Red Highway: A Crime Novel

by Loren D. Estleman

During the Great Depression, a ruthless killer breaks out of prison to reclaim his status as Public Enemy Number One in this chilling, action-packed novel
 
Before Dillinger, before Bonnie and Clyde, there was Virgil Ballard, the most ruthless killer the United States has ever seen.
 
Ballard gets his start in the early 1920s, hijacking liquor trucks and selling the bootlegged hooch. He has a youthful face and the eyes of a killer, and it isn’t long before he baptizes himself in another man’s blood. The state gives him a life sentence, but no jail can hold Ballard. When he busts out of prison, he knows he has a date with death—but how many coppers can he take out along the way?
 
Inspired by the author’s love of 1930s gangster movies, Loren D. Estleman’s debut thriller surges with the narrative energy and crackling dialogue that would become hallmarks of his numerous acclaimed and award-winning hard-boiled crime novels.
 

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery

211 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Loren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.

Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery

Reviews

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Highway by Loren D. Estleman- An episodic journey through Depression era landscapes, with guns blazing. Not much plot and minimal on character, the story just rolls on from one dangerous encounter to the next. Estleman's first book, written when he was barely out of his teens, seems raw and unfinished, but still engaging in its own way. From this awkward start would spring one of the best detective fiction writers around today.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Loren D Estelman's first published book, an Elmore Leonard-like crime novel of the late 20s south and bank robbing gunsels. There are some parts that a later Estleman would have polished better, but the characterization is strong and its great stuff for a first book. If you want another dose of Elmore Leonard, give this one a shot.

[Glen U · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my many joys associated with reading, is coming across the debut book of a known and noted writer, one I have read before and enjoyed. Having read some of his Detroit and Amos Walker series, Estleman is one such writer. "Red Highway", published in 1976, is a crime novel, written in a straightforward manner, with a predictable plot and stereotypical Bonnie and Clyde era characters. Prohibitionists, tommy-guns and bank robberies abound, as we follow our protagonist to his bloody and deserved end. Not a nuance in sight but a credible first attempt by a soon to be revered writer. A quick read, one worth your time, especially if you are a Loren D. Estleman fan.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 1976 crime novel The Oklahoma Punk (aka Red Highway) is the debut novel of best-selling author Loren D. Estleman. I wasn't overly thrilled with it, which I ascribe partly to a raw author and partly to the subject matter. It reads like true crime, not a genre I'm fond of, and I read it only because I've read over 30 of the other output from Estlemen - especially his Detroit P.I. Amos Walker series and hitman Peter Macklin series.

Crime novel - Set in the era of Bonnie and Clyde, this is a crime novel of big guns and fast cars on the bloody road to infamy. Sentenced to life in prison for murder and armed robbery, Virgil Ballard busts out to resume his status as Public Enemy Number One. In each deadly duel with the law, Virgil manages to escape--but who will come out on top in the final showdown?

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: after getting out of the Missouri State Pen, Virgil decides to switch from stealing moonshine to robbing banks.