HELL PASS

 

HELL PASS
By Lance Howard
Cover art by Sebastià Boada
Linford Edition, 2008
First published by Robert Hale, April 2007 as A Black Horse Western

The circus comes to the town of Angel Pass, but does it bring simple pleasure for the hard-working cowboys and wide-eyed children of the community – or something more sinister?

Fresh from a mission to discover the fate of his lovely partner’s long-lost brother and faced with a series of bizarre kidnappings and jewel robberies, ex-manhunter Hannigan endeavours to find out. But will the secrets of the past prove more disturbing than the revelations of the present?

This is the fifth book of seven that Lance Howard wrote about Jim Hannigan. You don’t need to have read any of the others to get full-enjoyment out of this one as it reads like a stand-alone novel. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t any mention of Hannigan’s previous adventures. 

Lance Howard fills this book with fascinating characters – how could you not when having the plot revolve around a circus that sees dwarves, snake dancers, strong men, fortune tellers and more play important roles in the story. A circus into which Hannigan’s partner, Angela del Pelado, will go undercover to try and find trace of the stolen children.

The story contains a flash-back to Angela’s life as a small child going fishing with her brother, Alejandro. It is he who goes missing later. After Angela and Hannigan try to find him, Angela gives up on the hope of ever seeing him again. But we, as readers, know what happened to him and one of the gripping storylines this book contains is wanting to know how Angela will react when she finally comes face to face with him.

Another story-thread that hooked me was the mystery of the missing children. Where were they? Why were they being stolen? 

Although Hannigan is billed as the main character it is Angela who seems to have the larger role in this fast-moving tale. Her need to find her brother. Her desire to be more than a partner in righting wrongs with Hannigan, she wants to be his lover. These, and more, are main features of the plot, as is the horror she will surely have to face by the end of the book.

Howard’s writing is smooth-flowing and easy to read. His plot moves forward at an ever-increasing pace. There’s plenty of action that includes gunplay and assassination attempts. There’s emotional turmoil that makes you share his characters feelings. There are different storylines that are on a collision course, and when everything comes together Howard brings it all to a satisfying conclusion. 

Lance Howard is a pseudonym used by Howard Hopkins, an author whose work I’ve always enjoyed. Hell Pass proved to be another very entertaining read which left me wondering why I’ve left it so long since I last read a book by him.

Twilight Trail

By Lance Howard

Hale, May 2012

When manhunter Teel Barsom brought in notorious outlaw Slade Heath he made a fateful mistake, one with tragic consequences that would destroy the new life he’d built with his young bride, and riddle his nightmares with guilt and loss.

Trapped in a world of whiskey and shame, Teel wants nothing more than to sink deeper into despair when a mysterious young woman abducts him from the saloon and offers him redemption – redemption he wants no part of.

But with salvation comes a price, one that may cost him and his kidnapper their lives.

Lance Howard’s thirty-third Black Horse Western is as strong as anything he wrote before, perhaps not quite a dark in tone, yet it still delves into the nightmare world of guilt. Much of the first part of this story shows how Teel Barsom becomes a hopeless drunk, seeing this as the only way to escape the consequences of his decisions.

The book is fast paced, building through a series of questions, mainly revolving around just who the young woman is that is eager to see Barsom sober up and why? What plans does she have for him? Barsom is also surprised to discover her excellent ability with a gun.

Barsom isn’t through making mistakes though and a couple of these lead to Slade Heath bringing forward his plans to finish off Teel. The story then moves up a gear and races towards an exciting and savage gunfight that ties up all the plot threads neatly.

Unless Hale have another book waiting to be published then this will be Lance Howard’s final western due to his passing earlier this year. The book includes a moving page of remembrance from his family.

Twilight Trail is officially released on May 31st, but can be ordered now from the usual Internet bookstores. 

Howard Hopkins, 1961 - 2012

It's with great sadness that I write this post in memory of writer Howard Hopkins, perhaps better known to western readers as Lance Howard, whose 30+ books were published by Hale under their Black Horse Westerns imprint.

Howard was one of the first authors I ever swapped emails with and he was generous enough to send me a book or two and he was one of the first BHW authors I read. We are also exactly the same age, born on December 12th 1961. It seems he died of heart failure whilst walking in the snow on January 12th.

An obituary can be found here all with details about his service.

Comments can be left at his Facebook page here.

Howard, you will be greatly missed.

The Killing Kind

By Lance Howard

A Black Horse Western from Hale, December 2010

Jim Bartlett thought he could put his former life behind him and forge a new one as a small Texas ranch owner but he was wrong…dead wrong. Someone from his past has followed him and is systematically and permanently trying to destroy his new life, piece by piece.

With his friends and the woman his loves being threatened by a man who knows no remorse and no boundaries, Jim finds himself in a desperate struggle – not only to escape his past, but also to hold onto his life….

Lance Howard is a pseudonym used by author Howard Hopkins and under his own name he writes horror stories, and this book, like many of his other westerns, often have horror elements within them. Here we find a dead man who is destroying Bartlett’s life. Howard is an expert at creating an air of terror, of writing about a man slowly losing a grip on self-control as his friends are killed one by one. As Bartlett begins to succumb to fear he often breaks down in tears – something you don’t often find a western hero doing, and this, perhaps, makes him more human, helps the reader share the terror he’s experiencing.

The book contains plenty of vivid imagery, Howard’s descriptions painting living pictures within my mind. There’s also a lot of death, as the seemingly unstoppable killer murders Bartlett’s friends at will.

Of course the past that Bartlett has tried so hard to keep a secret eventually comes out and this brings more emotional hurt to Jim as it threatens to destroy his relationship with his girl. But Bartlett isn’t the only one with a dark past…

The Killing Kind grabbed my attention from the very beginning and I found myself reading it in one sitting as I just had to find out how a supposedly dead man could return to terrorise Bartlett. I was also very eager to see how Bartlett could possibly survive and how many of his friends would too.

If you’d like a copy of this very entertaining book then I suggest you put your order in quickly, as, although it isn’t officially released until the end of the month, it is available to order now…and from past experience I know Lance Howard westerns tend to sell-out very quickly.

Dead Man Riding

as by Lance Howard

A Black Horse Western from Hale, August 2010

Two years before, Logan Priest had left the woman he loved in hope of sheltering her from the dangers of his profession … but he made a terrible mistake. When a vicious outlaw whom he brought to justice escapes prison, he seeks revenge on the very woman that Priest once sought to protect.

Logan has no desire to return to the manhunting trail until he receives the outlaw’s grisly calling-card. Can he gather his wits in time to meet the challenge or will he become the killer’s next victim?

I’ve always enjoyed Lance Howard’s books, and this one is no exception. The opening sequences ask questions of whether the hero, Logan Priest, has done the right thing by leaving Serena behind when they both loved each other. The reader soon finds out he hasn’t when she is brutally killed, and when Priest finds this out in a very horrific way, the book explores feelings of guilt.

The anger this guilt triggers fuels the desire for revenge and the book steps up a gear and includes a neat little twist early on that throws both reader and Priest, as the man he suspects of murdering Serena was locked-up at the time of the killing.

Filled with fascinating and well-drawn characters such as Logan Priest, Dawn Hawthorne and Demarte Markello, the story grips the reader from the first pages and won’t let you go until the last. In fact left me wanting to read another of Lance Howard’s books right away.

Lance Howard is a pseudonym used by Howard Hopkins.

Dead Man Riding is officially released at the end of this month, but should be available now from the usual Internet booksellers.

The West Witch

as by Lance Howard

A Black Horse Western from Hale, 1995

The notorious Black Hood Bandits make a fatal mistake during a million dollar jewel robbery that ends their murderous spree for good. East coast detective Quinton Hilcrest journeys west on a shoestring and a prayer seeking the missing jewels in the backwoods town of Hags Bend. Within hours he is fighting for his life, ensnared in a tangle of hidden motives and the story of a beautiful outcast the town claims is a witch! Will he disappear into legend with the bandits, or be caught in the spell of the west witch?

Lance Howard (real name Howard Hopkins) writes fast paced westerns full of intrigue. His tales often have elements of horror that helps to draw the reader into his stories and makes them stand out from other westerns.

This book doesn’t disappoint in pace and plot. The characters are well drawn and the secret of the missing jewels is kept just that, until the author is ready to reveal the answer.

There’s lots of action, the first chapter brimming with it – a bank robbery, a stagecoach robbery and the end of the Black Hood bandits, finishing with a cliff-hanger as to the identity of one of them, that just keeps the reader turning the pages.

Hilcrest makes for a great hero, his inexperience of the West allowing Howard to insert some humourous moments.

All the threads to the story come to a satisfying end in a bloody finale.

I think all western fans will find this an enjoyable read and should make the effort to find a copy.

The Last Draw

 as by Lance Howard

Linford Large Print, 2000
 originally published as a Black Horse Western from Hale, 1999

Luke Banner is a man haunted by the ghosts of his past, the ghost of Jesse the girl he intended to marry, the ghost of the man who killed her and the ghosts of those he’s killed since. Banner became a manhunter after killing the man who killed Jesse, his existence driven by the need to kill those on the wrong side of the law.

Now Banner has received an unsigned telegram that brings him to Bellstar, Colorado. Almost immediately there are attempts on his life. Yet the sender of the telegram doesn’t come forward. Who wants him dead and why? Is the murderous gang terrorizing the territory involved?

Howard quickly puts questions to the reader that hook you, make you want to read on to find out the who and whys. The book has a fairly dark tone throughout as Banner contemplates suicide by letting one of those he goes up against kill him. Banner needs to escape his ghosts.

Then Banner meets the woman who brings forth feelings he thought long dead, the feeling of love. She feels the same for him. Yet Banner knows those he gets close to will die so steps back. Tries to push these feelings aside. Accepts a suicidal mission.

Howard writes a fast paced book filled with action that builds to a final confrontation that answers all the questions and brings forth a surprising revelation.

Does Banner escape his ghosts? Does he live or die in the process? I guess you’ll have to read it to find out.

Get a copy here.