Hounds of Hate

BLOOD FEUD #2

By David Robbins

Mad Hornet Publishing, July 2016

The feud between the Shannon family and the Harkey clan continues. Chace and Cassie Shannon head to New Orleans to put the bloodshed behind them. But the Harkeys have other ideas, and bring along a pack of bloodhounds trained to kill to track the twins down. 

Brought to bay hundreds of miles from their kin, Chace and Cassie must rely on their wits and each other if they’re to survive the vicious hounds of hate.

Way back in October 2010 Signet published a book by David Robbins called Blood Feud, this story introduced us to Chace and Cassie Shannon and told of their blood feud with the Harkey clan. Although this was a great stand-alone novel it did leave the way open for a sequel and that has finally happened with the publication of Hounds of Hate.

The story begins where the previous book finished with Chace and Cassie and their followers heading into New Orleans. Chace has a plan but keeps everyone in the dark about it, something I’m going to do too so as not to spoil this aspect of the tale.

The book contains plenty of action that often comes without warning and in one case proving how cold and vicious Chace can be. Dialogue is believable and often had me laughing out loud, as did some of the antics of Tallulah, a young girl who is one of the Shannon gang, with her dreams of marrying Chace someday, making her fiercely protective of him, much to the astonishment of others and Chace in particular. 

David Robbins switches from character to character regularly and often leaves them in peril at a chapter end encouraging you to keep reading. The story flows smoothly towards its final showdown between Chase, Cassie and the Harkey’s that have trailed them to New Orleans, the hounds giving a viciously deadly twist to this last gunfight.

Everything concludes neatly and satisfactorily but, like before, the story does leave the way open for another book. Let’s hope David Robbins doesn’t keep us waiting quite so long to find out what happens next.

Blood Feud

by David Robbins

Signet, October 2010

They beat and abused his older sister. They poisoned his pa and his uncle and then chopped them up with an ax. But the bloodthirsty Harkey clan really went wrong when they didn’t bargain on a sixteen-year-old avenger.

Chace Shannon killed his first man before he could shave. Now he and his twin sister, Cassie, are sixteen. The twins have a special bond, but Chace must ride the vengeance trail alone. For the sake of his family, he’s taking the fight to the Harkeys – and the lucky ones will die quickly.

If you ever want a hero to challenge your sense of right and wrong then you just have to read this. Maybe hero is the wrong word to describe Chace perhaps anti-hero is more fitting? Whichever you decide, Chace Shannon is a superbly created character whose actions will have you cheering him on, repel you with revulsion a couple of times, and make you wonder if he’s a cold-blooded killer with a heart of gold. Chace Shannon is a character with real depth.

And it’s not just Chace you’ll remember for a long time, there are other equally memorable characters: Chase’s twin sister for instance, Cassie – their relationship will really get you thinking. There’s the man at the inn with his horrifying secret. Members of the Harkey and Shannon families, the list goes on and on.

The book is extremely well paced, quite dark in tone, and filled with exciting action – often quite brutal. Even without the inclusion of cliff-hanger scene endings this book would be very difficult to put down before the final page has been read. The end leaves the storyline open for a sequel and I hope that one will appear sometime in the not too distant future.

Blood Feud is definitely one of the best westerns written by David Robbins and should be on the must read list of all western fans.