Outlaws #5

RIO GRANDE REVENGE

by Chet Cunningham

Leisure, July 1990

They were young, mean and deadly, five escaped outlaws running from the law and every bounty hunter in the West. The odds were against them ever growing old, but they vowed to stick together until the bitter end.

Thrown in jail for cutting up a gringo in a fair fight, Juan Romero rode with the Outlaws and had been with them ever since. Juan had left his wife and young son behind in Mexico, but on his return he found they were far from safe. Taken prisoner by a murderous officer of the federales called Batista, they faced certain torture and death – unless the Outlaws could drown Batista and his thugs in pools of their own blood.

This book doesn’t let up on the action as Romero searches for his family. At times it seems as if the entire story is one long gunfight. Chester Cunningham puts Romero through some heartbreaking trials as each lead turns up a blank, each time he thinks he’s found his family he finds it’s only the beginning of another trail. Romero’s frustrations come over strongly as his rage builds.

There is a major gaffe in one of the early battles, and that’s when we are told there are twelve dead littering the ground, three paragraphs later and they’ve magically become fourteen!

Still, that mistake aside, this is an entertaining enough read but be warned, if you don’t like violence directed at babies and young children do not read this.