Book Review: Devil Out of Texas by Roger Raffee

This novel was provided to me for free for an honest review.

Title: Devil Out of Texas

Author: Roger Raffee

ASIN: B01L6O9X8I

Genre: Western/Novelised Biography

Print Length: 459 pages

Plot synopsis: A biographic novel of the great-grandfather, grandfather and grandmother of the author, set mainly in San Antonio, Mexico and LA from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s.

Cover: The new cover is a great improvement over the cover of the version I read. It does however focus on the first part of the book which is a western.

This is a very intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable read. It is divided into three distinct parts (one for each of the main protagonists) and each part is quite different in style. I would say that the strongest part is the first part, which reads like a Western – which it is. It is full of great story lines and anecdotal details that add real interest to the story. The characterisation is wonderful and the dialogue well-structured in that it helps build the personalities of the characters. Considering it is based on true events, the plot bounds along at a cracking rate. The settings are very well described and give the reader a very good impression of the landscapes in which the stories occur. Unfortunately the second and third parts of the novel are not as compelling. I still found them an enjoyable read and did finish the novel (which I would not have done if I had not enjoyed them). I think Raffee has set himself a considerable challenge in covering such a long time period. The result is that we end up with a book that covers more than one genre. Those who like Westerns should love the first part of the book (which makes up 2/3 to 3/4 of the novel), but may lose interest in the other parts, not because the narration is uninteresting, but because it is no longer a western. These sections of the novel cover a very different time in the history of the USA and their juxtaposing with the “old west” history in the same novel is somewhat dislocating. I strikes me that there are actually two, maybe three novels in this one book. There is real opportunity to expand the second and third parts into enthralling books in their own right. Currently, however they lack the structure, characterisation and plot detail found in the Western section. I was aiming to give this novel a 5* rating, which is unusual for me, as the western yarn deserves it. However, the second and third parts are not strong enough for me; hence the 4* rating - which still shows that this is a very good read and I would strongly recommend it.

What do others think?

At the time of writing there was one review on Amazon.co.uk of 3*. Interestingly, the reviewer commented on the ambition of the novel in spanning such a long and contrasting duration of time.

There were 10 reviews on Amazon.com (one a repeat of that on Amazon.co.uk). All the remaining 9 reviewers gave rating of 4* or above.

Of the four reviews on Goodreads.com, one was not repeated on Amazon. It rated the novel as 5*.

Other books by the author (click on image to go to Amazon for more details).