Spurs of the Spectre

 as by Rory Black

A Black Horse Western from Hale, 2001

This is the second book to feature the bounty hunter known as Iron Eyes.

Quite why infamous bounty hunter Iron Eyes is drawn to the border town of Rio Vista he doesn’t know. He sure doesn’t need to hunt anymore outlaws as he’s carrying enough money to settle down and live the good-life. But this small fortune also means he has no reason to exist as the only thing he’s good at is killing. When asked by a Priest if he’ll help a small Mexican village that has become prey to marauding bandits it looks like a quick and easy way to die.

A book that draws the reader in easily, even though it takes awhile to get to any action, as it builds to it’s explosive finale. A plot in which you can’t help but see references to The Magnificent Seven, although here it’s one against seventeen.

Black (real name Michael D. George) seems very good at creating visual descriptions, particularly of his two leading characters; Iron Eyes and bandit leader Manillo. At times you wonder who is the cruelest though, as lovers of horses will not like Iron Eyes’ treatment of them.

My favourite part is when Iron Eyes first sees a cross with the figure of Christ upon it. He asks the Priest who this man is and why he is there? The explanation means nothing to Iron Eyes, he just reckons it’s something the Apache have done.

So an easy to read book with a not very original plot, but an interesting lead character in Iron Eyes that will have me keeping a lookout for other Iron Eyes novels.