Killstraight

Johnny Boggs is one our times' best novelists, and Killstraight is just another notch in his literary gunbelt! Daniel Killstraight is a Commanch, who, upon his return from the Carlisle school is called upon to make a choice. Commanch, or White Eyes! Layered inbetween his struggle is life on the frontier with reservation life in a state of flux. His duties as a Metal Shirt take him from burning garbage to chasing whiskey runners, and finally to a murder investigation that unfolds slowly. Vignettes of life as a reservation Indian, and those who transition to white eyes society are very interesting and touching. I love the ending, which I won't give away, that finally decides his identity and life purpose. Boggs shows a good understanding of the residential school system and planned efforts to introduce civilization to the reservations. His portrayal of the inner conflicts, and outer action is outstanding. You may not want to be Daniel Killstraight (especially after 3 murder attempts), but you want him to be right, and more importantly, you want to cheer for him as he fights for the Commanch way in the 1880's. Only a skilled author can make you cheer. Yeehah! Tim Lasiuta

That name belonged to his father before him, but at the Indian School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he became known as Daniel Killstraight. Leaving the school he was a cross mixture of Comanche and 'pale eyes', while hating most of the forced education of the white man, but not feeling part of his people, those Comanches on the reservation. But back 'home' to the reservation he must go in attempt to relink with his past and people. Some homecoming: he steps right into a double murder, arriving just in time to see one of his friends sentenced and hanged for the crime. As the story moves along Killstraight is asked to prove that his friend was innocent of this crime, in the process becoming himself a 'metal shirt' or badge wearer of the reservation Indian police. Daniel Killstraight, very much an unsure, divided man, must return to the 1890's Oklahoma world of the reservation Comanche to become one with his people. In doing so not only must he deal with the fate of his childhood friend, Jimmy Comes Last, but he must also deal with the poverty, drunkeness, and crooked Indian agents present on the reservation. Folded into the narrative are historical people such as Quanah Parker of the Star house, the Hanging Judge of Fort Smith, and Senator Henry L. Dawes, as well as other historical people and events too. While this isn't the best book I've read by Mr. Boggs, hard to beat the straight forward PURGATOIRE (2003) of a few years back, this book will hold the reader's attention while Mr. Boggs must be complimented for bringing legend and lore of the Comanche to our attention. A very worthwhile read from one of our better contemporary writers of the bygone west. Semper Fi.

I had great fun reading this book that is the story of an early "Metal Shirt, police" Daniel Killstraight. Killstraight returns to the Comanche reservation from the Carlisle Industrial School where he was taught to be a white man. Problem is, he's not. He arrives home just in time to see his boyhood friend executed at Fort Sill for the murder of a squaw man and his family. Killstraight promises to to find out what really happened and the way he does this is what makes the book a good read. Like the Navajo police in Tony Hillerman's novels, Killstraight uses his knowledge of Comanche culture and custom to reveal the truth. A great way for readers to learn more about American Indian culture.