OUTLAW DESTINY

 

OUTLAW DESTINY
a.k.a THE LAST DAYS OF WOLF GARNETT
By Clifton Adams
Tandem, 1975
Spur Award Winner for Best Western Novel, 1970

To most Texans, Wolf Garnett was a notorious outlaw, a man to be feared. To Frank Gault, he was a relentless obsession, a man to be killed. Gault had spent more than a year tracking him down to avenge the brutal, senseless murder of his young wife.

And now Wolf Garnett was dead. At least, everyone said so. But Gault wasn’t satisfied. How could he have seen Garnett in Indian territory four days earlier if he’d been dead for two weeks? Was the rotting corpse buried in New Boston Cemetery really that of Garnett?

Whether for revenge, justice, or satisfaction, Frank Gault was driven to find out how Wolf Garnett died – or get killed for trying.

In Frank Gault, Clifton Adams created a character that had nothing else to live for but tracking down Wolf Garnett. Even when all the evidence points to Garnett being dead, Gault has to continue with his fixation on being satisfied that what everyone tells him is true as he has no purpose for carrying on, for living. Garnett is a driven man, a man who won’t let anyone or anything stop him finding out the truth.

Adams’ tells a gritty tale that is infused with darkness. His characters are tough men who only seem to care about their own needs. There’s a woman too. Beautiful. A woman who just about every man is in love with. Does she know what has really happened to her brother Wolf Garnett? 

As the story progresses, Gault’s queries lead to more questions not answers. More characters are introduced, all reluctant to speak of what they know. People die and Gault is still at a loss and the mystery behind Wolf Garnett deepens.

Adams’ superb storytelling easily pulled me into this book. His harsh, bleak prose gripped me instantly and its hook never let go. There’s a noir tone throughout and the story seems to be heading for an unhappy ending for all his characters. Is Gault riding a trail of self-destruction? 

This book won a Spur Award for best Western Novel and it is easy to see why. It’s powerful characterizations and twisting plot will stay in my memory for a long time and make this a book I’d recommend to any western reader. This was Adams’ second Spur Award as he had already won one the previous year for his novel Tragg’s Choice which I have yet to read. I’ve now moved Tragg’s Choice towards the top of my to read pile. 

This book was originally published in America as The Last Days of Wolf Garnett in 1970. In 1972 it was published in the U.K. by Robert Hale under the title Outlaw Destiny and Tandem ran with that title too. 

THE JURY ON SMOKY HILL

THE JURY ON SMOKY HILL

By Jack Curtis

Cover art by Lino Saffioti

Pocket Books, February 1992

Sheriff Dave Cromwell was chosen to stop the gun-happy, liquor-fuelled Texas cowboys who were tearing up Ellsworth, Kansas. But when the good and proper townspeople reached the end of their patience, they decided to take the law into their own hands.

Dave had four prisoners in his jail when the men with white sacks over their heads came bursting in. A few hours later the four captives were hanging from the railroad trestle just outside of town. Knowing each of the twelve “jurors,” Dave turned in his badge. But the killings would not leave him alone.

One by one, the members of Ellsworth’s hanging party began dying. Dave Cromwell thought the executioners were getting pretty much what they deserved. The trouble was, now no one was safe in Ellsworth. Not until the cycle of vengeance was stopped… 

It's been a long, long time since I last read a book by Jack Curtis, an author who wrote for a variety of television series including Big Valley, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman, and Zane Grey Theater. Why it’s taken so long to get around to reading him again I can’t say, especially when I really enjoyed the previous book I read by him, Texas Rules. Curtis put out both stand-alone titles and a five-book series about a man called Sam Benbow. Jack Curtis is a pseudonym used by author David Harsent.

The Jury on Smoky Hill is a fast-moving story that blends western and murder/mystery seamlessly. There is very little gunplay but there are plenty of killings. Most of the deaths take place off-screen but by doing this the author doesn’t give any clue as to who is murdering the hanging party. Those so-called jurors begin to point the finger of accusation at Cromwell who is trying to get a ranch up and running after handing in his badge. A gunfighter brought in as Ellsworth new lawman seems quite happy to take orders from the men behind the hangings. The main strengths of this tale come from the author’s ability to create a suspenseful storyline, tension in his characters and anticipation within his readers as we await the next death. Who will it be? Will the vengeance seeking killer succeed in taking out all the hanging party?

Even though the author doesn’t name his killer until the final scenes are ready to be played out, most readers shouldn’t have any difficulty working out who it is. This doesn’t ruin anything though, as you’ll still want to discover if this person kills all his targets or gets stopped before doing so.

The end of the book didn’t quite turn out as I expected as the author had a neat little twist waiting, one that finished the story in the best way possible for me. 

Hopefully, it won’t take anywhere near as long before I pick up another Jack Curtis book as it did between this and my previous Curtis book. 

HELL PASS

 

HELL PASS
By Lance Howard
Cover art by Sebastià Boada
Linford Edition, 2008
First published by Robert Hale, April 2007 as A Black Horse Western

The circus comes to the town of Angel Pass, but does it bring simple pleasure for the hard-working cowboys and wide-eyed children of the community – or something more sinister?

Fresh from a mission to discover the fate of his lovely partner’s long-lost brother and faced with a series of bizarre kidnappings and jewel robberies, ex-manhunter Hannigan endeavours to find out. But will the secrets of the past prove more disturbing than the revelations of the present?

This is the fifth book of seven that Lance Howard wrote about Jim Hannigan. You don’t need to have read any of the others to get full-enjoyment out of this one as it reads like a stand-alone novel. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t any mention of Hannigan’s previous adventures. 

Lance Howard fills this book with fascinating characters – how could you not when having the plot revolve around a circus that sees dwarves, snake dancers, strong men, fortune tellers and more play important roles in the story. A circus into which Hannigan’s partner, Angela del Pelado, will go undercover to try and find trace of the stolen children.

The story contains a flash-back to Angela’s life as a small child going fishing with her brother, Alejandro. It is he who goes missing later. After Angela and Hannigan try to find him, Angela gives up on the hope of ever seeing him again. But we, as readers, know what happened to him and one of the gripping storylines this book contains is wanting to know how Angela will react when she finally comes face to face with him.

Another story-thread that hooked me was the mystery of the missing children. Where were they? Why were they being stolen? 

Although Hannigan is billed as the main character it is Angela who seems to have the larger role in this fast-moving tale. Her need to find her brother. Her desire to be more than a partner in righting wrongs with Hannigan, she wants to be his lover. These, and more, are main features of the plot, as is the horror she will surely have to face by the end of the book.

Howard’s writing is smooth-flowing and easy to read. His plot moves forward at an ever-increasing pace. There’s plenty of action that includes gunplay and assassination attempts. There’s emotional turmoil that makes you share his characters feelings. There are different storylines that are on a collision course, and when everything comes together Howard brings it all to a satisfying conclusion. 

Lance Howard is a pseudonym used by Howard Hopkins, an author whose work I’ve always enjoyed. Hell Pass proved to be another very entertaining read which left me wondering why I’ve left it so long since I last read a book by him.