Gunpoint is a town on edge. Five men are found dead outside a line shack, cut down with brutal precision. Whispers spread fast, and one name keeps surfacing: Mort Totten, a legendary gunfighter with a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty on his head. As killers flood the territory looking to collect, Marshal Lin Cannon is tasked with keeping Gunpoint from tearing itself apart. He's faced down outlaws before, but Totten isn't like the others. He doesn't miss. And he doesn't leave witnesses.
Meanwhile, two relentless lawmen are closing in from another direction, following a trail of blood, lies, and betrayal that leads straight to Gunpoint and straight toward an inevitable collision.
As private bounties, corrupt power brokers, and old vendettas converge, the line between lawman and gunman begins to blur. In a land where justice is often decided at the muzzle of a revolver, every man must choose what he's willing to kill and die for.
Gunpoint is the much-anticipated sequel to The Killers of Yellow Rock, a novel that I great enjoyed, a book that left me wanting more. You don’t have to have read that first story to appreciate this one as the author gives you all the backstory you need to understand what has gone before.
Dixon and Totten have gone their separate ways, with the former now wearing a lawman’s badge. Trouble is there’s a massive bounty on both their heads. Dixon needs to put an end to this, so rides to find Totten to see if he’ll help approach the person who has put up the bounty and get it removed as the constant strain of being on edge and having to face an almost endless stream of people wanting to try for the life-changing bounties is taking its toll on body and health.
Finally meeting up outside the town of Gunpoint they find themselves swept up in the death struggles that are taking place within that community that seem to revolve around Marshal Lin Cannon and his brother. Cannon has a reputation as a town tamer but soon pure hatred will drive his actions, not the law.
Like with the first book, I am keeping my descriptions of the plot vague so as not to spoil the many surprises this very fast-moving tale offers. It’s a gritty read full of lightning-fast gunmen who get to display their talents often. There are difficult choices to be made, especially for Dixon when he’s asked to forget he’s a lawman and become a gunman and help kill some men. This challenges his code of honour. Can he be both?
Pintabona kept my attention easily with plenty of what-will-happen-next situations all taking place under clouds of gunsmoke. His action scenes are edge-of-the-seat stuff and come thick and fast, all being extremely well described. The final showdown during a thunderstorm will stay in my memory for a long time.
The final two words end with a question mark. One I need an answer to. It doesn’t mean the story doesn’t come to a conclusion because it certainly does, but it also implies there could well be a third book on the way. For me, that can’t come fast enough.
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