No Justice in Hell

By Charles G. West

Pinnacle, May 2018

Three desperate women. One deranged killer. No way in hell is John Hawk going to sit back and let the innocent get slaughtered. He first meets the three lovely ladies as they’re fleeing in a wagon – alone – through Blackfoot country. What’s their rush? They’re being pursued by a wanted outlaw who wants them dead. Their only chance is to reach the Last Chance Saloon in Helena – and John Hawk is their last hope . . .

Hawk can track down a low-life like nobody’s business. But this time he has to stay two steps ahead, keeping the ladies safe and sound until they get to the saloon. There’s just one problem: the outlaw got there first. He’s the notorious Zach Dubose. He’s waiting for Hawk and his girls. And he’s ordering them a round vengeance with a bullet chaser – and death on arrival . . . 

This is the second book in Charles G. West’s new series featuring army scout John Hawk. It’s while on a mission for the army to try and persuade some Blackfoot to live on a reservation that he meets the three fleeing women. The Blackfoot assignment then becomes a sub-plot as saving the women becomes his main goal.

What is described in the blurb above takes place over the first 70 pages or so and Hawk soon sets himself a new task, hunting down Dubose and his two partners, but this isn’t an easy job as Dubose disappears leaving no trails as to his whereabouts, so Hawk finds himself working with the army again which leads to disaster.

I’ve read a few books written by Charles G. West and have enjoyed them all, and this one is as equally entertaining as any of them. West’s character studies are excellent, his plots move forward at pace and his action scenes put you right there amidst the flying lead and dust. Another of West’s strengths is making his readers share the emotions of his characters and this is done particularly well in this book, especially when describing the turmoil Hawk feels that sets him out on his self-imposed mission.

The book concludes with justice being served although not quite in the way I expected, but in a way that lets everyone get in on the act and that was the perfect ending to this story. Now I must keep my fingers crossed that there will be in a third John Hawk book in the not too distant future.