Paytime for a Good Man

By Joseph John McGraw

A Black Horse Western from Hale, April 2011

Todd Coulter was a good man, a family man, wanting nothing more than to make an honest living by honest toil. He abided by the laws of God and men but somebody or something up there just didn’t like him….

In the end, he lost his family, his home and everything he’d worked for. But then Hollis Clarke turned up from his past and showed him the error of his law-abiding ways.

Hollis offers Todd a surefire way of making money. It’s not honest or legal but Todd no longer cares. He knows that a man with money can stand on his own two feet. He can do what he wanted and go wherever he pleases. He can be free….

But both men knew that the day of reckoning always comes…and when it does, it’s paytime.

This book offers a fast moving story filled with action that had me wondering as to its outcome, for this book has quite a dark theme running throughout that I found fascinating to see unfold.

Joseph John McGraw has written a wonderful study of character that illustrates how a person can change when everything he lives for is cruelly snatched away. We also witness how money leads to mistrust and greed – real or imagined – and puts a strain on friendships. McGraw portrays a man cracking under pressure superbly, the voice he begins to hear in his head questioning, yet urging him on in his quest for a new life, hints that maybe everything isn’t going to turn out perfectly for Todd.

As the killings mount up, the author throws in a number of surprises that eventually lead Todd to believe his luck is changing for the good, but McGraw has one hell of a twist waiting for Todd, one that I thought made for a just ending to the book.

Paytime for a Good Man is Joseph John McGraw’s fifth BHW, and the first I’ve read by him. On the strengths of this story I’ll certainly be looking out for more of his books.

Paytime for a Good Man is officially released on April 29^th, but should be available from the usual Internet bookstores now.