Ride Tall or Hang High

Outlaws #1

by Chet Cunningham

There's nothing like a smoking six gun in your hand to make you grow up fast! They were the youngest-and some said the most dangerous-gang in the territory. They were just kids, but the savagery of the untamed West made men out of them before their time.

Genres: Westerns, Historical Fiction, Fiction

231 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1989

About the author

aka Jess Cody, Cathy Cunningham, Lionel Derrick (with Mark Roberts 2), Keith Douglass (with William H Keith), J.D. Bondie, Chad Calhoun, G.A. Carrington, Kit Dalton, Dirk Fletcher, Don Pendleton

Since his first novel was published in 1968 Chet Cunningham has written and had published nearly 300 works of fiction and 15 non fiction books. He is equally adept on horseback, in the techno-thriller arena, or recounting military history. His output includes 125 westerns and 50 men's action/adventure novels.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos]

I usually prefer reading Horror, Mystery, and Science Fiction, but every now and then I want a change of pace. I read this western as a change of genre, and I was pleasantly surprised at the distinctiveness of the book. The story is told with a third person view, but the lines between villain and hero are blurred. Generally, in a western, the black hats are bad guys, and the white hats are good guys. Things are very clear. Here in Ride Tall or Hang High, the narrative begins with six incarcerated criminals and their successful escape from jail. The six men are not saints, but their individual paths to crime may not be quite so black and white as what readers might assume, or accustomed to given the generally concrete lines of the genre, and any preconceptions we might have are shaded by greys that diminish morality and the certitude it engenders. The story is an interesting deviation from my expectations of what is common in a western.

[Charles van Buren]

The protagonists are unsympathetic killers

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This review is from: Ride Tall, Hang High (The Outlaws Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)

This is an interesting, well told story. Unfortunately it concerns the activities of 6, mostly callous, killers and robbers. The author does a fair job of making these misfits somewhat sympathetic. However after years in law enforcement and a degree in law enforcement and sociology, I have scant sympathy for "poor, misunderstood boys."

[Charles van Buren]

The protagonists are killers

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Ride Tall, Hang High (The Outlaws Series Book 1) (Kindle Edition)

This is an interesting, well told story. Unfortunately it concerns the activities of 6, mostly callous, killers and robbers. The author does a fair job of making these misfits somewhat sympathetic. However after years in law enforcement and a degree in law enforcement and sociology, I have scant sympathy for "poor, misunderstood boys."

[Éric Kasprak]

Chet Cunningham is a prolific veteran writer and Ride Tall, Hang High is the first western that I read from him. The story was very straightforward with workmanlike writing style. In fact everything in this book was "workmanlike": the characters, the pacing, the storytelling, etc. But the story is interesting with plenty of action and it leaves you wanting to know more about it. And even do I would have liked more meat on the bone so to speak, the really important thing is that Chet Cunningham did enough for me to want continue reading about his characters and their adventures.

[Catrheaper]

I bought the whole 9 volume set on Kindle for $.99. That should have been my first clue. I read through the first four chapters, and then went and scanned the reviews. I focused on the ones that reviewed the entire series. The negative ones were pretty much the same. Gratuitous violence is not a plot. Characters were one dimensional cartoon villains led by a sociopath. There are much, much better Western writers out there.

[PAUL CHIODO]

Good western series beginning.

I usually read sci-fi novels, but looking for a change of pace, thought a good west would be a nice difference. I lucked out & read an entertaining book. Looking forward to the next 8 in the series to see if the gang stays together.

[Tim Sarver]

Good read

Good story contains a lot of action and strategy. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about the old west.

[Todd]

Nothing great about this book. A story told mainly from the POV of 6 escaped convicts on the run after killing 3 deputies

[Susan Moore]

Wrote from the outlaws point of view.

This is well written, but I like reading a story by the good guys outlook. I was disappointed at the end. Each of the outlaws thought about what they wanted instead of what the gangs' leader wanted. Laymen and bounty hunters chased them throughout the story. There was no resolution at the end. The gang just went to sleep in their camp and the book ended. For resolution, I guess I just have to keep buying the series. That is not a problem for me because I do buy series book. However, each one is a stand-alone book. If it had an ending I would have given it 4 stars.

[Susan Miller]

I read this story on my Kindle and it is fraught with misspellings. R n words like "barn" are spelled bam, "Farnamn" is Farmam. Anyway if you can get past that the next thing that jumps out at me is the fact that doctors didn't have white sticky tape to bandage up their patients with. The Willy Boy gang is a ragtag gang of jail-breaks that had no choice, but to join Willy's gang. Soon they rob banks and enjoy life on the run looking for a bounty hunter named Conover that shot Willy's dad years ago.

[Allen]

This is a good story but it was unfortunately marred by the really bad formatting and proofing. Missing CR, spaces between the end of a word and closing quotes, truncated lines, misspelled words, wrong words, etc made it difficult to read. This book really needs to be revised. I cannot see how anyone could have read the Kindle version and not told he author it was not ready for publication.

[Steve]

This is like those old "to be continued..." serial shorts before the main cowboy movies back in the 1940's, not nearly as good as the movie and very unsatisfying as to the conclusion. Too many narrow escapes and too much bad dialogue. This seemed very much like a half or a third of a bad book.

[Sidney Weber]

Far too juvenile

This book is simply a string of events, each pretty unrealistic. Very young readers might like the action, but everything about this book is too thin for a serious reader.

[ellagraves]

First Chet Cunningham book I've read

it's a book that I would recommend my friends and family read.The story line and suspense was good.Kept me reading

[sharon Gilligan]

Fast paced

I enjoyed reading this book. It's fast paced and makes you feel like you're riding right along with the men. A bit was repetitive but otherwise it was a good read.

[larry brashear]

So-so

I am not fond of this book because the author is showing the bad guys winning. I know they are really not winning but that is the portrayal.

[Nick Murphy]

Four stars

Good story and one that was better than expected. I will be looking for more books by the author. Thanks.

[Donald]

Outlaw!

Good yarn from the outlaw perspective. Looks at the various members of an ad hoc gang and their reasons for being in the gang. Interesting as well as active!

[Larry Powers]

Awesome Adventure

Keeping a gang of murderers and thieves together is a hard job. Trying to capture them is even harder. Great start to an exciting series.

[Jason]

Great Western

This is a great western book and i recommend it to anyone who likes western. Will be reading more by this author

[Amber Daniels]

I am not sure what to say about this book. I liked it but I just wanted more I think. It's not quite what I had in mind when I ordered this.

[BonusMom]

Okay outlaw story

This was not a bad book, just for me. Too much of an outlaw story for me; too much ambushing and killing and escaping, and then more of the same.

[Richard]

Different type of old west book

Seeing story line from outlaws side shows a different look to old west book. It makes you think about both sides.

[Jim Steele]

Great read!

Very well written! I would definitely recommend to everyone. I don't think any one would be disappointed, (of any age)!

[Vince Pillig]

Interesting .

Is he reading nice novel about the West . Read this for a break from documentary or books of the. Period