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Storm Testament #8
Cassidy
This biographical novel is based on the true story of a bold, young cowboy from Circleville, Utah Territory, who changed his name from Robert LeRoy Parker to Butch Cassidy, then put together the longest string of successful bank and train robberies in the history of the American West. Utilizing his cowboy skills, he spent months training and conditioning his get-away horses so he could set a blistering get-away pace no posse in the world could keep up with, often covering a hundred miles or more in less than a dozen hours. Unlike other notorious outlaw cowboys of his day, Butch Cassidy was not a vicious killer, but a friendly, likeable outlaw with more good friends than he could count. He never robbed customers in banks or passengers on trains and in more than nine bank robberies he never shot anyone. When he had money, he was generous to a fault. He loved people and animals, and despised killing. Many called him the Robin Hood of the West. Early in his outlay career Butch discovered love at first sight as he watched a Shoshone half-breed girl in a sweat-stained dress following behind a brown mule. Her name was Mary, and the love they shared lasted for decades. Pinkerton agents, law officers, bank detectives and bounty hunters chased Cassidy relentlessly, making it impossible for him to seek refuge in Argentina and Bolivia. But in the end Butch outsmarted them all.
501 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
16 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Lee Nelson
119 books29 followersLee Nelson's historical novels have sold hundreds of thousands of copies since his first novel was released in 1981. Nelson has also published a score of non-fiction works including the top-selling Beyond the Veil series.
Nelson is widely respected for his historical research which includes killing a buffalo from the vack of a galloping horse with a bow and arrow.
Nelson was born in Logan, Utah, but spent most of his childhood in California. After serving an LDS mission in Germany, he earned a bachelor's degree in English and a Masters Degree in Business, both from Brigham Young University. He was a speech writer in Philadelphia and a car dealer in Montana before beginning his career as an author.
Lee lives on a small farm in central Utah. His hobbies include team roping, big game hunting, and finding and exploring ancient Indian ruins.
Nelson is widely respected for his historical research which includes killing a buffalo from the vack of a galloping horse with a bow and arrow.
Nelson was born in Logan, Utah, but spent most of his childhood in California. After serving an LDS mission in Germany, he earned a bachelor's degree in English and a Masters Degree in Business, both from Brigham Young University. He was a speech writer in Philadelphia and a car dealer in Montana before beginning his career as an author.
Lee lives on a small farm in central Utah. His hobbies include team roping, big game hunting, and finding and exploring ancient Indian ruins.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 28, 2021
Another one I picked up free from the library's book sale. Had the hankering to read it knowing I was heading down to southern Utah for a few days.
This was a surprisingly quick read for me, and one I generally enjoyed. The narrative style is very simple and there's not much artistry going on with the prose. In fact, the writing is quite clunky and clumsy throughout, but I was interested in the story and learning more about Butch Cassidy's life. The simplicity of the storytelling lends a light-hearted feeling to the book and made it easy to read quickly, but it also limited the overall impact and appeal of the book.
My biggest complaint is that I have no idea how true any of it is. In the epilogue, the author mentions gathering lots of information but gives no sources or any indication of how much he embellished or invented on what he found. Large chunks felt like they were generic anecdotes that could've been told about anyone and were just included here to add color (The "wurst" story, "shed" the dog, the blue-eyed priest, among many others). This made me feel less confident in the historicity of the novel, and had me thinking of it more as a collection of apocryphal stories about Butch that have been told on ranches and cattle drives for the last hundred years. One discrepancy I noted when comparing to the wikipedia entry on Butch was how he got his nickname. That seems like an odd detail to just change or invent, but it also seems likely there would be a few different stories and no real way of knowing which was the "real" one. I feel like I know more about Butch Cassidy than I did before and it was fun reading about the action in and around places I have been.
Kinda tough keeping track of all the different side characters, but also not that important since there wasn't much dimension to anyone anyway. Also, the editing was extremely slipshod, with dozens of typos, even a misspelling of Cassidy in one spot, instances of referring to him as "Butch" in the first few chapters before he went by that name, etc.
Happy to have read it, don't feel like I'd ever feel like reading it again. There are probably better books on Butch Cassidy out there.
Here's a passage that I just had to copy here as an example of what I mean about the writing style:
"Cautiously, Mary extended her hand towards Butch, palm down.
'You may touch it,' she said. By now both were looking down at her hand. Butch couldn't be sure, but it appeared the hand was trembling, as were his own.
Cautiously, he reached forward, placing his palm on the back of her hand, stroking gently, as if he were petting the head of a small kitten. Neither looked up, both feeling that something wonderful was passing between them where their hands touched, but neither had the words to describe the energy, warmth, passion, and love that was not flowing, but gushing through their touching hands. They knew something very strong and very wonderful was passing between them. Butch was the first to speak.
'Are you cold?' he asked, not looking up from the touching hands.
'That's a strange thing to ask,' she said. 'Coldness is something I am not feeling right now.'
'But there are goose bumps all over your arm,' he said.
'I am not cold.' she uttered, quietly fighting to control her voice as her emotions boiled. Silence followed."
This was a surprisingly quick read for me, and one I generally enjoyed. The narrative style is very simple and there's not much artistry going on with the prose. In fact, the writing is quite clunky and clumsy throughout, but I was interested in the story and learning more about Butch Cassidy's life. The simplicity of the storytelling lends a light-hearted feeling to the book and made it easy to read quickly, but it also limited the overall impact and appeal of the book.
My biggest complaint is that I have no idea how true any of it is. In the epilogue, the author mentions gathering lots of information but gives no sources or any indication of how much he embellished or invented on what he found. Large chunks felt like they were generic anecdotes that could've been told about anyone and were just included here to add color (The "wurst" story, "shed" the dog, the blue-eyed priest, among many others). This made me feel less confident in the historicity of the novel, and had me thinking of it more as a collection of apocryphal stories about Butch that have been told on ranches and cattle drives for the last hundred years. One discrepancy I noted when comparing to the wikipedia entry on Butch was how he got his nickname. That seems like an odd detail to just change or invent, but it also seems likely there would be a few different stories and no real way of knowing which was the "real" one. I feel like I know more about Butch Cassidy than I did before and it was fun reading about the action in and around places I have been.
Kinda tough keeping track of all the different side characters, but also not that important since there wasn't much dimension to anyone anyway. Also, the editing was extremely slipshod, with dozens of typos, even a misspelling of Cassidy in one spot, instances of referring to him as "Butch" in the first few chapters before he went by that name, etc.
Happy to have read it, don't feel like I'd ever feel like reading it again. There are probably better books on Butch Cassidy out there.
Here's a passage that I just had to copy here as an example of what I mean about the writing style:
"Cautiously, Mary extended her hand towards Butch, palm down.
'You may touch it,' she said. By now both were looking down at her hand. Butch couldn't be sure, but it appeared the hand was trembling, as were his own.
Cautiously, he reached forward, placing his palm on the back of her hand, stroking gently, as if he were petting the head of a small kitten. Neither looked up, both feeling that something wonderful was passing between them where their hands touched, but neither had the words to describe the energy, warmth, passion, and love that was not flowing, but gushing through their touching hands. They knew something very strong and very wonderful was passing between them. Butch was the first to speak.
'Are you cold?' he asked, not looking up from the touching hands.
'That's a strange thing to ask,' she said. 'Coldness is something I am not feeling right now.'
'But there are goose bumps all over your arm,' he said.
'I am not cold.' she uttered, quietly fighting to control her voice as her emotions boiled. Silence followed."
December 2, 2016
Plot: In southern Utah in the town of Circleville a boy named LeRoy Parker, ventures with a man by the name Mike Cassidy. LeRoy loves Mike and looks up to him like he's his father. Soon enough LeRoy Parker plans the biggest train and bank robbery in the west. He changes his name to Butch Cassidy in order to not get him or his family in trouble. Butch goes on to venture the wild west.
Characters: Two of the biggest characters in this book are Butch Cassidy and Mike Cassidy. Butch adds humor, bravery, courage, skills, and suspense to this book. He is one of the biggest outlaws in the west so he needs all of these in order to be a good outlaw. Mike Cassidy leaves suspense and wise words in the beginning of the book as he leaves to make his way to south America.
Theme: A good theme for this book would be to never give up you dreams because they can change in the blink of an eye. If you have a dream that you want to achieve don't give it up because you think you can't get there, try and there is a change that your dreams could be achieved. Sometimes in life we think that we can't achieve our dreams because we don't have what we need to succeed, but if we just work hard, have patience, have a good attitude and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve them, we will get where we want to be.
Opinion: This is a great book, probably my favorite book. I could read it over and over. I really like that it tells the story of a real person in history, but still adds the fiction in it to make it better. If you are into old west, adventure, and history this book is definitely one to read. It also is really cool because my dad lives in Circleville and I go there once a week and I get to actually see the old house of Cassidy's and I can imagine what it was really like to live back then. I also have a great grandpa that lived in Circleville and he tells stories of how he and LeRoy Parker actually played together as kids. I really like that I have relations to the characters in the book.
Characters: Two of the biggest characters in this book are Butch Cassidy and Mike Cassidy. Butch adds humor, bravery, courage, skills, and suspense to this book. He is one of the biggest outlaws in the west so he needs all of these in order to be a good outlaw. Mike Cassidy leaves suspense and wise words in the beginning of the book as he leaves to make his way to south America.
Theme: A good theme for this book would be to never give up you dreams because they can change in the blink of an eye. If you have a dream that you want to achieve don't give it up because you think you can't get there, try and there is a change that your dreams could be achieved. Sometimes in life we think that we can't achieve our dreams because we don't have what we need to succeed, but if we just work hard, have patience, have a good attitude and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve them, we will get where we want to be.
Opinion: This is a great book, probably my favorite book. I could read it over and over. I really like that it tells the story of a real person in history, but still adds the fiction in it to make it better. If you are into old west, adventure, and history this book is definitely one to read. It also is really cool because my dad lives in Circleville and I go there once a week and I get to actually see the old house of Cassidy's and I can imagine what it was really like to live back then. I also have a great grandpa that lived in Circleville and he tells stories of how he and LeRoy Parker actually played together as kids. I really like that I have relations to the characters in the book.
January 13, 2022
Cassidy by Lee Nelson is a very good book. I really enjoy the books that he writes because I'm really into western books, and they really catch my attention. This book is about a young Mormon boy named Robert Leroy Parker and the bank declines a loan for him so he robbed it and changes his name to Butch Cassidy and he starts his conquest as one of the most famous American outlaws. I give this book 5 stars and really love it.
May 18, 2025
This is one of my favorite books ever. If your looking for great story telling. The kind you would hear around the camp fire, this is it. It wakes you feel like you could buy a silk rope and learn how to be a cowboy. It tells stories about places in my backyard here in Utah that just felt real to me!
October 5, 2017
Think I prefer the movie better! But it was interesting to learn details about Butch Cassidy. It took me a long time to read because I started getting tired of ALL the details. But made me put movie on my Netflix list again!
December 29, 2020
I met Mr. Nelson about 1996 at his home in Springville, UT. He signed a book, "Cassidy" for me.
October 26, 2016
Lee Nelson’s Novel Cassidy is about a young Mormon farm boy by the name of Leroy Parker A.K.A Roy. When he meets a man by the name of Mike Cassidy the man automatically became his hero and mentor. As Roy gets older he learns how to rope and shoot from Cassidy, And becomes good friend with the man. When the man move away Roy goes looking for work, he ends up as a Mule Skinner in a booming mining town known as Telluride and ornery bank manager denies his loan. When Roy sees his buddies again hey tells about what happened and they are going to do about it. That next day three bandits rob the Telluride bank, the leader of the bandits was Roy Parker. As Roy changes his name too Butch Cassidy. As Butch finds new friends and new banks he starts the famous outlaw wild bunch. He travels across the middle and west of the country he leaves a trail of empty banks and train with their saves blown up. When Cassidy finally tries to stop and schedules a meeting with the north pacific railway his accomplice lets him down so he hits the trains harder with more robberies than ever. On his last train job he has so many poses after him, he runs to south america and buys himself and his loyal friend Sundance a ranch, when the law finds them even there he starts the outlaw life again maybe even for good. Will Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid escape the law and be free in another country or will their wrongdoings catch up to them. This book, this book, I couldn’t put it down, I was glued to the pages for hours at a time. This book had action adventure, taking risks, horse racing and even going to church, I think it had just about everything that a book should have. There were calm and slow parts but there was fast action and gunfights, I mean what could possibly go wrong. When you have good friends that would do anything with you I guess that you might feel bullet proof and pretty safe, I mean if I had friends that were good shots and would take a bullet for me I would Rob banks to. Not that I do rob banks because that is against the law so don't do it. But the theme of this book well at least the theme I got from this book was too stand your ground and if someone pushes you down you get right back up and keep fighting, because the main character Roy better known as Cassidy wouldn't stand down too a fight and when he was bullied or pushed around he pushed the person right back and made sure they had mutual respect. Or he would leave and probably never talk to them again you never know.
April 21, 2015
Good book. I may up the stars in my review after some time passes and I think back on the book.
Lee Nelson is a great storyteller, and Butch Cassidy is a great choice of subject matter. Nelson gives a thorough account of Cassidy's life and helps the reader know the side of Cassidy that is surprisingly compassionate.
The book is so thorough, however, it drags at times and suffers in its pacing (at least compared to most of Nelson's books in his Storm Testament series).
Lee Nelson is a great storyteller, and Butch Cassidy is a great choice of subject matter. Nelson gives a thorough account of Cassidy's life and helps the reader know the side of Cassidy that is surprisingly compassionate.
The book is so thorough, however, it drags at times and suffers in its pacing (at least compared to most of Nelson's books in his Storm Testament series).
April 6, 2009
I read this book after I watched "Butch & the Sundance kid" (the one with Robert Redford & Paul Newman). I enjoyed learning about this famous outlaw from Circleville, UT. I don't know how much of this book was accurate but I choose this one becuase I met the author at an Enrichment meeting.
May 13, 2011
I read this in high school and remember loving it. I think growing up in Utah gave me a feeling of connection to Butch Cassidy. It will be fun to read it again sometime and see if it as good the second time around.
March 18, 2008
This is a great book
July 30, 2008
i liked how he started out little nobody leroy parker and ended up with practice being butch cassidy
April 6, 2015
As a teenager I loved this book and wanted nothing more than to take the trip advertised on the back of the book with lee Nelson on the outlaw trail.
July 24, 2015
well written.
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November 13, 2008W Nel
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews