Railroad to Redemption

by I.J. Parnham

A Black Horse Western from Hale, August 2010

The influx of railroad men looking to build a new track to Redemption brings plenty of trouble for Sheriff Cassidy Yates. However, things seem to be looking up when Dayton Fisher, down on his luck and looking for work, arrives in town.

Dayton’s bravery persuades Luther to hire him as a bodyguard but the job turns sour when Luther hires six ruthless gunslingers to cause mayhem about town. Worse is yet to come and when Luther is killed the repercussions force Dayton to pit himself against his friend Cassidy.

Can the two men put aside their differences for long enough to defeat the gunslingers?

Ian Parnham begins this book by introducing us to the various characters that will play the main roles within this twisting tale of intrigue. There’s Dayton who arrives in town by train, broke and jobless. There’s the three brothers defending their ranch from a group of gunmen. There’s Luther, a man who works for the railroad who keeps his plans to himself. There’s a group of nuns looking for a guide. There’s a band of guslingers lead by a man called Mason Fox. Finally there’s Sheriff Cassidy – a lawman who has appeared in a number of prevoius books – who finds himself struggling to make sense of all that’s happing. At first you don’t see how all these people could possibly become involved with each other, but, of course they do.

Ian Parnham tells his story in easy to read prose that propels his tale forwards at an ever increasing speed, making this book difficult to put down. One of Ian Parnham’s trademarks is that somewhere down the line there will be a surprise or two and I never saw the excellent twist he includes in this book coming. Amoung all the action there moments of humour too, mainly through comments to, or from, the nuns. Eventually everything comes together in a violent showdown that ends the book in a spectacular fashion.

Railroad to Redemption is out now, even though it has an official release date at the end of the month.