Cougar Prowls

By Owen G. Irons

Hale, October 2014

Battle-hardened Carroll Cougar has finally made it home to his little ranch on Twin Creeks with his new bride, Ellen, after spending years with General Crook in the southwestern wars.

But Cougar and Ellen have left too many enemies alive behind them, and more have accumulated in Twin Creeks in their absence. With his home dangerously threatened, Cougar realizes his warrior years are far from behind him and the time has come for him to buckle on his guns and go out prowling, until he has defeated every last one of his enemies.

This book continues the storylines begun in Cougar Tracks and readers may like to read that one before this, although Owen G. Irons does include enough information for readers new to Cougar to understand what has happened previously.

The first seventy or so pages conclude the major story threads from the first book in a number of desperate and bloody confrontations that will also see Cougar struck dumb by some of the heart-breaking truths that are revealed and they surprised this reader too.

The rest of the book sees Cougar and Ellen attempting to begin a new life but trouble isn’t far away and Irons' uses this part of the tale to tie-up a situation that started right at the beginning of the first book.

Owen G. Irons is a pseudonym used by Paul Lederer, and as expected this book proved to be extremely difficult to put down. Full of gripping action scenes, well-crafted characters, and mystery – such as who is sniping at Cougar’s homestead and why? The story comes to a satisfying ending and I’m left looking forward to Paul’s next book and hoping that, just maybe, we haven’t heard the last of Cougar. 

Cougar Tracks

By Owen G. Irons

Hale, May 2014

Carroll Cougar is a quiet, peaceful man living at home on his small ranch on Twin Creek after years of scouting for the US Army. But sometimes you can’t leave trouble behind. And, when a letter arrives from General Crook, signed by the President, who is fighting Apaches in the West, informing him that a coalition of Apaches, Comanches, white Americans and even some European forces are gathering, hoping to take the entire Southwest, it seems like one of those times.

Coupled with the information that one of the leaders of this new group is one Solon Reineke, the man who killed the only woman Cougar ever loved, he knows the opportunity cannot be shrugged away. He might have been able to ignore the President’s call to duty, but not the temptation to hunt Reineke. He must track the killer down and finally finish their blood grudge.

During the past few months it seems Hale are publishing longer and longer books, and this is one of the longest yet. They still have the same number of pages, just much smaller print and more lines per page. 

Cougar makes for a superb lead character, a tough man haunted by bad memories. Yet, as the story progresses, glimpses of his caring side are revealed. During his journey to find Reineke he finds himself riding with old friends and new, all of whom might be hiding dangerous secrets. And what of the various groups of trailing riders? Who are they and what do they want?

Owen G. Irons has long been one of my favourite Black Horse Western writers and with this book he has presented the reader with a fascinating storyline full of twists and turns. All the main characters are explored in depth making you want to discover more about them, find out what happens to them, confirm your suspicions about some of them. Which is just as well, as like the best serials this book leaves a number of threads hanging, left me cursing (in the best way possible) that you can’t end the book like that! Which lead me to discover that a follow up book, Cougar Prowls, will be released in October, and now I’m wishing my life away as that seems a long time to have to wait to see how this excellent tale continues.

Cougar Tracks atAmazon.com

Cougar Tracks at Amazon.co.uk