To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West

by Mark Lee Gardner

Book Overview

"So richly detailed, you can almost smell the gunsmoke and the sweat of the saddles. " --Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers No outlaw typifies America's mythic Wild West more than Billy the Kid. To Hell on a Fast Horse by Mark Lee Gardner is the riveting true tale of Sheriff Pat Garrett's thrilling, break-neck chase in pursuit of the notorious bandit. David Dary calls To Hell on a Fast Horse, "A masterpiece," and Robert...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006136827X
• ISBN13: 9780061368271
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding Dual Biography of Bill the Kid and Pat Garrett

Until I read this book I had only read mythological accounts of Billy the Kid, which usually contain nothing of Pat Garrett's life. Books and movies have mythologized Bill they Kid as a Robin Hood type, happy go lucky outlaw and Pat Garrett is demonized as a cowardly man who shot him down in the dark. This book dispels those myths and gives a fuller account of the lives of both these men in a well written and documented dual biography. The book walks through the early life of both men, with William Bonney's (Billy the Kid) being much more mysterious and unclear. He documents the Kid's rambling nature and his involvement in the Lincoln's County wars in New Mexico, where he comes off looking not quite as narcissistic and craven as one would think. It is clear that Bonney had little few skills except with his gun, which is the only way he could really make a living. His unbelievable, daring, and bloody escapes are even more dramatic than the movies that portray them. The author does an outstanding job at using what little documentary evidence exists to bring to life, real life, Billy the Kid. But the book also has done a great service to the ill fated Pat Garrett. I knew absolutely nothing about Garrett before reading this book and the author provides a very vivid, full biography of this misunderstood Western lawman. Far from the cowardly person often portrayed in the movies, he was a man of honor, kept his word (mostly), and was equally the epitome of the fearless, tough lawman as the more famous and renowned Wyatt Earp. He did fall on hard times and was a rather bad business man, which ultimately lead to his downfall and possibly murder. The author does a splendid job of exploring his life and the mysterious events surrounding his death. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the American West that is not based on myth.

4.5 stars but chock full of detailed information

Billy the Kid's reputation is well known and well deserved. In American lore, he is a lovable outlaw with a goofy grin and an uncanny ability to escape from many a scrape and encounters with the law. In the end though, he is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett. Who was Pat Garrett and how did those two characters become inextricably linked? This book delves into their lives and careers and answers those questions while giving the reader fascinating insights into the Wild West and how it really was. As a standard historical text, you would not be surprised to learn that the author covers each of the two proponent's lives separately and then intertwines their stories as they move towards the climax of the fatal encounter that cemented their relationship - that being the night that Pat Garrett shot Billy the Kid dead. I found it interesting that while Pat Garrett's story leading to their interactions in Fort Sumner and Lincoln County was rather short, Billy the Kid's history was much longer and more detailed. Maybe that is because there is and was so much interest more in the background of the outlaw rather than the lawman? In any case, that is what you will see when you read this book. Each of Billy's names and murderous acts are described in minute detail, while Garrett's career spans only a few pages. The middle part of the book is a very detailed listing of a period of several months in which Billy the Kid is on the run from the law, and Pat Garrett is after him. This part ends with the infamous shooting incident. The latter part of the book covers the next 30 years of Pat Garrett's life until he gets killed in an ambush. Throughout the whole book we read small side stories of what life was like in the Wild West territory of New Mexico and find out just how violent people were back then as well as how intertwined society was! When you read stories about this man or that with seven killings to his name, but who was never prosecuted, you quickly realize how flimsy the reach of the law was back in those days. The book is meticulously researched, and I am actually taking away one half star for that as the level of detail interferes with the flow of the narrative in many cases. The author seems able to describe each posse and gang member by name and in several cases spells out their interactions with each other and all their family relations. There is simply too much information provided in those areas. Maybe some sort of listing or charts in an Appendix would have been a better treatment for this, but I know that my eyes almost glazed over and I really did not follow the names much - as I said, the denseness of the information detracted from the narrative's flow. In any case, this book is so detailed and so well researched that if you have any interest at all in that period of the Southwest, or any of the events surrounding Billy the Kid or the Fort Sumner area in the early 1880's then this book belongs on your shelves. If you care about the

A story "worth knowing" (4.5 stars)

I heard plenty of Marty Robbins and Western music as a kid since it was the only music my dad really liked, and I remember listening to the sad story of "Billy the Kid," crouched next to the big old stereo cabinet while the records played. For some reason outlaws such as Billy the Kid and Jesse James (along with The Red Baron) loomed large in my childhood mind - I'm still not quite sure why. Mark Lee Gardiner tells the story of Billy the Kid (a.k.a. Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, and William Bonney) very well. He provides background on where he came from and how he became a notorious outlaw, at least as far as is reliably known, which is sketchy at best (the Marty Robbins song says Billy "at the age of 12 years he did kill his first man," but the book says he was 17). He also tells of Pat Garrett, the all-but-forgotten Sheriff, who tracked Billy down and arrested him, and later killed him after a brazen and bloody escape (the song also says the two were friends, but the book says no). In doing so Gardiner brings the Old West of New Mexico alive in a very readable way - the chapter where Garrett kills Billy was particularly exciting. I noticed another review complain that Billy is romanticized too much, but I saw it differently; that Gardiner was trying to convey how Billy was viewed by the people, some of which saw him as a hero instead of an outlaw. My only complaint would be that the text and editing is a little uneven, and in some parts (not quotations) the language is a bit colloquial and salty. Also, the book drags a little after Billy's death, and the 100 pages that continue discussing Pat Garrett's latter history could have been shorter. But these complaints are minor, and I found the book to be an excellent and fun history. (I also recommend Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West for those who enjoy this book.)

Exciting Bio of both the Kid and Garrett: Both Lives End Violently

Robert Utley has a well done book on Billy the Kid from many years ago but the author here does a great historical service in not only providing an excellent telling of the Billy the Kid saga but includes a well done on Garrett whose life ironically is ended by a gun in a very questionable and unresolved murder. The Kid, known by a number of last names, due to the questionable identity of his father, is known mostly as William Antrim (step dad) and preferably William Bonney (biological father). The Kid's life is well documented detailing his early life growing up and his early small time criminal behavior starting at a very early age along with his fascination for guns. This is a fast moving text primarily due to the Kid's short life that include, early escapes from the law, leaving Arizona after a self defense killing, getting mixed up with rustlers and eventually he is virtually adopted by one of the major players in the Lincoln County war that pits two economic rivals against each other. These were violent times in New Mexico with open warfare between the parties with the Kid's mentor getting murdered in the mix. The Kid and others survive and continue the conflict. The author does an excellent job of capturing descriptions of the Kid and Garrett based on eye witnesses and the Kid is depicted as a very likeable almost forward fellow that has as many friends as enemies. In line with the Kid's story is the story of Garrett. Garret is described as a no-nonsense, experienced fellow who cannot stand liars to the point of taking extreme action that does not serve him well in the long-term. As the author notes, New Mexico was a conflictive place, even Garrett' in-laws are sympathetic to the Kid and that pretty much exemplifies the complicated associations between what were considered criminals by some and friends by others. The detail of the adventures of the Kid, the capture by Garrett and the Kid's amazingly brazen break out that included the killing of two deputies is written in a very exciting fashion making the book a very enjoyable read. The book peaks with of course the killing of the Kid by Garrett but continues on with what happens to Garrett immediately after. His ventures are quite exciting as well, Garrett continues in law enforcement and of particular interest is Garrett's long-term investigation of a murder of a prominent attorney and his son that was never resolved. Suspects were eventually identified and pursued but you'll have to read the book to find out what happened in the end of that chapter since it is one of the most interesting parts of the book. The networking between certain legal representatives and outlaws represented the difficulties in enforcing the law in New Mexico during the 1880's to the turn of the century and for the most part, Garrett stood true. Garrett has some similarity to Wyatt Earp in that both were involved in a lot of schemes to make a major cash killing, but like Earp, Garrett never makes it big. Garre

Exciting account of a classic Old West event

Although I am by no means an expert on Billy the Kid, I have read several books about the young outlaw; and none of them exceeds Mark Lee Gardner's "To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West" in its ability to convey a sense of excitement and vivid action. In part this is because Gardner wisely focuses his story on the few months of personal confrontation between Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, the lawmen forever to be remembered as "the man who shot Billy the Kid". The two protagonists backstories are not neglected, to be sure, but it is the events between December of 1880, when Garrett undertook to arrest the Kid, and July of 1881, when they had their final, fatal encounter, where the author concentrates his narrative. The stage is shared equally between the outlaw and the lawman; neither man is portrayed as wholly evil or wholly without blemish. The years after the Kid's death are covered, too, especially the place of the dead bandit in popular culture, a position ironically secured through Pat Garrett's own book about the man and his death.