Thursday 4 December 2008

Lone Star #20

LONE STAR ON THE DEVIL’S TRAIL
as by Wesley Ellis
Jove, April 1984

Driving two thousand head of cattle from the Starbuck ranch in Texas all the way to Dodge City is no easy task, but a flood that’s put the railroad out of commission leaves Jessie and Ki with no choice. Drought, prairie fires, renegade Indians, and even an attack by a panther are just part of the job…a killer who’s determined to see Jessie dead is something else entirely!

This is an easy to read and well written book that moves along at a cracking pace and, although it offers little new in cattle drive stories, has some exciting moments along the way, such as Jessie and her horse battling a family of wolves.

Wesley Ellis – in this case William C. Knott – builds his story through incident after incident until the final savage showdown between the killer, Jessie and Ki. In fact Ki has little to do in this story until this last fight.

The obligatory sex scenes almost come across as padding as neither have much to do with the trail drive or assassination plots of the story.

All in all a pretty straightforward tale that’s good enough to satisfy readers looking for a bit of escapism and light entertainment.

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