When Rafe Morgan rides into a Wyoming town called Twisted Oak he gets into a saloon brawl and horribly disfigures an outlaw named Dutch Williams. Vowing revenge, Dutch and his men pillage the town and take two hostages, including the marshal’s daughter.
Rafe joins Deputy U.S. Marshal Ethan O’Hara and a small posse in the hunt for Dutch, but they soon realize that Dutch didn’t take hostages to negotiate, he took them as bait.
Dutch won’t be satisfied with stolen money, he wants blood, and he’ll stop at nothing until Rafe and the posse are destroyed. Following the outlaw’s trail, the posse now find themselves in a desperate struggle for their very lives.
Thomas McNulty has created a superbly insane bad guy in his character Dutch. Just wondering what he’ll do next, particularly when the posse are his prisoners, is more than enough to keep a reader enthralled. And as the plot develops the reader has to start wondering just who will be alive at the end.
It’s not just Dutch that makes for a memorable character though, there’s Rafe, Ethan and his daughter, Amy, too, and who’ll be able to forget Black Wolf and his bear?
Thomas McNulty’s writing style is easy to read, smooth flowing, propelling the storyline on in an ever increasing pace. The action is well told and often described in all its gory detail, be it bullets punching through bodies, that of brutal torture, or the gruesome killings carried out by the bear.
So Trail of a Burned Man is a fast moving tale that should definitely appeal to those who enjoy a savage storyline, in which no-one is safe from the many flying bullets, slashing claws, or the burn of the flame.
Trail of the Burned Man is Thomas McNulty’s first Black Horse Western and I’m looking forward to more. This book has an official release date of November 30th but should be available from Internet booksellers now.
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