THE KELLY TRAIL

 

A Ralph Compton novel by Terrence McCauley
Cover art by Steve Atkinson
Berkley, August 2020

Over the past twenty years, William “Bull” Kelly has acquired a reputation as one of the best ramrods in Texas. He has led legendary cattle drives to almost every railhead in the country. Most impressive of all, he once drove his herd all the way up to Montana. But after years of working for other people, he has decided to run cattle on his own with his five sons.

Everything starts off fine, but when a group of cattle thieves tries to stampede the herd, the Kelly family is decimated. The rustlers quickly find out that Kelly isn’t called “Bull” because he insists on riding at the head of the herd. He got his name from the bullwhip he keeps coiled on his belt. He can make the whip sing, but against the gang of desperadoes, he’ll need every ounce of his skill if he hopes to get out alive.

Although this book is based around a trail drive, the actual difficulties of moving a large herd doesn’t have a big part to play in the story, it’s just the method of bringing a great set of characters together in a series of violent clashes that sees both sides wanting revenge for different reasons.

William “Bull” Kelly is a hard man. A man who doesn’t take sass from anyone, including his sons. A man who will do anything to achieve his aims. He also has a habit of looking to the sky to talk to his long dead wife which provides some amusement to what is essential a brutal story.

Having Kelly use a bullwhip instead of a gun (although he will use the latter if it’s the only option) makes Kelly standout from many other western heroes we usually read about. There is a cinematic feel to the scene where Kelly with just his whip has a standoff against eleven armed riders that was one of the highlights of this book for me.

Violence is graphic in its description as is its aftermath, especially those who have felt the lash and lived to suffer from their wounds as infection sets in, which, in a couple of cases, sees men slip into fever and become driven by insanity. 

The loss of Kelly’s sons sees him slip into some kind of madness too that can only be satisfied by killing those responsible, no matter if it means riding alone into a confrontation with superior odds that he cannot hope to live through. The dark tone of the story at this point surely had me wonder whether Kelly would be alive at the end of this gripping tale.

This is Terrence McCauley’s third western and on the strength of this book, and the previous two, he has firmly cemented himself into my top western writers list. Definitely an author not to be missed.