Epeolatry Book Review: Iron Star by Loren D. Estleman

“I’m thinking leave the thinking to the enemy.”  –Irons St. John, Iron Star

Regarding this review, my “enemy”, as such, might be my own thinks-a-lot brain. I felt like I had to prepare in order to write this review, as I am not well read in the Western genre. In terms of outlaws, I’ve always been more drawn to the rogues who set sail on the high seas over those who galloped around on land.

Therefore, I used a reference from the author’s afterword about revisionist Westerns as my jumping-off point for my research. Yes, as a historian (however much I’ve let it fall by the wayside as of late), I am familiar with revisionist history, and I could speculate what comprised a revisionist Western. Still, I never shy away from any opportunity to conduct a deep-dive research, so off I went!

Hours later, and after a few skimming re-reads of Iron Star, I emerged from my academic-ish rabbit hole, armed to wrangle up this review. So begins the journey.

Having said that I’m not well read with Westerns, it’s worth knowing that I grew up with parents who were devotees of the genre. (Go ahead, ask me how…many…frickin’…times I heard the “Shane, come back!” reference growing up.) It wasn’t really a surprise when they traded their tropical locale for the high desert of New Mexico. What was more of a surprise was when the thespian family member, a staunch, longtime stage actor, took advantage of the film industry in New Mexico to become an extra on productions like the Lone Ranger, the Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and Godless.

I mention this not to include a “shameless plug” as the contemporary saying goes, but to highlight the exact personal association to the world of stage and screen that enlivened this read, since one of the main characters (Rawlings) is approached by a Hollywood actor-slash-scout about adapting his nonfiction work—writings that record his personal association with the controversial lawman Irons St. Johns.

Iron Star not only explores the changing world of the Wild West through the eyes of its key characters, Emmet Rawlings and Irons St. Johns, but the shifting mores of the Hollywood film industry and the overall censorship it faced in the United States. I had an inkling that the current-time portions of the book took place in the United States in between the First Red Scare and the Second Red Scare. Still, I was horribly uninformed about the Hays Code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code) so, I also undertook a cursory research of the time-frame’s historical events—mainly so I could be on the same page with the author in terms of the story’s background.

I think this historical-based crossover with the world of the silver screen is what really sold me on Iron Star. The book’s secondary hook was the “on location” settings, as I’ve not only lived in New Mexico recently, but also spent some time in a couple of locations in Kansas. While I liked the more intimate details of the scene setting with the different towns and hotels the character(s) travelled through, I wish more of the desert’s and plains’ natural settings were included in this author’s tale-telling. But is that tiny detail more characteristic of traditional Westerns over revisionist Westerns? I have no idea, but I do know that, in the end, if you’re a fan of Westerns (like pretty much most of my family), you’ll love this rough-and-tumble adventure.

/5

Available from: Macmillan, Loren D. Estleman,  Amazon, and Bookshop!