The Escort by René Goscinny
Why read the book?
Four years after their first clash left Billy with a prison sentence of well over a thousand years, Luke is handed the thankless job of delivering him to a New Mexico court. The journey becomes a long contest of nerve, with Billy frightening townsfolk out of their valuables simply by being himself.
The twist is geography. Once Billy crosses from Texas into New Mexico, nobody has heard of him, and people treat him as the ill-mannered teenager he plainly is. He keeps trying to bolt, helped badly by the bungling felon Bert Malloy, while Luke and Jolly Jumper press on.
Favourite quote
You can run, Billy, but you are still walking to that courtroom.
What I Loved
The road-trip shape gives the gags a steady rhythm, escape after failed escape, each one funnier than the last.
Best of all is the joke about reputation: the dreaded outlaw deflating into a rude boy the moment he leaves the state where his name means anything. It is sly and very well observed.
Key Takeaway
A reputation only works where people have heard of you, and Billy crosses one border too many.
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