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The Last Shootist
Young Gillom Rogers has just given the coup de grace to a famous gunfighter involved in a bloody saloon shootout in 1901 El Paso, Texas. After swiping J.B. Books's matched Remington pistols off his body, Gillom thinks he may be able to ride this spectacle to fame and glory as the last shootist . But Gillom is an eighteen-year-old with lots of growing up to do, and showing off his new pistols quickly gets him into a gunfight he didn't bargain for. Gillom sets out for adventure, determined to become a shootist like his hero, John Bernard Books. On his dangerous journey into manhood, he runs into yellow journalists, a New Mexican horse breaker, and a train robber. When he meets a Hispanic saloon dancer named Anel in the booming copper mining town of Bisbee, Arizona, Gillom Rogers is forced to reconsider what kind of man he really wants to be. Miles Swarthout's The Last Shootist is the sequel to one of the most famous Westerns ever written, and concludes the tale of a junior shootist's coming-of-age in a dazzling gunfight in a deadly pimp's whorehouse, as a trio of fiery teenagers ride hard into a new twentieth century.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2014
8 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Miles Hood Swarthout
7 books2 followersMiles Swarthout is an aging author leaving in the South Bay of Southern California near the beach in Playa Del Rey. I'm basically trained as a screenwriter, attending the famed USC film/television school for my Masters in Telecommunications, after attaining an undergraduate degree in English literature at Claremont McKenna College in Pomona, CA. Better known for my screenplays for John Wayne's final Western film, The Shootist in 1976, based upon the novel by my late author father, Glendon Swarthout. I also adapted Glendon's Depression-era holiday story, A Christmas Gift, for a 1978 CBS TV-Movie starring Jason Robards and Joanne Woodward, which was retitled A Christmas To Remember. I have optioned several of my own original screenplays as well, plus written Introductions to some of Glendon's bestselling novels like Bless the Beasts & Children (1970) and The Shootist (1975). I recently wrote an Afterword to The Homesman, another prizewinning Western novel of Glendon's which is now a movie starring Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, and Meryl Streep which hit theatres in November, 2014, after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Back in 2000 I also edited the only collection of Glendon's short stories, Easterns & Westerns, with an extensive Afterword by me providing an overview of my dad's literary career, including his own brief autobiography. My own Western novel, The Sergeant's Lady, came out from Forge Books/Macmillan in 2003 and won the Best First Novel Spur award from the Western Writers of America in 2004.
My 2nd Western, The Last Shootist, also was published in hard cover by Forge Books/Macmillan and was just named by True West magazine in their January, 2015 year-end survey of the Best of the West, as the Best Western Novel of 2014. I was also chosen as their Best Western Historical author of 2014, which was quite a pleasing recognition by American frontier history buffs.
Back in 2000 I also edited the only collection of Glendon's short stories, Easterns & Westerns, with an extensive Afterword by me providing an overview of my dad's literary career, including his own brief autobiography. My own Western novel, The Sergeant's Lady, came out from Forge Books/Macmillan in 2003 and won the Best First Novel Spur award from the Western Writers of America in 2004.
My 2nd Western, The Last Shootist, also was published in hard cover by Forge Books/Macmillan and was just named by True West magazine in their January, 2015 year-end survey of the Best of the West, as the Best Western Novel of 2014. I was also chosen as their Best Western Historical author of 2014, which was quite a pleasing recognition by American frontier history buffs.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 9, 2015
The Last Shootist has been chosen by the Editors of True West magazine as the Best Western Novel written in 2014 and yours truly as the Best Western Historical Novelist of the past year in their January, 2015, Best of the West issue's annual survey. Thank you indeed!
True West's Books Editor Stuart Rosebrook wrote --
"Miles Swarthout's The Last Shootist had a great deal of competition in Western fiction in 2014 as publishers large and small have revived America's most original genre of literature. Swarthout's novel stands above all the rest in 2014 for its combination of classic Western themes, coming of age in the transitional West, and for deftly writing a stand-alone sequel that is equal to its precursor, Glendon Swarthout's The Shootist."
I will be signing this new hard cover novel at the Tucson book festival on March 14-15th. You also can hear me at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, Friday afternoon, April 19th, at the repertory little theatre in Newhall, CA, doing my Shootist Show for $10 tickets, with a book signing afterwards. Hope to meet you at one of these two big Western and book festival events.
In a starred review in Booklist (Sept. 15th, 2014) John Mort wrote --
"Swarthout does a fine job with the sequel to The Shootist, his father Glendon's famous Western (from which the even more famous John Wayne movie was adapted by Miles). Miles uses the last scene of his father's novel as his first scene, in which the shootist with cancer, J.B. Books, engineers his own quick death at the hands of El Paso's worst gunmen. Not quite dead, he begs young Gillom Rogers to finish the job in exchange for his fancy, hair-triggered Remington pistols. There was something lurid and troubling about the elder Swarthout's involvement of a teenager in this scheme; it was too easy and undercut Books' attempt at dying nobly. Maybe that was the point.
Anyhow, Miles Swarthout stays in character with Gillom: he's an impetuous, not-entirely-honest young man who, despite everyone's best advice, is drawn to the gunfighter's life. And Books' famous guns draw gunfighters to Gillom. He says goodbye to his long-suffering mother and makes his way in various New Mexico and Arizona towns, trying his hand as a bank guard and a horsebreaker, holing up for a while at a sort of robbers' roost high in the mountains. Along the way, Swarthout shows a deft hand with research: from El Paso's famed alligators in the fountain to the workings of copper mines. He knows firearms and locomotives, and, a rarity in Westerns, writes rather well about sex. With another movie from a Glendon Swarthout novel, The Homesman, due out soon, The Last Shootist can't miss."
True West's Books Editor Stuart Rosebrook wrote --
"Miles Swarthout's The Last Shootist had a great deal of competition in Western fiction in 2014 as publishers large and small have revived America's most original genre of literature. Swarthout's novel stands above all the rest in 2014 for its combination of classic Western themes, coming of age in the transitional West, and for deftly writing a stand-alone sequel that is equal to its precursor, Glendon Swarthout's The Shootist."
I will be signing this new hard cover novel at the Tucson book festival on March 14-15th. You also can hear me at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, Friday afternoon, April 19th, at the repertory little theatre in Newhall, CA, doing my Shootist Show for $10 tickets, with a book signing afterwards. Hope to meet you at one of these two big Western and book festival events.
In a starred review in Booklist (Sept. 15th, 2014) John Mort wrote --
"Swarthout does a fine job with the sequel to The Shootist, his father Glendon's famous Western (from which the even more famous John Wayne movie was adapted by Miles). Miles uses the last scene of his father's novel as his first scene, in which the shootist with cancer, J.B. Books, engineers his own quick death at the hands of El Paso's worst gunmen. Not quite dead, he begs young Gillom Rogers to finish the job in exchange for his fancy, hair-triggered Remington pistols. There was something lurid and troubling about the elder Swarthout's involvement of a teenager in this scheme; it was too easy and undercut Books' attempt at dying nobly. Maybe that was the point.
Anyhow, Miles Swarthout stays in character with Gillom: he's an impetuous, not-entirely-honest young man who, despite everyone's best advice, is drawn to the gunfighter's life. And Books' famous guns draw gunfighters to Gillom. He says goodbye to his long-suffering mother and makes his way in various New Mexico and Arizona towns, trying his hand as a bank guard and a horsebreaker, holing up for a while at a sort of robbers' roost high in the mountains. Along the way, Swarthout shows a deft hand with research: from El Paso's famed alligators in the fountain to the workings of copper mines. He knows firearms and locomotives, and, a rarity in Westerns, writes rather well about sex. With another movie from a Glendon Swarthout novel, The Homesman, due out soon, The Last Shootist can't miss."
February 25, 2015
THE LAST SHOOTIST is the sequel to the classic western THE SHOOTIST a book that is not nearly as well known as John Wayne's final film. The SHOOTIST featured a cast of famous actors who came together to support Wayne known to be in bad health with the possibility that it would be his last film. And it was his final film. The ending of the movie pretty much prevented a sequel. In the movie, the 17-year-old played by Ron Howard followed John Bernard Books (John Wayne) into the saloon where Books has killed all the gunmen he's invited to to kill him and he sees a sneaky bartender back shoot the already wounded Books with both barrels of a shotgun. Ron Howard picks up Book's Remington .44 and kills the back-shooter and then throws away the gun, renounces violence (to Wayne's approval just before he dies), and goes home to his mom, played by Lauren Bacall.
As you may have suspected, that's not the way the novel ended. In that story, the teenager at Book's last request issues the coup de grâce to the famous shootist and then he walks out the saloon (without shooting the bartender first) carrying the famous matched Remingtons. The last chapter of THE SHOOTIST serves as the prologue to THE LAST SHOOTIST that tells the story of the teenaged gunslinger carrying these famous six-shooters during the next six months of his life.
The novel is set in El Paso in 1901, when it was the last of the wild west border towns. The movie changed the location to make the scenery filmed in Nevada fit. There is a lot of interesting information about thinly disguised real famous and infamous people. If you're a fan of the genre you'd probably give it a higher rating than I did.
As you may have suspected, that's not the way the novel ended. In that story, the teenager at Book's last request issues the coup de grâce to the famous shootist and then he walks out the saloon (without shooting the bartender first) carrying the famous matched Remingtons. The last chapter of THE SHOOTIST serves as the prologue to THE LAST SHOOTIST that tells the story of the teenaged gunslinger carrying these famous six-shooters during the next six months of his life.
The novel is set in El Paso in 1901, when it was the last of the wild west border towns. The movie changed the location to make the scenery filmed in Nevada fit. There is a lot of interesting information about thinly disguised real famous and infamous people. If you're a fan of the genre you'd probably give it a higher rating than I did.
April 30, 2025
This a a nicely composed and compelling sequel to "The Shootist", a novel written by Glendon Swarthout, Miles Swarthout's father. Miles wrote the screenplay for the 1976 "The Shootist" movie starring John Wayne (his last film).
Miles Swarthout, like his famous father, certainly has developed into a fine western genre writer. His story picks up where his father's left off: young Gillom Rogers, emerging from the deadly shootout at the El Paso Metropole Saloon, which resulted in the death of the Shootist Books, now holding John Bernard Book's treasured fancy nickel-plated six-shooters. The narrative then focuses on Gillom and whether he chooses the life of a "shootist", like John Books, or settles down with a respectable job as his mother, Bond, insists upon.
In possession of Book's famous guns, trouble seems to be constantly knocking at Gillom's door, and Gillom, being a headstrong 18 year old, almost always opens the door. Gillom is forced to flee El Paso after two Mexicanos ambush him. He finds temporary shelter at a horse ranch busting broncos before moving on to Bisbee, Arizona, hoping to become an honorable deputy or bank guard. But trouble in the form of a first love finds young Gillom, and Gillom butts heads with an evil and influential man who kidnaps Gillom's woman, intending to make her trick in his bar. Gillom vows to rescue his love and this sets up the final showdown, which is a compelling page-turner.
I truly enjoyed this realistic and believable sequel to The Shootist. Miles Swarthout truly follows in his father's western writing boots, bringing the tale of Gillom Rogers to an exciting, compelling, and satisfying conclusion.
Miles Swarthout, like his famous father, certainly has developed into a fine western genre writer. His story picks up where his father's left off: young Gillom Rogers, emerging from the deadly shootout at the El Paso Metropole Saloon, which resulted in the death of the Shootist Books, now holding John Bernard Book's treasured fancy nickel-plated six-shooters. The narrative then focuses on Gillom and whether he chooses the life of a "shootist", like John Books, or settles down with a respectable job as his mother, Bond, insists upon.
In possession of Book's famous guns, trouble seems to be constantly knocking at Gillom's door, and Gillom, being a headstrong 18 year old, almost always opens the door. Gillom is forced to flee El Paso after two Mexicanos ambush him. He finds temporary shelter at a horse ranch busting broncos before moving on to Bisbee, Arizona, hoping to become an honorable deputy or bank guard. But trouble in the form of a first love finds young Gillom, and Gillom butts heads with an evil and influential man who kidnaps Gillom's woman, intending to make her trick in his bar. Gillom vows to rescue his love and this sets up the final showdown, which is a compelling page-turner.
I truly enjoyed this realistic and believable sequel to The Shootist. Miles Swarthout truly follows in his father's western writing boots, bringing the tale of Gillom Rogers to an exciting, compelling, and satisfying conclusion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2018
I picked this up at the library on a whim, having been a fan of Glendon Swarthout's novel, The Shootist, and the same-named movie featuring John Wayne (his last film). I knew nothing of the author (Glendon's son) and thought the premise of a sequel, appropriately named The Last Shootist, was promising.
I was disappointed in the quality of Miles' writing, the editing that missed several rather obvious errors (e.g., referencing a two-stroke gasoline engine when describing the first steam-driven automobile in Bisbee), and the overall characterization of Gillom Rogers, the story's protagonist. The author liberally borrows from his father's book and prose, perhaps to remind us that this is a sequel. Unfortunately, this story, unlike it's predecessor, is fairly one dimensional and predictable. I think Mr. Swarthout did a fine job researching the period (1901 Southern AZ and El Paso, TX), but just didn't effectively convey the drama and tension drawn between the wild west of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th.
I love a good western, enjoyed many of Mr. Wayne's films, even if they were a bit hokey, and so could enjoy this book-- but in a more or less superficial manner. Fun for a quick diversion, but there are better books in the genre.
I was disappointed in the quality of Miles' writing, the editing that missed several rather obvious errors (e.g., referencing a two-stroke gasoline engine when describing the first steam-driven automobile in Bisbee), and the overall characterization of Gillom Rogers, the story's protagonist. The author liberally borrows from his father's book and prose, perhaps to remind us that this is a sequel. Unfortunately, this story, unlike it's predecessor, is fairly one dimensional and predictable. I think Mr. Swarthout did a fine job researching the period (1901 Southern AZ and El Paso, TX), but just didn't effectively convey the drama and tension drawn between the wild west of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th.
I love a good western, enjoyed many of Mr. Wayne's films, even if they were a bit hokey, and so could enjoy this book-- but in a more or less superficial manner. Fun for a quick diversion, but there are better books in the genre.
February 12, 2024
I would like to start this by saying this is not a terrible book. If this were wholly unconnected from Glendon Swarthout’s 1975 Novel The Shootist, then I would have enjoyed it considerably more.
As a follow up to The Shootist, this book is absolutely insulting. Tonally it’s a polar opposite to the original, and the retconning of Gillom’s characterization is horrible. As pedantic as it is, I was also upset with the repeated use of the word “gunslinger”, a word Swarthout purposely chose not to use in the original novel, as it is anachronistic.
The Shootist never needed a sequel, and it does not deserve one like this.
As a follow up to The Shootist, this book is absolutely insulting. Tonally it’s a polar opposite to the original, and the retconning of Gillom’s characterization is horrible. As pedantic as it is, I was also upset with the repeated use of the word “gunslinger”, a word Swarthout purposely chose not to use in the original novel, as it is anachronistic.
The Shootist never needed a sequel, and it does not deserve one like this.
February 18, 2018
A great read, start to finish. A book about coming of age set at the turn of the century. The book is compelling and definitely a page turner. The book centers around Gillom Rogers, the only witness to famed gunslinger J. B. Books' shootout. Gillom takes Books' pistols and goes on a new adventure when he leaves El Paso. Well written. This book appeals to readers who love westerns, as well as suspenseful fiction. One of the best books I've read this year.
September 30, 2018
Would have preferred that it was written as a stand alone “coming of age” novel, rather than a sequel to what was a great novel by the author’s father. Gillom Rogers, in The Shootist, was an odious character. To try to resurrect him as a sympathetic character, to cash in on The Shootist, cheapens this novel. The Last Shootist is well written, interesting, fun to read and well researched. I obviously could not get past the change in the main character.
June 10, 2017
Glendon's lean, vivid, esoteric and intimate prose gives way to the jarringly pedestrian and anachronism-laden writing of his son. The characterizations are so far off the mark that one is forced to wonder just how much input he really had into the screenplay adaptation of his father's far superior book. What a disappointment..
November 28, 2022
I was pleasantly surprised reading this book. The reviews I had read weren’t very good. I enjoyed the story and appreciated the use of actual people that lived back then, as explained by the author at the end of the book.
July 5, 2018
Hard to read this after enjoying the Shootist so much. Maybe trying to write in the same voice as his father was a difficult and constricting task.
November 6, 2020
It's slow in some parts but just like all good gunslinger novels!!!
July 4, 2023
Sequel to the shootist and written by the original author's son. I liked it and learned more about the the west in 1901.
October 17, 2015
Most books don't rate a five star review, but I have to admit with all the books I begin to read and then get bored with them resulting in my setting them aside, this one kept me reading it to the very end. I never read, The Shootist, written by Miles Swarthout's father, Glendon Swarthout, so it would be difficult to compare the two novels. In The Last Shootist I was uncertain where the story was going; was Gillom Rogers running into a life of gunfights and the underbelly of society, was it a coming of age story, or was it going to be the story it turned out to be? That, is what kept me reading. The setting is an area of the old west not generally written about in the time period that it is set; El Paso and Bisbee in the early 1900's. It is a western with classic themes and situations. It has something different to it and that along with caring about Gillom kept me reading. For anything in this world to hold my attention the way this one did I have to give it the highest rating possible.
May 7, 2016
Nailed It !! Great wrap up. I guess! the door's open for another story Completely enjoyed Miles storytelling ,chip off the old block- romance , wild west friendship loyalty you could smell the gunpowder, beer and perfume. I read The Shootist a week prior to reading The Last Shootist . the shootist movie , which i saw years ago, mirrored the book but relationships get skewed in an action movie. the book tells the true story. The Last Shootist is a must read. Bravo Miles!! will be reading some more superlative Swarthout in the future.
February 24, 2015
Good story telling talent is obvious here
As a native of Arizona now living in El Paso I could well visualise the settings so well written about in this book. I read a lot of Arizona and southwestern history and the author wrote a novel that could have been reality. The ending was a pleasant surprise. But you'll have to read the book to find out.
As a native of Arizona now living in El Paso I could well visualise the settings so well written about in this book. I read a lot of Arizona and southwestern history and the author wrote a novel that could have been reality. The ending was a pleasant surprise. But you'll have to read the book to find out.
October 20, 2014
Outstanding sequel to the excellent 1975 novel written by the author's father (and one of my favorite books), The Shootist (also the basis of John Wayne's final film).
December 31, 2014
Fast moving "Shootist" sequel about teenager Gillom coming of age in Wild West. Lots of action and great descriptions of old mining towns.
January 26, 2015
A very good sequel. Too bad the movie ended the way it did, making a sequel impossible.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews