As a boy of fourteen, Jake Chalmers saw his parents callously murdered by two drunken cowboys in the street. Now a young man, he is determined to protect himself, even if he has to use his gun to do so.
On the run after killing in self-defence, Jake arrives in Sweetwater, a boomtown growing rich on cattle drives. His plans to keep a low profile soon go awry as he finds himself in the middle of a feud between the ruthless business man, Jordan Carter, and an elderly sheriff, Luke Gardner.
Finally, Luke is murdered by one of Carter’s henchmen and Jake must choose between the law of the land and the law of the gun…
As far as I know this is Lee Walker’s debut western for Hale. His writing style is very readable and the plot moves along at a swift pace with plenty of bursts of action along the way. Lee Walker’s characters are well created and will have you caring about what happens to them, will have you hoping that Chalmers doesn’t ride away and leave the girl, Elaine, behind as he seems scared to commit himself to anyone or anything.
The plot of the drifting gunman who finds himself standing by a lawman, newspaperman and a beautiful girl, against the power hungry bad guy who owns most of the town and has a bunch of gunfighters to back his play, is an often used storyline but Lee Walker makes it seem fresh, his story grabs the readers attention and makes the book very difficult to put down until the last page has been read.
If Lee Walker (real name Ed Ferguson) continues to write to this standard then I for one will be eagerly awaiting each of his books.
Gun Law has an official release of December 31st but should be available from Internet booksellers now, and if you fancy getting hold of a copy I suggest you get your order in as soon as possible as BHW tend to sell out fast.
Sounds very good. I'll have to add it to TBR list.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays and thanks for all the work you put into your great blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the review and the positive comments.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first BHW but have nearly completed my second which will be called 'Gold Fever.'
It's been a great experience getting Gun Law from first draft to finished product. The support I have received from both Robert Hale and fellow BHW writers has been fantastic.
Again, thank you for the great feedback,
Ed Ferguson aka Lee Walker