Loner With a Gun

as by Ryan Bodie

A Black Horse Western from Hale, July 2010

Hank Masters was a good man, a gentle man who wouldn’t have hurt a fly, so when he was framed and then hanged for a crime he didn’t commit his son Flint swore revenge.

Now Flint Masters must leave his life as a gun-guard in Durango to travel to Jaramillo, where his father’s life was taken. He will avenge himself on the lying, cheating town of Jaramillo until he has done justice to his father’s memory. And woe betide anyone who stands in his way….

Ryan Bodie starts his story after the killing of Hank Masters and it isn’t long before Flint Masters is about to find out just what happened to his father by experiencing the same kind of death himself. But Flint is sprung from jail just in time and finds himself on the run and the hunt for him takes up a good portion of the book.

Even though the reader, and Masters, know who is behind the crimes in Jaramillo we don’t know the why. And it’s this question that keeps you turning the pages.

The book is filled with well-drawn characters, Jack Gatling – the bad guys right-hand man and gunman – being particularly memorable. It’s also interesting to see how his boss, Herrod, starts to fall to pieces as his empire begins to collapse around him.

Overall this a fairly traditional western that proves to be an entertaining read, as I expected from this author – Ryan Bodie being a name used by the very prolific writer Paul Wheelahan – and I look forward to his next book with anticipation.

Loner With a Gun is officially released at the end of this month but is available now from Internet bookstores.