Devil Out of Texas is a biographical saga stretching from the late 19th century to just before the millennium. In essence it covers the tale of a Jewish Texas Ranger, Aaron Raffee, and his various exploits throughout some of that time. The western story was good, full of action and, typically, included many famous characters from those times, such as Wyatt Earp, Tom Mix and John Wesley Hardin. Curiously, the author found it necessary to include fast-talking comedians, like George Burns and Jack Benny, appear in the ranger’s early life when the story-teller accompanied his grandfather to a card school in a nearby private club.
There were a couple of likable characters in the book, such as Bones, and Aaron comes across well as a strong, well-motivated lawman with an expected sense of duty and integrity. Aspects of Jewish culture and ceremony are often touched on and there is a regular reference to anti-Semitism that allows the reader to gather the complicated context within which Aaron and his family had to live. This is not to exclude the strong prejudice of the times against the native American indians, particularly the Apache and Comanche nations.
Some of the page formatting was strange and occasionally there were illogical changes of font. These could have been editing issues since I could see no narrative reasons for them. Most of the dialogue was natural in my opinion but could have held and conveyed more excitement sometimes in view of the context of the action taking place. Overall I enjoyed the book and recommend it to fans of the western genre - but with curious twists throughout the tale. I imagine that kind of impression is to be expected in book that is a combination of biographical memoir and fictional novel.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest, non-reciprocal review.