Iron Eyes is Dead

by Rory Black

A Black Horse Western from Hale, November 2010

The town of Desert Springs lay on the edge of a vast ocean of sand – an oasis which had started to draw the dregs of Texas down into its profitable boundaries. Yet none of the ruthless characters who had been gathering there was anything when judged against the infamous bounty hunter, Iron Eyes, who had trailed a dangerous outlaw into the midst of the remote settlement.

But Iron Eyes was wounded. He had battled his way through a band of Apaches in his quest to reach this place. With an arrow through his chest and a bullet hole in his leg, he had lost more blood than most men could afford to lose. As the town’s doctor fought to save his life a call went out: “Iron Eyes is Dead!”

But is this truly the end for the legend known as Iron Eyes?

Seriously wounding his hero near the beginning of this fast moving book allows author Rory Black to develop his plot and other characters whilst Iron Eyes is fighting for his life, lost to the world in a coma. The doctor who attempts to save the bounty hunter, Doc Hardy, being very memorable as are the two lawmen, Marshal Bale and his deputy Joshua. In fact Iron Eyes isn’t in the book that much, but when he is does he leave a lasting impact.

There’s plenty of action as the owner of the new casino plots to double cross an outlaw, an opportunistic thief tries for a better life, the lawmen struggle to find who is behind a string of murders, and others try to finish Iron Eyes off whilst he can’t defend himself.

Rory Black is one of the pseudonyms used by Michael D. George, and he definitely knows how to pace a book and build his story to an exciting and bloody finale, which sees all the plot threads tied up neatly.

Iron Eyes is Dead is the thirteenth book in the Iron Eyes series and is available now from the usual Internet stores. The fourteenth book, The Skull of Iron Eyes, is set too be published in March 2011 and I'm definitely looking forward to that.