THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE WAR

THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE WAR

By Bill Sheehy

The Crowood Press, February 2017

A gang of vigilantes calling themselves The Vigilance Committee are preventing a part of the Indian Territory from becoming a State, and Buck Armstrong and his partner Louie Lewis are being paid to bring them in.

The two former Texas Rangers have been hired by local businesses to stop the vigilantes. Newspaper articles about the hangings being done by the Committee are worrying members of Congress about to vote on statehood. Making their job difficult is that most of the area’s big ranchers don’t really care. They believe hanging rustlers is a good thing. On top of that, a pair of gunslingers each with personal plans for revenge against the former Rangers are in town.

What happens when Buck and Louie get too close to members of the Committee? That is when Louie ends up at the end of a hangman’s noose.

I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of books by William Sheehy a few years ago under one of his pseudonyms; J.D. Ryder (the other being Carlton Youngblood), so was looking forward to this one which carries his own name. 

Bill Sheehy writes in an easy-to-read style that flows well, encouraging you to read more. The plotline isn’t complicated and meanders quite a bit which I felt slowed down the story and came across as padding. Sheehy spends a lot of time telling the backstory of his characters, even those that have little to do with the plot or in moving the tale forward. I did wonder if there were clues in these backstories as to the identity of The Committee members and who ran the group, so I read them rather than skip them. Sheehy does well in keeping these identities hidden though, so this kept me interested in reading the rest of the book. 

There’s not a lot of action in this story. It’s a very talky tale as Buck and Louie spend most of their time riding around and asking questions of various people – and learning their backstories. Buck and Louie also get to reflect on incidents from their pasts too. I guess this is done to flesh out the characters and does so to varying degrees. 

As the story played out as I expected it would I began to correctly guess at the identity of the Committee members but Sheehy did spring a surprise or two near the end that I didn’t see coming which gave a darker tone to the end of the book. 

The Vigilance Committee War was an ok read. If this was the first book I’d read by this author it may well have been my last as lengthy backstories that have nothing to do with the plot really aren’t to my taste. The other two books I’ve read by Sheehy were much better so I’m sure I’ll give another a go somewhere down the trail. 

DEATH RIDES FAST

DEATH RIDES FAST

By Cy James

Panther Books, April 1964

For a woman – he challenged the desert…challenged thirst and hunger…challenged the whole Comanche nation…challenged death itself…

Against the vast loneliness of the terrible Staked Plains stood one man, challenging the scourge of the Texas border. He fought death by thirst, hunger and violence, because the woman he wanted had been taken from him. Arne Bushby would have challenged Hell itself rather than back down from a fight for what belonged to him.

When we first meet Arne Bushby, he is on the run with his friend Carl Diplock. They’re being pursued by a posse. Bushwhacked and wounded, Bushby and Diplock make it to a cabin which is the home of two young ladies. The posse catch them there but before anyone can leave the Comanche attack. This prolonged battle sees the girls taken by the Comanches which leads to Bushby, Diplock, the girls father Lane, and an English rancher who is sweet on the same girl Bushby falls for, ride out to rescue them.

Cy James is a pseudonym used by Peter C. Watts, perhaps better known for his work as Matt Chisholm. If you’ve ever read anything by him, you’ll know you’re in for an action-packed read and Death Rides Fast is certainly that. The siege of the ranch house is full of tension and dramatic scenes, something that could easily have been the conclusion to many stories, but Watts has much more hardship planned for his rough heroes. How about two of those men tracking the girls and their captors facing fifty bloodthirsty Comanches? Another, Bushby, attempting to rescue the girls from a large Comanche camp? Later, Bushby will have to face superior odds alone. There are plenty of other skirmishes too and not everyone will survive. 

Watts’ characters are tough men, and women, all of whom will sacrifice themselves to achieve their aims. Fear is brushed aside so they can do what needs to be done. Watts excels in his descriptive prose of the battles and the determination of Bushby to survive comes over strongly even though the odds on that happening seem hopeless. 

The plot is straight-forward and plays out pretty much as you’d expect, although there is always a nagging doubt of any of the main characters surviving. The storytelling is excellent and the pacing is terrific as it gallops from one bout of gunplay to the next with hardly any time to breathe between. 

If you like fast-moving tough westerns, filled with action, then I’d recommend this book to you. If you’ve never read anything by Watts, then Death Rides Fast would be a great introduction to his writing.