The often memorable episodes that follow—as the young men meet thieves, bad guys, and strong women—all find Peyton and Fletcher weighing mankind for its want of humanity. In a way, the lads are moral pioneers who must rise above their flaws. Wright’s most astute work, with dialogue like coffee you could float a boot in, although the prose at times decays with stock phrases.