The Killing Kind

By Lance Howard

A Black Horse Western from Hale, December 2010

Jim Bartlett thought he could put his former life behind him and forge a new one as a small Texas ranch owner but he was wrong…dead wrong. Someone from his past has followed him and is systematically and permanently trying to destroy his new life, piece by piece.

With his friends and the woman his loves being threatened by a man who knows no remorse and no boundaries, Jim finds himself in a desperate struggle – not only to escape his past, but also to hold onto his life….

Lance Howard is a pseudonym used by author Howard Hopkins and under his own name he writes horror stories, and this book, like many of his other westerns, often have horror elements within them. Here we find a dead man who is destroying Bartlett’s life. Howard is an expert at creating an air of terror, of writing about a man slowly losing a grip on self-control as his friends are killed one by one. As Bartlett begins to succumb to fear he often breaks down in tears – something you don’t often find a western hero doing, and this, perhaps, makes him more human, helps the reader share the terror he’s experiencing.

The book contains plenty of vivid imagery, Howard’s descriptions painting living pictures within my mind. There’s also a lot of death, as the seemingly unstoppable killer murders Bartlett’s friends at will.

Of course the past that Bartlett has tried so hard to keep a secret eventually comes out and this brings more emotional hurt to Jim as it threatens to destroy his relationship with his girl. But Bartlett isn’t the only one with a dark past…

The Killing Kind grabbed my attention from the very beginning and I found myself reading it in one sitting as I just had to find out how a supposedly dead man could return to terrorise Bartlett. I was also very eager to see how Bartlett could possibly survive and how many of his friends would too.

If you’d like a copy of this very entertaining book then I suggest you put your order in quickly, as, although it isn’t officially released until the end of the month, it is available to order now…and from past experience I know Lance Howard westerns tend to sell-out very quickly.