Bad Ol’ Boy

Miles's latest installment (after The Devil and Uncle Will ) of the life and times of Will Johnson, aka Will Cotton and Jesse Robinson, takes place on the rogue's deathbed as he regales his nephew Gene, the one relative not looking forward to his death, with stories of his past, of his recurring nightmares and of the treasure he has hidden in his old home just down the road. Gene, naive and well-intentioned, listens to his uncle's tales of murder and derring-do while also trying to retrieve the old man's loot without tipping off the rest of the family. Gene's story is quickly subsumed by Will's tall tales, whose telling is inspired, perhaps misguidedly, by Will's belief that confession will save his soul. The stories he tells are certainly damning: how he robbed a preacher's bank and, while in the preacher's home, seduced his daughter and then accused the preacher himself of sleeping with her; how he murdered the great detective, G. B. Balls; how he misled a sweet young girl into marrying him; and how, after leaving that wife, he tangled with Fanny Hawk, a part-Native American carnival whore in whom he finally met his match. Miles presents Will as much more of a lovable rapscallion than even the most charitable reader may wish to concede; Will's evil deeds, though entertaining, cause terrible harm to innocent people. Still, the novel captures the spirit of frontier adventure fiction in a contemporary setting and should intrigue fans of the American picaresque. (Oct.)