THE BIG SHOWDOWN

CALEB YORK

Number 2 of 6

By Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

Kensington hardback, May 2016

Pinnacle paperback, April 2017

Times are changing. Caleb York is saddling up to try his hand as a Pinkerton man out California way. But before he can leave Trinidad, New Mexico, a peaceful morning erupts in a barrage of gunfire. When the dust settles, Caleb has gunned down two bad men, with another just dodging a ticket to hell . . . but leaving one very good man lying dead in the street.

Lightning quick, Caleb rides after the fleeing gunman, only to be swept up in an evil wind blowing back through the sleepy town, threatening its very existence. Caleb’s only chance to restore justice is to load his guns, dig in his spurs, and take on a ruthless killer. In a town drowning in blood, riddled with bullets, and hoping for a hero, Caleb York is the right man at the right time – ready to face the vengeful outlaws in a chilling storm-swept showdown.

I’m not sure why it has taken me so long getting around to reading the second book in this series after enjoying the first one a lot. Like the earlier book, this one falls into the traditional category of westerns, so it should be a pleasurable read for all fans of the genre. There are a lot of links, both in characters and plotlines, between both books, so new readers to the series may find it worthwhile reading The Legend of Caleb York first, although this is not essential.

The author spins an entertaining yarn on many levels. The situations that York has to deal with, both facing outlaws and the two women that have central roles in this tale caught my imagination from the opening scenes. York does seem to place his needs before those of anyone else, which causes some interesting developments in his personal life. The story also contains strong mystery elements. Who’s behind the bank robbery and where has the money disappeared to? Then there’s a series of murders to solve. On top of all this, five gunmen are heading to Trinidad to avenge the death of their brother. Amid all the killings, the author includes some touches of humour, in both his descriptive observations and conversations that had me laughing out loud a couple of times. 

Even though the author kept the identity of the person behind the problems York finds himself facing, I didn’t find it difficult to work out who that character was before it was revealed. Having said that, in no way did it dampen my enjoyment of this story and I look forward to reading the third book in the series very soon. 

The Legend of Caleb York

By Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

Pinnacle, May 2016

Trinidad, New Mexico, is an oasis of civilization in an untamed desert ruled by outlaws, bank robbers and horse thieves. Sheriff Harry Gauge rules his town with an iron fist, a fast gun, and an unbridled thirst for power.

George Cullen sweated blood to carve a ranch from the wilderness. He’d rather take a bullet to the gut than give in to the greedy sheriff’s land grab. But a cattle empire isn’t all Gauge wants – he also has his eye on Cullen’s beautiful daughter Willa.

Cullen gets word out that he’s hiring the fastest gunslinger money can buy to take on the sheriff. When a stranger rides in, townsfolk wonder if this is the rancher’s hired gun. Wherever he came from, wherever he’s going, two things are clear – the stranger won’t be pushed…and his aim is deadly.

Originally published in 2015 as a hardcover this story is based on a screenplay, The Saga of Caleb York, written by Mickey Spillane for his friend John Wayne around 1959. It never made it to film due to Wayne’s production company struggling due to the losses his film The Alamo made. You can read much more about this, and how Max Allan Collins came to turn the screenplay into a novel at the beginning of the book. Collins is perhaps best known for his graphic novel Road to Perdition which inspired the Oscar winning film starring Paul Newman and Tom Hanks, 

Collins has written a book that is extremely readable. Due to when the screenplay was written you can easily imagine it as a film from the 1960’s or perhaps the 1970’s. Having said that Collins has adapted it so it doesn’t appear dated. Occasionally it has the feel of one of those hard-hitting detective films full of tough men and equally as hard women that Spillane wrote about in his Mike Hammer novels. All this, and some fairly graphic violence, mix perfectly to result in a top class western read that should please all fans of the genre.

There’s a couple of neat twists, and some great mystery surrounding the Stranger’s identity, surely he is Banion, the man who killed Caleb York? Sheriff Gauge, a lightning fast gun himself doesn’t care who the Stranger is, just knows he’s a man to be got rid of in any way possible. The Stranger also has two women to deal with but can the fact that he is a killer be overcome by one of them so her true feeling can emerge?

For the seasoned western reader the plot falls under the banner of traditional but there’s nothing wrong with that, especially as I’ve already said the book is so well written by Max Allan Collins that it is a pleasure to read. So much so that I am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Big Showdown, that is already available as a hardcover and is due out in paperback next March.