As a fairly recent resident of the state of Colorado, the title of this book is what first caught my eye. The “kings” of Colorado are 4 boys who meet at the Swope Ranch Boys’ Reformatory, located deep in the Colorado mountains, in the 1960s. A replacement for juvenile hall, Swopes is a ranch that takes in wild mustangs, tames them, then sells them for a profit. There are no walls or fences, as the rugged landscape provides a natural barrier, and anyone attempting to escape will be shot on sight. Swopes also has a reputation of changing a boy, and not necessarily for the better. Just as the boys break the horses, Swopes breaks the boys.
Will Sheppard is sent to the ranch after stabbing his father with a pocket knife while trying to protect his mother from yet another beating. He befriends three other boys, taking them into his confidence as they all look out for each other. Kings of Colorado is not for the faint of heart, the boys are all there because they committed a crime. Fights are not only common but encouraged by the guards and even the boys with the best intentions end up in bad situations. The other boys aren’t their only enemies, as the guards have their own agendas and free rein.
Often the location of a book is irrelevant but that’s not the case with Kings of Colorado. If the story were to take place on a ranch anywhere else, it would have been a different book. At 13,000 feet, it is bitter cold at night, even in the summer, the only road into the ranch is unpassable during the winter due to the feet of snow; the mountains are unforgiving. The boys who survive their time at Swopes will never be the same.
This is Hilton’s first novel, written in the stairway of his apartment building after his first son was born. The writing is imaginative, if a bit melodramatic, and this is one of those books that is hard to put down. Certain parts of the book are predictable, but other events seemingly come out of nowhere. On Hilton’s website he says he’s working on another book that features a character from Kings of Colorado, and I definitely plan to see who it is and where he goes next.
Nancy is happy to live in the foothills of the Rockies where it’s not quite so cold and snowy. She writes about her boys and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys.
Jennifer says
Love this review! I really enjoy novels that have a strong sense of place, and when you expressed interest in it, I didn’t think about the Colorado part.
Ray Heiden says
I was unwilling to finish reading this book.
Although some characters were supposed to be young teenagers, they often spoke as if they were third-year sociology students.
When they weren’t using pseudo-smart speak, they lapsed into a mishmash of period and current slang that made no sense for characters in the mid-1960s,
The blurbist who compared this to “Lord of the Flies” ought to have his author’s license revoked.