The Devil's Anvil

By Steve Hayes

Hale, May 2014

The news wasn’t good: the kill-crazy McClory brothers had busted out of Yuma Pen and where headed for Indian Territory. Somebody would have to bring them in and the job falls to Liberty Mercer, a US deputy marshal who also happens to be a woman. And she was getting mighty tired of having her abilities questioned time and again.

Liberty sets out to run the outlaws to ground, knowing it is going to be tough. But even she never anticipates just how tough it is going to be. As she follows a trail of bodies clear across the desert known as The Devil’s Anvil, she forms an uneasy alliance with the Dunn brothers, Bill and Bee. Along the way she almost gets herself killed for trusting the wrong person, but by the time the gunsmoke clears she will learn something about herself that will change her whole life.

The Devil’s Anvil is another book in Steve Hayes series revolving around Santa Rosa and its surrounding area. The story involves a number of characters who have appeared in those past books and there are numerous references to those tales and their outcomes, so in some-ways this story contains spoilers for those books so some readers may prefer to read the earlier books first. Having said that, The Devil’s Anvil is a self-contained tale and not having read the previous books won’t stop you enjoying this one.

Liberty is a complex character, struggling to come to terms with just who she is and her past. People she meets add further doubts and it’s one of these that adds a neat twist-to-the-tale as to their motives.

The book is very easy to read and contains plenty of action as it builds well to its surprise ending that makes you wonder who, or what, the next book in this excellent saga will be about, and that’s something I’m very much looking forward to discovering in due time.

The Devil's Anvil at Amazon.com

The Devil's Anvil (Black Horse Western) at Amazon.co.uk