Blood Feud

by David Robbins

Signet, October 2010

They beat and abused his older sister. They poisoned his pa and his uncle and then chopped them up with an ax. But the bloodthirsty Harkey clan really went wrong when they didn’t bargain on a sixteen-year-old avenger.

Chace Shannon killed his first man before he could shave. Now he and his twin sister, Cassie, are sixteen. The twins have a special bond, but Chace must ride the vengeance trail alone. For the sake of his family, he’s taking the fight to the Harkeys – and the lucky ones will die quickly.

If you ever want a hero to challenge your sense of right and wrong then you just have to read this. Maybe hero is the wrong word to describe Chace perhaps anti-hero is more fitting? Whichever you decide, Chace Shannon is a superbly created character whose actions will have you cheering him on, repel you with revulsion a couple of times, and make you wonder if he’s a cold-blooded killer with a heart of gold. Chace Shannon is a character with real depth.

And it’s not just Chace you’ll remember for a long time, there are other equally memorable characters: Chase’s twin sister for instance, Cassie – their relationship will really get you thinking. There’s the man at the inn with his horrifying secret. Members of the Harkey and Shannon families, the list goes on and on.

The book is extremely well paced, quite dark in tone, and filled with exciting action – often quite brutal. Even without the inclusion of cliff-hanger scene endings this book would be very difficult to put down before the final page has been read. The end leaves the storyline open for a sequel and I hope that one will appear sometime in the not too distant future.

Blood Feud is definitely one of the best westerns written by David Robbins and should be on the must read list of all western fans.