Hellfire Canyon

by Max McCoy

In order to capture Alf Bolin, a young outlaw with forty murders under his belt, federal trooper Zach Thomas, driven by hatred and vengeance, goes undercover in Bolin's gang and waits for his chance to strike. Original.

Genres: Westerns

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2007

About the author

Max McCoy is an award-winning journalist and author. He’s won awards for his reporting on unsolved murders, serial killers, and hate groups. In addition to his daily newspaper work, Max has written for publications as diverse as American Photographer, True West, and The New Territory. He’s the author of four original Indiana Jones adventures for Lucasfilm/Bantam and the novelization of the epic TNT miniseries, Into the West. His novels, including Damnation Road, have won three Spur awards from the Western Writers of America. His novels, Hellfire Canyon and Of Grave Concern, have also been named Kansas Notable Books by the state library. He's a tenured professor of journalism at Emporia State University, in east central Kansas, where he specializes in investigative reporting and nonfiction narrative. He's also director of the university’s Center for Great Plains Studies. His most recent book is Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River, from the University Press of Kansas.

Reviews

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alf Bolin is an outlaw and murderous renegade in Missouri during the Civil War, and considered by some to be one of the first true American serial killers. The author Max McCoy in "Hellfire Canyon" (2007) puts us in the eyes of a reporter in 1930 who is interviewing and giving us an eyewitness view told by the narrator Jacob Gamble, a thirteen-year old who got mixed up with Bolin and his band of killers in 1862 and is now an old man telling the story to this reporter.

For most of this tale we follow Jacob and his mother's perilous journey across southern Missouri to the Ozarks after the Yankees burned out their home. We actually don't see Bolin appear after the prologue until about the two-thirds mark.

I was not a fan of the format for this one. I imagine McCoy was attempting to lend authoritative weight to this story by calling out the fact that this reporter interviewed an actual outlaw in 1930 and the notes from that interview are giving this story its plausibility, but jumping back and forth from 1862 to 1930 didn't actually add to the story; in fact, it gave it a fuzzier, unreal feel which contrasted the violent and abusive subject matter.

Verdict: "Hellfire Canyon" works best in those parts that read like an immersive survival tale. The Gambles' frightening trek across the war-torn border state; trying to convince Union-leaning or Southern-leaning people along their desperate journey lends a tense and sad edge to it. It is also an interesting historical fiction that might be especially noteworthy for those local to Joplin, Missouri.

Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was raised in the Ozarks and I felt that Mr. McCoy did a wonderful job with his characters and descriptions. I don't normally read westerns, but this was recommended by a friend and I throughly enjoyed it.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book a lot of history in it.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did this as an audio book and flipping between current times and past times just didn't work for me.

How did this book find me? It is a 2008 Kansas Notable Book and on the KS 250 list.

[Desiree reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

mr mc coy i am going to try to find other book you wrote i m
going to be doing history as a major and then i listen to the book
on tape and i like the story of the branson area i do live in the
area and i think i now where the rock as you sy it was i could not
stope pisitng the book and in joyed so much and it was one og the book i had to read even though i have not started school yet it only took me less than 2 day to listen to it high remark on it a lot and thank you
for the info and high 5 all the way

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, short read and kept me interested. Not sure I would recommend it unless you are a fan of the South during the Civil War.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun reading this because I live in the region it takes place in and I'm familiar with Max from writing conferences. Hellfire Canyon is a good, quick, satisfying read.

[Larry Kirkland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story so far, I like this author and I'm only on page 50.

[Steven Law]

I was one of the three Spur Award judges the year this book won, and it rose to the top of our list like all great novels should. It is an intelligent novel by a writer who understands the craft.