Not a Hope in Hell

By Hank J. Kirby
Hale, December 2012

They said he was a trigger-happy sheriff, but when the bad boys came to town nobody complained when he cut loose with his guns.

Until the day when two elderly folk are killed during a shoot-out, forcing the sheriff to get out of town and find a new place to make a living. But when things don’t work out as planned: the only place to go is back to Texas, where the wanted dodgers await, along with a whole crowd of enemies….

Hank J. Kirby is one of the pseudonyms used by Keith Hetherington, a writer who has fast become one of my favourite western authors. Each book of his I’ve read has left me eagerly waiting for his next and this story continues that desire.

Not a Hope in Hell is filled with great characters and has a hero that doesn’t come out of gunfights and fistfights unscathed, in fact for most of the book Clay Emory is walking wounded.

The plot at first seems fairly straight-forward but it isn’t long before there’s questions that need answers and then the story moves through a couple of twists and turns and the reader is left wondering just which side of the law Emory now works on. Of course everything is eventually explained and resolved in a spectacular gunfight.

I’ve been a bit vague with the plot on purpose so as not to give anything away and spoil the storyline for those intending to read this book. I’ll finish by saying if you have yet to try any of Keith Hetherington’s work then this could well be the perfect place to start.

Not a Hope in Hell is officially released on December 30th, but is available now.