The Way of the Gun

By Ralph Hayes

The Crowood Press, March 2018

Fired from the Provost ranch and humiliated in front of the whole bunkhouse, Duke Latham swears vengeance on the owner Maynard Provost. Pursuing a life of crime and violence at the head of a small gang of outlaws, six months later Latham kidnaps Provost’s beloved daughter Dulcie.

Provost’s ranch hands scour the country searching for the girl, but in vain. Then fate throws them, and Provost himself, into the path of notorious bounty hunter Wesley Sumner, known as ‘Certainty’ because of his countrywide reputation for never failing to find and kill his man. Sumner is persuaded by the desperate father to take up the search for Duke Latham and his kidnapped prisoner.

This is the second of three books to feature bounty hunter Certainty Sumner from author Ralph Hayes who wrote the popular Buffalo Hunter series that first appeared in 1971. Hayes would later add four more books to that series published under the Black Horse Western banner, the last of which appeared in 2016. The following year the first of the Certainty Sumner books was published.

Unfortunately for me I had already read the third book in this series so knew how part of this tale would end as the books do have some continuity to them. Having said that, it was great to be able to find out what had happened that lead to the relationships that are further developed in that third book. Each book can easily be read as a standalone novel as the author includes just enough background information to explain what has happened before, but readers yet to discover these stories may prefer to read them in order.

Certainty Sumner is an excellent lead character, although in this book he doesn’t appear for quite a while. He’s more than capable of taking on odds that should see him on the losing end but his ability with a gun seems unbeatable. In this story he meets someone who may just get through his tough exterior. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that this person is a young woman, the very one he has been hired to rescue.

Duke Latham is another well-drawn character, who’s driven by hate. An all consuming desire to hurt Maynard Provost in the worst way possible, something that all his gang members don’t quite agree with and this provides some conflict of interests within the outlaw gang that you can never be sure of how it will turn out.

Dulcie’s infatuation with her rescuer adds another element to the tale and you have to wonder if Sumner will be able to resist her charms. 

Mix all this together and you have another great read from Ralph Hayes that fans of his work, or western readers in general, will not want to miss.