Cougar Prowls

By Owen G. Irons

Hale, October 2014

Battle-hardened Carroll Cougar has finally made it home to his little ranch on Twin Creeks with his new bride, Ellen, after spending years with General Crook in the southwestern wars.

But Cougar and Ellen have left too many enemies alive behind them, and more have accumulated in Twin Creeks in their absence. With his home dangerously threatened, Cougar realizes his warrior years are far from behind him and the time has come for him to buckle on his guns and go out prowling, until he has defeated every last one of his enemies.

This book continues the storylines begun in Cougar Tracks and readers may like to read that one before this, although Owen G. Irons does include enough information for readers new to Cougar to understand what has happened previously.

The first seventy or so pages conclude the major story threads from the first book in a number of desperate and bloody confrontations that will also see Cougar struck dumb by some of the heart-breaking truths that are revealed and they surprised this reader too.

The rest of the book sees Cougar and Ellen attempting to begin a new life but trouble isn’t far away and Irons' uses this part of the tale to tie-up a situation that started right at the beginning of the first book.

Owen G. Irons is a pseudonym used by Paul Lederer, and as expected this book proved to be extremely difficult to put down. Full of gripping action scenes, well-crafted characters, and mystery – such as who is sniping at Cougar’s homestead and why? The story comes to a satisfying ending and I’m left looking forward to Paul’s next book and hoping that, just maybe, we haven’t heard the last of Cougar.