RIO DIABLO

By Gordon D. Shirreffs

Wolfpack Publishing, May 2022

Originally published by Ace Books, July 1977

After his friend and fellow Ranger, Bass Burnett is killed, Vic Jamison reluctantly re-joins the Arizona Rangers as an undercover agent. His mission —to clean up the savage Rio Diablo country— a job that the army had given up on ten years ago.

In a stubborn battle against cruel elements and even crueler men, he soon comes to realize why so many men died in pursuit of the same goal. . . and why his chances of survival are no better.

From the opening scenes I was easily pulled into this gritty story. Vic Jamison makes for an engaging character who has to battle men and nature in his struggle to find out just who is behind the killing of his friend, and others. Not only that, there is the question of why?

Jamison soon rescues a girl from a raging flash flood and an attraction to each other follows quickly. Jamison rides away though, to join up with Deborah’s enemies. This doesn’t go down too well with her and her father. Jamison hasn’t told them, or anyone else, his true purpose for being in the Diablo Mountains or even his real name. As the odds rise against Jamison, I began to question whether he’d be successful in his mission, never mind win the heart of the girl.

There is plenty of tough action that is hard-hitting in its description. Shirreffs is also very good at describing locations, the harsh unforgiving mountains and canyons coming over as dangerous as any man. 

Jamison stands up for himself, even when the odds are against him, or when he’d be better off keeping quiet. This alienates him against those he’s trying to gain the trust of and places him in some deadly situations. Everything builds to an exciting and brutal showdown that made me wonder if Jamison would survive the final gunfight.

Does Jamison live? Does he ride off into the sunset with the girl? I’m not going to answer those questions here. All I will say is I’m sure western fans will enjoying finding out for themselves. 

I own a lot of Gordon D. Shirreffs' books, but for some reason haven’t read many of them. Each time I do read one I have to wonder why I don’t read his work more often as he sure knows how to spin a great yarn.

As you will see from the cover art above, Wolfpack Publishing have just released Rio Diablo in a double book also containing The Proud Gun as they continue to republish Gordon D. Shirreffs' back catalogue. 

Ride the Long Night

By E.A. Alman

Ace Books, 1960

Originally published by The Macmillan Company, 1959

His name was Will Storm and he was getting to be a legend in the West. He wasn’t more than 27 years old, but his hair was completely white and he had a lifetime’s worth of hate stored up in him. He had sworn to would not rest until his gun caught up with three people:

 . . . the sweetheart who betrayed him,

. . . the treacherous saddle-partner who helped her railroad him to prison,

. . . the corrupt prison warden who tortured him for five bitter years.

It was a long rail that he rode – a long and violent trail – but it had an ending none would forget.

E.A. Alman is an author I wasn’t familiar with, and a google search doesn’t bring up anything other than this book. This publication contains a number of quotes from reviews declaring how good this story is, one stating ‘Alman promises to be one of the more stimulating writers of Western fiction, and this book should have wide appeal.’ Another says ‘One of the best westerns to come along in some time.’

The story starts well, and portrays Storm as a desperate man drive by his self-imposed mission to kill those who wronged him. Storm is hurt, being pursued by a posse. He’s saved by a young woman who lives alone, who’s a man-hater. A woman many see as crazy. She see’s opportunity in Storm and decides to help him heal and hide him from the posse. In exchange he must marry her, that’s all, he can then go on his way once she has his last name. Why is that so important to her? That is something you’ll have to find out for yourself by reading the book.

During Storm’s recovery we are introduced to two other major players, a man referred to as the Preacher – that is his trade but is there more to him than that? The second person is a lawman determined to see Storm back behind bars. As their lives become entwined the plot becomes more complicated and the suspense mounts.

At times this story is quite brutal, definitely has a hard-boiled appeal to it. Storm does do something that not all readers will approve of, but I can’t say more without spoiling a major element of the book. 

During this tale Storm helps some children find their parents and this part of the story seems to lose the dark edge of the rest of the book and a different side of Storm is revealed. Although this section of the story is important to how the plot develops, I did find the pace eased off a little here and lost its grittiness that I'd been appreciating. Once this story-thread had been resolved then the toughness returned and my enjoyment rose again and I was eager to see how the story ended.

With his vengeance hunt over, and maybe not how you’d expect, Storm has to face a new demon in the woman he married. Would she kill him on sight? She was certainly full of hate for him and had promised to do so, something Storm was resigned to. The prospect of his death at her hands certainly doesn’t stop him returning to her to hand her the gun with which to take his life. Perhaps his death is the only way to conclude his life, something he welcomes?

Overall, this was a very satisfactory read and it does make me wonder why Alman never wrote anymore westerns.

Ride the Long Night is part of an Ace Double book, paired with Gordon D. Shirreffs Apache Butte.

Apache Butte

By Gordon D. Shirreffs

Ace Books, 1960

The towering butte stood like the symbol of death, and Ken Driscoll rode right into the rocky bastion in the pursuit of his prey.

Loco and his Apaches were on a bloody warpath. The killing and ravaging would continue until Ken could find the men who were supplying the contraband whiskey that was driving the Indians to their deadly orgies.

Outnumbered by both savage red men and renegade white men, further burdened by the necessity of having to find legal proof, Ken knew that his chances of succeeding were about a thousand to one and his chances of surviving about a million to one. But high as the odds were, Ken was just that one man in a million who might dam the tidal wave of slaughter and live to tell.

Tough, gritty and at times brutal this fast paced story gripped from the very beginning, which sees Driscoll trying to avoid the Apaches and discovering a wandering little girl whilst doing so. Sadly, he has to kill her puppy to stop it yapping and giving their position away and this unfortunate act will have a part to play later in the tale.

It isn’t long before Driscoll is the unwanted guest of a group of hardcases and then their prisoner when a man from his past shows up. There are women too, as sensuous as the men are dangerous. Mistrust and double-cross become themes of the plot as Loco and his Apaches seem to keep Driscoll and his companions trapped in a ranch. There are questions about why Driscoll is here and his past, what is it he is really after?

Before the end Driscoll and a handful of men and women must take the fight to a much larger band of Apaches that are camped out on the top of the mesa, a monument of rock with only one trail up that is easy to defend. How they scale the heights provides some extremely suspenseful reading and as the death toll rises, I began to wonder if Driscoll, or any other person, would be alive by the end.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a story by Gordon D. Shirreffs, his sparce, hard-hitting writing style makes for a fast read and I found it to be an enjoyable book. I wasn’t quite convinced by the sudden attraction between Driscoll and one of the women – they hadn’t really had any interaction with each other and then they were kissing – but the rest of the tale more than made up for that.

Apache Butte is a short story, it comes in at 113 pages in this Ace Double Novel. It’s paired with the slightly longer Ride the Long Night by E.A. Alman, an author I’m unfamiliar with, so I’m looking forward to reading that very soon. 

Ambush on the Mesa

 by Gordon D. Shirreffs

Gold Medal, 1957

A regiment was needed but they sent only one man, Hugh Kinzie, scout for the United States Army. Hugh saddled his dun and rode west. He found the party of men and women ambushed by Red Sleeves, the maniacal chief who hated the white man more than he feared death itself. Now Hugh was trapped with those he’d come to save…and it looked like there was no escape.

Gordon D. Shirreffs writes fast moving, tough prose, and in this case presents the reader with a group of hard to like characters, yet his superb storytelling will have you reading on to see if any of the trapped party can survive.

Although the Apaches hardly appear in the story, except briefly at the end, it’s the ever present threat they pose that that had me hooked. Shirreffs creates an almost palpable tension, and fear, amoung his hemmed in group of soldiers and civilians, that makes for gripping reading as their number is whittled down one by one.

Although Kinzie is the main character, Shirreffs spends almost as much time telling you what the other people are doing and feeling. These parts of the book told in a series of short paragraphs that move from character to character until each has been written about. This way Shirreffs is able to further complicate the tale as each person plots ways in which to escape the trap.

There’s plenty of action as the book leads to its exciting conclusion that left me eager to try more of Gordon D. Shirreffs’ work.