Texas Lead Slingers

THE TRAILSMAN #360

By Jon Sharpe

Signet, October 2011

In a booming Gulf Coast town, Skye Fargo and more than a dozen of the best cardsharps around are competing in a high-stakes game being held by Fargo’s old friend Senator Deerforth. But someone wants Fargo to fold before the games even start, and the Trailsman is going to have to play things close to the vest if he’s going to survive….

Right from the opening page this book had me hooked as an attempt on Fargo’s life left unanswered questions which in turn lead to more. Why are these two men trying to kill Fargo? Why him and none of the other card players? Who is behind the assassins? My need to find out, and the author’s use of very short chapters that all end in either a cliff-hanger situation or another question, meant this would be a hard book to put down until the end.

The story soon becomes a hunt for a thief and kidnapper and Fargo finds himself riding with a posse made up of an excellent mix of characters. One being Vin Creed, who has some great comments to make about just about everything that happens, most of his observations being sarcastic humour, many of which had me laughing to myself.

The book is filled with fast moving action, often quite graphic and a number of times happening without warning. There’s some neat twists to the tale too that provided some surprising revelations and who gets killed and by whose hand.

As many of you will be aware The Trailsman is classed as an adult series, but don’t let that put you off reading this book, as the author (this time David Robbins writing as Jon Sharpe) only includes one sex scene that takes up a couple of pages, which isn’t just added to the story for sexual gratification as it becomes an important part of the plot development.

No story threads are left undone by the end and the final lines left me grinning and looking forward to The Trailsman’s next adventure.

Just a final note about the cover; for some reason Signet have used the same cover art they used two books ago, on The Trailsman #358: Six-Gun Vendetta, so if you are a fan of this series and see the book on the shop shelves don’t make the mistake of passing it by because you think you’ve already read it, because if you do you’ll be missing out on a great read.