A Short Ride to Hell

By Paul Green

The Crowood Press, July 2017

When a Wells Fargo stage is robbed and all the passengers murdered, Sheriff Luke Callaghan is suspicious of Jackson Tate’s claim that this was the work of Apaches. He sets off in pursuit of Tate and his gang only to find himself battling a gun running Mexican bandit, Hector Salinas. Things go from bad to worse, and Callaghan is forced to defend his beloved town of Maxwell against attack, attempt to prove the innocence of his friend Matt Carver who is suspected of involvement in the robbery and rescue his sweetheart Christiana from kidnapping.

Black Horse Westerns aren’t long books, coming in at 160 pages, so all the elements of the story outlined above, and a few others, mean this fast moving tale is packed with action. In fact no sooner does one deadly encounter come to a conclusion than another starts. Amidst all this gunplay the author also manages to include a mystery element, as to who exactly informed Tate and his gang that the stage was carrying a valuable cargo.

Paul Green mixes a great cast of characters of bandits, Apaches, soldiers, lawmen, townsfolk and a very strong female role in the case of Christiana, that all may be who they say they are, or may not. The latter adding some surprises as truths are revealed as the story progresses. Green also has a neat twist waiting too, one that I didn’t see coming.

Having read a couple of Paul Green’s westerns previously, and enjoyed them, I had high hopes that this one would prove to be just as entertaining and it more than matched those earlier books, leaving me looking forward to reading another of his Black Horse Westerns very soon.

You'll notice a big difference in price in the two adds above, that's because one is for the hardback version and one for the ebook.