Longarm #387

LONGARM AND THE PANAMINT PANIC

By Tabor Evans

Jove, February 2011

The moment Gideon Horne kills an upstanding man of the law, Longarm knows he’ll track the infamous bad man from here to kingdom come, just to make sure he meets his maker. But catching up to his quarry in the Death Valley town of Panamint, he discovers the job is already half done…

It seems Gideon has taken ill with cholera, and the whole town is at risk of infection. While a lovely lady doctor tries to control the crisis, Longarm sticks around in case Gideon lives – so he can watch him hang. But Gideon’s not the only crook in Panamint, and Longarm’s preparing for an outbreak of lead.

The author of this entry into the long-running Longarm series sure knows how to build suspense into a story. Just why don’t the people of Panamint want him to enter their town? What secret could they be hiding? A good portion of the book is given to these puzzles and this all makes from some excellent reading, a great gripping plot thread that grabs the reader and makes the book difficult to put down….or at least it would do if the reader hasn’t read the blurb from the back of the book which I’ve included above. I’d imagine this kind of giveaway must rankle with the author somewhat.

Even though the spoiler blurb does take some of edge away from the mystery of Panamint the reader will soon find himself asking more questions, wondering what else is going on, as the author adds twist after twist to the fast moving and action packed tale.

The story builds extremely well to its dramatic climax that provides the answers to all the plot threads and left me hoping it isn’t too long before this author writes another book in this series – Tabor Evans this time being James Reasoner.