Pat Garrett, Lincoln County New Mexico’s recently recruited sheriff, accomplished what many believed would be a death sentence: He captured and jailed for months the fast-gunning, slippery escape artist known as Billy the Kid.

To Hell on a Fast Horse is a historical account, a dual biography of sorts, that depicts the intertwined lives of the Kid and Garrett. Gardner’s narrative deftly weaves the tales of both men, and takes the reader on one of the greatest adventures in Western history.

The Kid can’t help but take center stage, though, and his transition from school-aged boy (originally named Henry Antrim) to one of the Wild West’s most formidable outlaws is riveting.

William H. Bonney, a.k.a. Billy the Kid, was a convicted murderer, but the reader cannot help but feel pity for him as his execution date nears. The Kid’s occasionally heroic yet always rough-and-tumble ways spawned intrigue and popularity in his day. The public was enthralled by this violent vigelante. As Gardner puts it, “Bonney had a charm or magnetism that was irresistible to the ladies; they wanted to mother him or take him for a roll in the hay.”

Pity for the Kid quickly wears off as the book progresses and he guns down his captors and escapes jail. This escape, however, would be the Kid’s last, as Garrett successfully tracks him down, fatally wounding him and ending the West’s most enthralling game of cat and mouse.

Gardner’s extensive research, along with his use of historic photographs, makes this a must-read for Western history buffs. It’s also simply a well-written tale of adventure and a sordid human saga.