DUEL IN PURGATORY

 

GUNN
Book 6 of 29
DUEL IN PURGATORY
By Jory Sherman
Cover art by Pino Daeni
Zebra Books, 1981

The stage is set for trouble when Gunn arrives in Colorado. He’s there to assist an old friend, Herb Oxley, but even Gunn’s helping hands are tied. The cattle owners are feuding over possession – and someone is tampering with the brands.

Before he gets a chance to intervene Gunn is nearly killed in an ambush by a lone sniper. He suspects that it’s an inside job, probably one of Oxley’s gang. That explains why Oxley’s beautiful young wife is being so flirtatious – or at least one the reasons why.

Gunn being ambushed is how this book begins. It’s one of the best parts of the story, tension filled, almost noir in its telling. It also sets up a mystery for Gunn to try and solve. Jory Sherman’s prose is a joy to read, at times poetic in its descriptions, hard hitting at times – one scene making me cringe, as I expect it will for most male readers. The book contains plenty of gunplay and one of the longest fistfights I’ve read for a long time. 

The violence is graphic and the many sex scenes explicit, the latter encounters taking up quite a few pages each. There are plenty of women eager to share their bed with Gunn but will they all get what they desire? I did think Mr. Sherman could have been a bit more imaginative when he described their eyes – most if not all have blue eyes. 

The plot isn’t overly complicated by it certainly kept me turning the pages, especially as I wanted to see if my suspicions on who was the mystery sniper was correct. Trouble is Jory Sherman is very good at pointing the finger at most of the book’s characters as being that person so I doubted myself a number of times and still got it wrong.

As the pages began to run out, I did begin to wonder if it would have a rushed ending, or would some of the plotlines spill over into the next book. Fear not though, Jory Sherman wrapped it all up well with some shocking revelations and brutality.  

Duel in Purgatory is another entertaining read in what, so far, has been a strong series.