The Second Coming of Jesse James

Herder celebrates a Depression-era scoundrel in a tale that’s equally delightful and haunting. Jack Carpenter quickly matures from farm boy to rakish moonshiner. His days are spent chasing women and smuggling whiskey through Newkonska County, Mo. Jack relies on luck and charm to get by, but his luck runs out when a brush with the law lands him in jail and his girl marries his best friend. With his family’s farm lost to the bank, and nothing else to live for, Jack teams up with his friend from jail, Reverend Rattles, once they are out, to begin a bank-robbing crusade against the “vested interests” across America that will turn Jack “Jesse James” Carpenter into the people’s hero, a wanted felon, and eventually, a dead man. Jack is filled with a ceaseless stubbornness and the kind of commitment to bad ideas that makes for rollicking fun. Herder’s humor gradually gives way to the bloody end apparent from the start. This is smart, heartfelt, and rambunctious from start to finish. [em](BookLife) [/em]