Tin Star

A Ralph Compton novel by Jackson Lowry

Cover art by Chris McGrath

Berkley, April 2020

Luke Hadley never imagined he would be left for dead with a chest full of bullets on the day of his wedding. All he wanted to was tend to his farm with his new wife, Audrey, and begin their lives together.

But when the Rhoades hang crashes his wedding party, they wreak havoc and abduct his bride, leaving the lifeless bodies of his guests. Luke has only a sparse trail of clues to follow, but with help from a phony Pinkerton bade and a mysterious woman with many skills – including breaking him out of jail – he finally rides down those who’ve wronged him….

It’s been four years since the last Compton novel appeared on the shelves. The line came to an end at the time many publishers ceased producing westerns. Now Berkley have decided to bring the Compton books back, the first two appearing in April 2020 and two more have been announced for each and every month of this year and into the next. As many western fans will know, Ralph Compton passed away in September 1998, but with his books being so successful the publisher decided to keep his name alive by putting more new novels out under his name but written by a variety of other authors, their names also printed on the covers. Berkley have continued with this trend. Looking at the coming books they have been written by old favourites and some newer western authors, all promising some great reads for fans of the western genre.

Tin Star has been written by Jackson Lowry. He’s not a new author to me, although I have only read a short story by him and that was sometime ago, so I was keen to try a full-length novel by him.

Lowry has created a wonderful cast of characters for this book, each having their own personalities which is very evident in the three main female roles in his story. The hero, Luke Hadley, is also an engaging character, a farmer who is totally out of his depth tracking, and fighting, seasoned outlaws. Hadley’s ability with a gun is poor and he mostly misses his target. He’s also prone to charging into situations with thinking the consequences through and takes some heavy punishment for his rashness.

The story begins like many other westerns that have a man seeking vengeance against those who wronged him. The author adds an element of mystery in the unknown woman who appears to be helping him and this throws up the question of why? Lowry also has a couple of surprises waiting in store, one that proves to be a shocking revelation that proves to be a great twist to the plot, one I didn’t see coming.

Due to that great twist I don’t want to reveal anymore of the plotline here so as not to spoil the book for those planning to read it. What I will say is I really enjoyed reading this story and will be keen to read Jackson Lowry’s next Compton’s – two more have been announced, Never Bet Against a Bullet in June and The Lost Banshee Mine in July.