THE KILLING CORRIDOR

THE TRAILSMAN

Number 140 of 398

By Jon Sharpe

Signet, August 1993

The Pawnee were running amok from Kansas down to Oklahoma, and the only thing the U.S. Army was stopping was their arrow heads. That’s why General Eakins turned to Skye Fargo for help. Skye liked Eakins’ hotblooded daughter Annabel far better than her cold-fish father, but still took the job and headed south to a Missouri swept by a firestorm of savage fury. What he found was a woman doing a man’s dangerous job, and a mystery that went beyond Indian uprisings to unspeakable white treachery, as he followed a trail of greed and gore with his country’s future at stake and his life on the line at every false lead, wrong turn, and dead end….

After opening scenes that result in Fargo being troubled by a statement Eakins makes regarding his daughter, the author piles on the problems facing The Trailsman. Why are the Pawnee making half-hearted attacks on the soldiers and how is gold being smuggled to finance the confederate states as the threat of Civil War grows? Whilst trying to solve these mysteries, Fargo finds himself in a number of fights, some of his own making as he attempts to force those he suspects to reveal themselves.

The Trailsman is an adult western series so the book does contain some graphic sex, but after the first explicit scene these acts are dealt with quickly so they don’t interrupt the story's main plot too much. 

The book is easy to read and the pacing is superb, never letting up in the action department, each chapter have at least one round of gunplay or fist-fights. Going by the length of the chapters, I’d hazard a guess at this being written by series originator Jon Messmann, but I wouldn’t like to say for sure. One thing I did notice, and that is that Fargo doesn’t carry an Arkansas Toothpick in this book, instead he has a throwing knife concealed in his boot. Perhaps the toothpick was introduced later in the series?

The plot isn’t particularly complicated and offered little in the way of surprises and how the gold was being smuggled was easy to work out. Having said that these points didn’t lessen my enjoyment of this book and I’d recommend it to all fans of the Trailsman series.

The Trailsman #87

BROTHEL BULLETS

as by Jon Sharpe

Signet, March 1989

Good-looking women in the Arizona wilds were worth their weight in gold for anyone who could supply them to the lonely, lusting men eager to pay for their pleasures.

When a gang of vicious gunmen decided to make a killing in the skin trade, they kidnapped women the same way rustlers stole cattle, and sold them like meat. Their one big mistake was grabbing the two daughters of rich old Owen Hatchfield, because he hired Skye Fargo to rescue them and sweep the desert clean of this filthy, savage scourge. And Fargo lost no time fulfilling his duty, as he shot his way through every brothel and every badman in Arizona…

Fast paced, loads of fighting action, jealous women, and a generous amount of sex (this is an adult western series after all – and the earlier books in this long running series had much more of this than the books do these days), and a twisting plot that sees Fargo trying to solve the mystery of who is behind the kidnapping gang. Fargo is a tough man who’ll back down from no one and will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Going by the style of writing, and the length of the chapters, I’d guess at this being by series creator Jon Messmann.

A while back I reviewed The Trailsman #100: Riverboat Gold, and I said I was disappointed that it seemed like Fargo and Canyon O’Grady (the lead character from Jon Sharpe’s other series) already knew each other, as I believed they’d been teamed up for the landmark 100th Trailsman book. Brothel Bullets reveals that Fargo and O’Grady had met before and this book is definitely where they first met (whether they team up in any others I’ve yet to discover), and O’Grady has his part to play in bringing down the gang. His past and who he is Messmann keeps shrouded in mystery, I guess to encourage readers to buy the Canyon O’Grady series when it was launched in July 1989.

Overall a very entertaining book in The Trailsman series, and a must read for fans of the Canyon O’Grady series.

The Trailsman #5

THE RIVER RAIDERS

as by Jon Sharpe

Signet, February 1981

When a pistol-packing blonde beauty pegged Skye Fargo, the Trailsman, as a hired gunslinger out to get her uncle’s foreman, it was draw first and ask questions later. Yet by the time he’d tamed the gorgeous young spitfire enough to convince her she was wrong, Fargo was trapped into hunting down the desperadoes who were killing her uncle’s men and stealing his cargo from the riverboats.

Lured on by the loving promise of double pleasure from the gloriously golden Amber and her voluptuous, raven-haired sister, April, Fargo had no choice but to ride a river of treachery, where every bend hid another bushwhacker thirsting for his blood…

Jon Sharpe throws so many questions at the reader that it is almost impossible to put this book down until discovering the answers, many of which will only be found out at the end.

The author (who I believe is series originator Jon Messman) places suspicion on just about every character in the book, as to who is behind the plot to put Sam Fuller out of business. And when you think you’re getting close to working it out the writer slips another twist into the tale to keep you guessing.

It’s also interesting to see the differences in this early entry in the series and the books being published today; for instance it isn’t mentioned that Fargo wears buckskins, the Ovaro is referred to as the pinto nearly all the time, and all the women seem to be there just for Fargo’s pleasure.

So in conclusion this is a well written, tough, fast moving, action filled book that should provide gripping reading for all Trailsman fans.