THE CAREY GUN

 

THE CAREY GUN

By Irving A. Greenfield

Cover art by Mike Cole

Tandem, 1975

Originally published by Dell, 1974

When Thomas Carey was mustered out of the Confederate Army, he stripped off his uniform but he kept his gun. He would need it where he was going, for ten men had sworn to kill him, then men whom he had last seen in a Yankee prison.

He would need it, too, when he returned to claim the Texas spread he had left five long bloody years before, and the wife who loved and hated him. The land-grabbers and rustlers who had moved in while he was gone had had plenty of time to forget what kind of man Carey was. Now they were going to remember, just as fast as it took Carey’s Colt .45 to clear leather . . . 

In this, the third Carey book, we learn that after taking time-out from the war Carey had returned to continue the fight. This story begins near the end of the Civil War, with Carey involved in the attack on Fort Stedman, also known as the battle for Hare’s Hill, on March 25th, 1865. It’s just before the Confederates attack that Carey learns of the ten men who want to kill him, one of whom is taking part in the battle alongside him. I found this part of the book to be the most exciting as after Lee surrenders the Confederacy the pace of the story slowed quite a lot. 

A promise to a dying Union soldier sees Carey agreeing to deliver news of the man’s death to his sister. On the way Carey decides to visit a woman he’d met in the previous book only to find her dead and discover that he is now a father. Carey takes the baby and the child’s grandfather with him as he heads for home. The fact that the grandfather is black and the baby a half-cast will cause even more problems for Carey, not least whether his wife will want to look after a coloured baby. Then there’s the men wanting his spread that they plan to buy or take with the gun.

Quite a few storylines in this book began in the previous two novels. Even though the author gives brief outlines to what has gone before I think it might be advantageous to read those earlier books before this one. 

Irving A. Greenfield’s prose is very readable, and even though his hero Thomas Carey isn’t a particularly likeable protagonist you will want to know what happens to him. The story is quite dark in tone and the violence fairly brutal in its description. 

The story meandered a bit too much to me though. Once Carey had left the army it seemed to take a long time for anything to happen. When it did, it was exciting enough to keep me reading. I also thought a couple of story threads had been forgotten, but they did rear their ugly heads towards the end even though they didn’t conclude. This makes me wonder if Greenfield had planned to write more books in this series which just didn’t happen for whatever reason. A shame really, as this makes The Carey Gun a weak ending to the trilogy. Overall, I enjoyed the three Carey books, it’s just somewhat disappointing that too many plotlines were left hanging.  

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

CAREY'S VENGEANCE

CAREY’S VENGEANCE

By Irving A. Greenfield

Cover art by Mike Cole

Tandem, 1973 – reprinted April 1975

Originally published by Dell, 1972

Thomas Carey had come a long way for this moment. For nearly a year he had struggled through a ravaged land, his faith in the gun slung low on his hip, and his only passion the revenge that burned in his heart. The tall, lean hard-bitten Texan had shot his way out of prison camp. Ridden with Quantrill’s Raiders as they fought and raped and plundered. Blazed his vengeance trail through a thousand miles of countryside where every man was his enemy.

Carey’s body was scarred, his brain hot with hate, his hands stained with blood as they curled around his pistol butt. Now at last he was closing with the man he was sworn to kill – his own father . . .

This book has 154 pages and they are divided into four chapters. Each chapter is split into different scenes separated by a line drawing of a Colt, so it is easy to find a place to stop reading if you so desire. I think you’ll get more enjoyment out of this book if you read the first Carey book, The Carey Blood, before this one as it will help you understand the hatred that drives Thomas Carey’s craving to kill his father. Irving Greenfield does include some explanation as to the Carey’s backstory, so the book can be read as a standalone title but I’d still urge you to read The Carey Blood first.

Carey’s Vengeance begins only moments after the end of the previous book and is set during the Civil War. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of Thomas’ attempts to head back home to kill his father. Chapter one tells of Carey’s escape from the prison camp. Chapter two covers his recovery from a wound. Chapter three details his time riding with Quantrill during which he will meet many real characters, such as Frank James, and covers the battle of Pleasant Hill and the attack on Lawrence, Kansas. It’s the fourth chapter that sees Thomas arrive home for the reckoning he wants with his father.

Neither of the Carey’s are likeable men. They will stop at nothing to get what they want with little regard to who they will hurt in achieving their aims. It’s these character traits that make them so fascinating though, made me want to keep reading to discover what would happen when father and son faced off against each other. The author doesn’t hold any punches either. The story is brutal, filled with vicious action scenes and tough dialogue. 

Perhaps not as gripping as the first book, or was that just me wanting to get the first three parts out of the way so I could read what would happen when Thomas faced his father? This was the confrontation I was eager to read about. It didn’t let me down either. Bittersweet in its harshness, it left me thoroughly satisfied, and looking forward to reading the third book, The Carey Gun, to see where the storyline will take me next.

UK readers can get a copy here.
American readers can get a copy here.

CAREY series

1. The Carey Blood

2. Carey’s Vengeance

3. The Carey Gun

THE CAREY BLOOD

 

THE CAREY BLOOD
By Irving A. Greenfield
Tandem, 1973
Originally published by Dell, 1972

Texas, the 1860s

William Carey has carved out a cattle empire with a Bowie knife and a fast gun … and he’ll go to any lengths to defend it. He fears only one thing in life: the reckless violence that rages in his blood. A violence that his youngest son – the hard-drinking, womanising Thomas Carey — has inherited...

A love-hate relationship simmers between the two men, and when William orders his son to marry Helen Wicker, a woman he doesn’t love, Thomas’s hatred begins to take over. Forced to choose between his heritage and his obsessive love for Lisa Mendoza, a local saloon girl, Thomas is trapped. In his fury and frustration, he sets in motion a terrible chain of events that will cast a shadow over his life – and Helen’s – for ever.

Unable to face the consequences of his actions, Thomas throws himself into the coming civil war as a lieutenant in the newly formed Confederate Army. But will fighting for a cause he doesn’t believe in bring Thomas the peace he seeks? Or is his life destined to end before he’s figured out how to live it?

And who will pay the ultimate price for the fury that rages in the Carey blood?

This is the first book in a trilogy, and all three have been sitting on my shelves unread for many years. Wanting to try an author that I hadn’t read before, I decided to give Irving A. Greenfield a try. 

The book certainly reflects the times it was written in. Clean-cut heroes were no-longer the stars in novels and films. The lead characters had their flaws, and here it is the barely contained rage that flows through the Carey blood. Neither Thomas or William is particularly likeable but do they need to be? Nope, not to me. It’s their rough-edges that make them interesting, made me want to keep reading to discover how their love-hate relationship would turn out.

Supporting characters are as equally well thought-out by Greenfield, and it wasn’t long before I was feeling sorry for Helen. Her self-belief that she could change Thomas, get him to love her, seemed doomed from the very start. What would her destiny be? I certainly didn’t predict what did happen to her. 

At times Thomas seems a little contradictory in his actions. When a ranch-hand is killed, Thomas seeks vengeance and succeeds in his desire, yet, when evil befalls his wife, he lets it go. 

Greenfield certainly captured my imagination with his story and characters. His words creating a great sense of time and place, of mental struggles. The arguments about God and who is in the right regarding the coming Civil War and slave ownership added some terrific tension to the tale. 

When Thomas goes to war, a whole new horrific plot-line weaves its way into the conflict between blue and grey, father and son, one that has me wanting to read book two as soon as possible. 

American readers can get a copy here
British readers can get a copy here