Coalmine

as by Jack Giles

A Black Horse Western from Hale, 1987

The man folks called ‘The Hunter’ had been a mining engineer until he had been injured in a mining accident. Taking pity on him, Helga Rutger, the woman that he had jilted at the alter, found him work - supplying her father’s fashionable restaurant with fresh game. It gave him a living and some sort of pride. But then came a message that was to take him on a trail of death and double-dealing and a confrontation with the Unions and their hired guns.

Although coal mining plays a part in this story it’s only the background to a fast paced tale of intrigue, violence and great characters. Jack Giles (author Ray Foster) tells part of his story in a series of flashbacks that’ll soon have you wondering as to the true intentity of the man known as ‘The Hunter’.

None of Giles’ characters are there to make up numbers either, each has a part to play in this story of friendship, greed and revenge. The action is fast and brutal, the hired guns savagely evil.

But the part that has stayed with me the longest is the struggle one man has with how and when to tell his family he’s dying, not realizing his wife has seen the changes in him and has kept quiet to let him hang onto his dignity.

Well worth tracking down a copy.