The Last Mountain Man

MISTY BLUE #1

By Tony Masero

A Hand Painted Western, September 2012

Montana 1867

Misty Blue came down after twenty years in the mountains to find he never knew they’d even had a war on down there in what posed as civilization. The war was over now but that didn’t trouble Misty, he was about to start another one all of his own.

Commissioned by a wealthy rancher’s widow, Misty finds himself on a mission below the border where a lunatic with a taste for pure havoc runs things.

Guided by an ex-Confederate old timer who knows the ground and accompanied by a resourceful redheaded firebrand with attitude and a foul mouth Misty forges a violent and bloody path through the warlord’s territory with no more than a tomahawk, Colt and Springfield rifle to see him through.

The brutal warlord keeps house in some strange ways and has his own weird army fashioned to bizarre principles. But they are about to confront two hundred pounds of living grief and enter a world of pain they never knew existed, that is, until they met the man called Misty Blue – truly, the last of the old time Mountain Men.

Tony Masero has created a superb character in Misty Blue, a tough man whose promise you don’t want to be on the wrong end of. A man who isn’t afraid of taking on superior odds and will wade into his enemies with just his fists if no others weapons are available.

But Misty isn’t the only terrific character to be found in this fast moving, action packed tale, Misty’s companions are very memorable too, one of whom Misty warms to considerably, who brings out the unstoppable desire for revenge. Misty’s main enemy is also superbly drawn, a self-proclaimed God who thinks he has the power of life and death over anyone.

Tony Masero is foremost an artist, and it’s this that surely helps him write prose that paints vivid imagery in the minds’ eye making this book such a joy to read.

Whether this book was originally intended to be the first in a series I’m not sure, but luckily for me it has become as I liked Misty Blue enough to want to read more about him, and at the time of writing this review there are a further four Misty Blue tales, and if they are anywhere near as good as this one then this series could well become one of my favourites.