Trail to Nowhere

THE LONER 2

By Sheldon B. Cole

Piccadilly Publishing, December 2019

Originally published by The Cleveland Publishing Co., 1967

Blake Durant was on his way to Crimson Falls when he stopped by Jessica Gray’s ranch for water. Before he could move on again, the young widow’s son came galloping into the yard, badly beaten. Three men had stolen their two calves and beaten young Jess when he tried to stop them. Much as he knew he should just ride on. Blake knew he couldn’t. So, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the young widow and her son against a vicious land-baron with an army of gunnies on his payroll. And when the gunsmoke finally cleared, the winner would take all!

A few months ago I read the first entry in this series and really enjoyed it. Finally, I’ve found time to read the second. That first book only revealed a sketchy background to hero Blake Durant and I surmised that the author would probably reveal more as the series progressed. I was correct, as this tale divulges more about Durant’s background, which explains more about his character and hints at why he seems reluctant to act on the advances of the three female leads.

This is a gritty tale, full of hard men and tough women. Durant isn’t backwards in taking the fight to those who he determines are in the wrong, and he’ll do that through threats, fists or guns. These books aren’t long, around 90 pages in length, and the author manages to include a lot of action in his fast-paced, weaving plot. As expected, there isn’t any really graphic sex although sexual desire does play a part in the tale and the descriptions of this are tame, mainly left to the readers imagination. 

If you’re looking for a hard-hitting fast read then the books in this series are certainly worth considering. I’ll definitely be picking up the third real soon as this one proved to be just as enjoyable as the first.  

Sheldon B. Cole is a pseudonym for Australian author Desmond Robert Dunn.

Available from Piccadilly publishing as an ebook.

Trail to Nowhere has just been published in hardback by The Crowood Press under their Black Horse Western line.