Monday 19 March 2012

HIGH COUNTRY GREED


THE TRAILSMAN #365
By Jon Sharpe
Signet, March 2012

High in the Rockies, 1861 – a wild town where greed is the way of life and a pack of killers runs roughshod.

When Fargo comes across two murdered Arapaho warriors, he decides to track the killers…and walks right into a trap. Now he’s on the trail of a gang of ruthless gold hunters heading straight into the Rockies, where both man and nature are cold, merciless, and deadly. And if anyone tries to get the best of the Trailsman, they’re going to end up getting the worst of the deal….

Like the majority of Trailsman novels this tale jumps straight into the action and never lets up as Fargo finds himself fighting for his life almost without a moment to catch his breath. 

Tracking the Arapaho killers to Denver Fargo soon finds and disposes of one of them, this leads to the dead man’s companions making various attempts on the Trailsman’s life. If this wasn’t enough for Fargo to deal with Skye runs into an old friend who owns a gold mine, trouble is Mr. Shanks wants that mine and has the hired guns to help him get it. Trying to help his friend hang onto the mine becomes another headache for Fargo.

This all seems like a fairly straightforward plot, but the author, in this case David Robbins writing as Jon Sharpe, has a surprise or two waiting. Whilst reading the first part of the book there was definitely a sense of all things not being quite as they seemed, and, when Fargo’s friend, Jim McCullock, is killed the twists to the tale take hold making this a difficult book to put down until all the puzzles are solved.

Filled with great characters, crackling dialogue and tough, brutal action, this book makes for a very entertaining read.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Steve, Thanks for your kind comments. I've always liked stories where a writer throws in a twist I didn't see coming, and I like to use that plot device in my own where appropriate. As for the brutal action and hot mommas---well, it 'is' Fargo. :)