Last Reckoning for the Presidio Kid

By Emmett Stone

A Black Horse Western from Hale, March 2011

A stagecoach robbery and a train hold-up announce the sudden return of the elusive Presidio Kid. Hardly anything is known about the Kid and what triggered these events remains a mystery.

In an isolated mountain cabin, Clugh Bendix is nursing a gun wound to the leg, vowing to find out who shot him and why. His journey takes him to the volatile Texas borderlands: right to the heart of the mystery of the Presidio Kid.

For Bendix, the mystery becomes a battle and he must rely on his wits and his guns to survive. Long-buried secrets and an unexpected romance are revealed, but what will his fate be when the explosive showdown arrives?

As far as I can tell this is the first BHW to carry the author name of Emmett Stone, so is this a new writer or a pseudonym for a previously published author? Whichever, this person knows how to snare his readers, hook them into his story from the opening scenes. Questions come fast, such as why has Bendix been shot? Once this is answered it only leads to more questions that ensure the reader keeps turning the pages.

The book is presented in long chapters, seven to be exact. There are a lot of descriptive passages that set the scenes well. Stone writes in a clear and easy to read style that makes the book a pleasure to read. A couple of the questions asked are fairly easy to work out, such as who the Presidio Kid really is, but, just as you think you know how the story will end, Stone springs a neat twist to his tale.

This story uses the age-old western theme of land grabbing as its basic plotline, but has a fresh approach to that story, in fact pushes this plot into the background as the identity of the Presidio Kid, and why he is doing what he is, becomes the main focus of the book.

Overall the Last Reckoning for the Presidio Kid proved to be an entertaining read that has a number of surprises waiting for the reader. The book is officially released tomorrow but is on sale now.