Slashed and mutilated bodies of blue-coated cavalry troopers were turning up in the squalid streets of the Flats – a notorious community of gambling houses and seedy bordellos that hugged the outskirts of Fort Griffin, Texas. Other troopers had been knifed, drugged and otherwise forcibly relieved of their monthly pay. Authorities suspect a vicious crime ring of madams and grogshop operators, but official investigations accomplished nothing. In desperation, the military high command turned to Powell’s Army for help. Their assignment: Infiltrate the Flats’ bloodthirsty underworld. For the three troubleshooters, it’s an undercover mission that means risking their lives in a perilous gamble where death holds the winning hand.
Being the first book in a series this tale starts with the author filling in readers with background information about Powell and his operatives; Celia Burnett, Gerald Glidinghawk and Landrum Davis. There’s also information about their contact, Preston Fox and the history of the creation of Powell’s Army and how they are seen as unnecessary by some of Powell’s commanding officers. They must succeed in their mission if the unit wants to stay operational. This all takes up quite a few pages, which for me, slowed the start of the book down a little but did help flesh out the main characters.
Terence Duncan is a pseudonym which would be shared by four authors. This book, and the next two, were written by Barbara Puechner. As the author is female, I couldn’t help but wonder if that is why Celia takes centre-stage in this tale? In fact, her two companions barely feature in the story and readers don’t get to share what they are finding out about the killings until they pass that information on to Celia.
The book came over as a character study of Celia. Readers witness her doubts as to her abilities to do her job. We share her revulsions to other characters, to seeing men die and to having to take a life for the first time. Celia experiences love, hate, the loss of her virginity and the horror of being drugged and raped. All this and more, strengthens her resolve to get the job done. Failure is not something she will accept. Watching her change from being a doubtful girl, in some areas completely naïve, to become a determined young woman capable of anything, including killing, was fascinating. Which was a good job really, as there was very little other action taking place.
The bad guys were pretty easy to pick out, although the author did surprise me a couple of times throwing my thoughts of the who and why off track. Some of the descriptions of violence were quite brutal in their portrayal. Puechner’s writing style is easy to read and the story moved forward at a fast pace.
Although I usually prefer a bit more gunplay in my western reading, I did find this story to be enjoyable and I was left looking forward to reading the next book in the series. I’m also interested in discovering whether Puechner always has Celia taking the lead role or whether she switched it around a bit and put either Glidinghawk or Davis into that central position.
2 comments:
If I recall correctly after all these years, each of the books showcased a different character, on an alternating basis. I know I did one where Gerald Glidinghawk was the lead, but I don't remember about the others.
That's good to know James, I'm looking forward to reading the rest as soon as I can.
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