Review of The Lost Years of Billy Battles
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Eliza Makau
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Review of The Lost Years of Billy Battles
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Lost Years of Billy Battles" by Ronald E. Yates.]
The lost years of Billy Battles was authored by Ted Sayles (Billy’s great-grandson.) It revolves around the life of Billy Battles who seems to be followed by tragedy since childhood. At the age of nineteen, he and his companions kill Sara Bledsoe and his two sons and bury them at his family’s homestead in Western Kansas. In 1894, tragedy strikes again and his first wife Mallie dies of Influenza leaving behind a four-year-old daughter (Anna Marie.)
Out of desperation, he moves to the Far East leaving his daughter under the care of his mother. He marries a second wife the former Baroness Katharina Von Schreiber. When he receives a telephone call from a former friend, Funston, life completely changes and the life of escapades begins again. The two find themselves In Mexico at the height of a revolution. They meet German spies like Jahnke and Geissler, Mexico revolutionaries like Carranza, Villa, and Zapata, all this time acting as Liasons for the American Government. They manage to move back to Chicago before their identity gets known. After the burial of Billy’s mother, they decide to make visits to old friends and relatives. When they get an invitation from Breisacher to spend a week at Lake Geneva, it’s here where tragedy strikes again. They get attacked by the Bledsoe’s and their gang. Breisacher and his guard get killed and Katharina is kidnapped, they threaten her until she dies of a heart attack at the German Hospital. Read this book and see how Billy takes vengeance.
To escape this gang he moves to Manila where he remarries Estella whom they beget twin daughters Marta and Rosa. After thirty- four years, he reunites with her first daughter (Anne Marie.) Read this story and see the reaction between the three daughters when they eventually meet.
The suspense in this story keeps the reader yearning to keep reading. Most of Billy's assignments with Funston are undertaken in very risky environments. In some instances, the author instills fear and anxiety leaving the reader wondering what the outcome would be.
There were a few typos and spelling mistakes, the author also factored in, the vernacular of the time, German and Spanish were also used occasionally making the flow of the story a bit difficult.
Other than the above issues there was nothing I disliked in particular, there was no use of profane language, neither was it religious biased, the story was unique and suspenseful. I therefore, advocate it for young adults and rate it three out of four stars.
******
The Lost Years of Billy Battles
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The lost years of Billy Battles was authored by Ted Sayles (Billy’s great-grandson.) It revolves around the life of Billy Battles who seems to be followed by tragedy since childhood. At the age of nineteen, he and his companions kill Sara Bledsoe and his two sons and bury them at his family’s homestead in Western Kansas. In 1894, tragedy strikes again and his first wife Mallie dies of Influenza leaving behind a four-year-old daughter (Anna Marie.)
Out of desperation, he moves to the Far East leaving his daughter under the care of his mother. He marries a second wife the former Baroness Katharina Von Schreiber. When he receives a telephone call from a former friend, Funston, life completely changes and the life of escapades begins again. The two find themselves In Mexico at the height of a revolution. They meet German spies like Jahnke and Geissler, Mexico revolutionaries like Carranza, Villa, and Zapata, all this time acting as Liasons for the American Government. They manage to move back to Chicago before their identity gets known. After the burial of Billy’s mother, they decide to make visits to old friends and relatives. When they get an invitation from Breisacher to spend a week at Lake Geneva, it’s here where tragedy strikes again. They get attacked by the Bledsoe’s and their gang. Breisacher and his guard get killed and Katharina is kidnapped, they threaten her until she dies of a heart attack at the German Hospital. Read this book and see how Billy takes vengeance.
To escape this gang he moves to Manila where he remarries Estella whom they beget twin daughters Marta and Rosa. After thirty- four years, he reunites with her first daughter (Anne Marie.) Read this story and see the reaction between the three daughters when they eventually meet.
The suspense in this story keeps the reader yearning to keep reading. Most of Billy's assignments with Funston are undertaken in very risky environments. In some instances, the author instills fear and anxiety leaving the reader wondering what the outcome would be.
There were a few typos and spelling mistakes, the author also factored in, the vernacular of the time, German and Spanish were also used occasionally making the flow of the story a bit difficult.
Other than the above issues there was nothing I disliked in particular, there was no use of profane language, neither was it religious biased, the story was unique and suspenseful. I therefore, advocate it for young adults and rate it three out of four stars.
******
The Lost Years of Billy Battles
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Ironing by Navajo
