Slocum #107

SIXGUNS AT SILVERADO
as by Jake Logan
Berkley, November 1987

Guns and fear ruled Silverado. The miners that couldn’t be scared into handing over their claims died quick. ‘Cause one man, drunk with greed, would keep on killing until he owned it all. But Slocum aims to see justice done, even if it means looking down the gun barrels of a hired army. And in a mining town set to explode, Slocum’s just the man to light the fuse…

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Slocum book and I picked this one out due to having a note that Jake Logan, in this case, is Jory Sherman. There are certainly many poetic descriptions throughout the fast moving story that would indicate that he did indeed write the book.

In fact it was these portrayals of landscape and weather that provided the most memorable strengths of the story. The opening scenes of Slocum struggling for survival in a blizzard painted some vivid imagery in my mind and had me shivering along with him.

Even though the bad guys are known from the beginning, the author keeps the reader guessing as to how Slocum would finally win the day. Many of the gunfights take place out in the snow and this adds its own dangers to that of flying bullets. There’s also an excellent method of escape, when Slocum is trying to reach Silverado after leaving a cave, that stands out as I can’t remember reading anything like it in any other western.

I’ve read quite a few Slocum books and they’ve fallen into the good, the bad and the downright ugly categories with ease. Sixguns at Silverado is filled with exciting confrontations, tough characters and situations, there’s not as much sex as I expected from an adult western published in the 1980’s, so this entry into the series definitely makes it into the top category.