Dead Man at Snake's Creek

By Rob Hill

The Crowood Press, December 2017

Credence, Texas, is a one-horse town. Dying on its feet since the closure of the Shawnee Trail, the place is divided by bitterness, resentment and feuds that have smouldered on for years.

This is what Johnny Hartford finds when he returns home for his brother’s wedding. Ten years before, he left the town in a blaze of glory to travel to Chicago and become a Pinkerton Agent. But that was before the war. Now everything has changed: his dying father will barely speak to him, his brother is running wild and longhorn rustling is rife. Determined to make amends with his family and catch the cattle thieves, Hartford turns to old Sheriff Milton for help. But the day after he arrives, a prominent local rancher is shot in the back and Hartford discovers that almost everyone in town has a reason for wanting him dead.

The story opens with the murder of the rancher by an unknown killer and it isn’t long before the author has the reader meeting a number of people who all have reason for wanting the rancher dead, and the mention of items in that opening scene take on more significance, perhaps pointing at the identity of the killer?

Rob Hill doesn’t include a lot of gunplay in this gripping tale, it isn’t needed. There is more than enough intrigue to hold any reader’s attention as Hartford struggles to solve the mystery of who killed the rancher whilst seeking out, and stopping the cattle rustlers.

Hill’s prose is very descriptive and at times almost poetic and captivates the imagination well, painting vivid imagery in the minds-eye. His story development is well paced and contains a number of surprises. Even after all the denials from a number of characters as to being the killer, imagine the frustrations Hartford faces when a handful of those people all declare themselves the murderer.

With Dead Man at Snakes Creek, Rob Hill once again proves to me that he is an author worth reading as this story is every bit as enthralling as any of the others I’ve read by him and once more I’m left eagerly looking forward to the release of his next book.

Hanging Day

By Rob Hill

Hale, February 2015

Wrongly convicted of his wife’s murder, Josh Tillman busts out of jail the night before he is due to hang. Rather than go on the run, he heads home determined to prove his innocence and track down his wife’s killer. He has no evidence and no witnesses to back up his story. His father-in-law, cattle baron Stover Meckets, wants him dead and a corrupt prison guard is chasing him, determined to claim the price on his head.

A hanging posse has trailed him from prison and is closing in. When the preacher who conducted his wedding ceremony turns up out of nowhere and has the nerve to stand up for Tillman, he is shot in cold blood.

With no one to help him, can Tillman figure out who the killer is and find enough evidence to prove it before the posse arrives and strings him up from a tree in his own backyard?

In a story that takes place over a very short period of time, Rob Hill perfectly captures the senses of frustration and hopelessness in not just Tillman’s quest but also in Stover Meckets as he is accused of killing his own daughter, something he denies with just as much passion as Tillman does in saying he didn’t kill his wife. In fact a lot of this tale revolves around the struggle to convince others that they weren’t involved in the death of June Meckets.

As the posse closes in the story becomes much more tense and the arrival of the preacher and a group of cowboys further complicates matters and it isn’t long before Tillman feels the bite of a rope around his neck leading to a superb ‘how is he going to get out of that’ moment.

I’ve read a few of Rob Hill’s other Black Horse Westerns and each one has left me eager to try more of his work, Hanging Day equally does that too. If you’ve not read Rob Hill yet then now might be just the time to rectify that.

The High Trail

By Rob Hill

Hale, October 2013

With his supply wagon lost at the bottom of a ravine, his men mutinous, and winter weather closing in, Lieutenant Calvin Glaze is facing a desperate struggle for survival in the high mountain passes of the Oregon Trail. As conditions worsen, the young lieutenant comes to realize that he has been set up, and that his mission was always designed to fail.

Facing down unspeakable horror on the high trail, Glaze forces himself to travel beyond the limits of ordinary human endurance to confront the man out to destroy him.

Rob Hill’s descriptions of the extreme conditions Glaze and his small band of troopers find themselves battling are superbly written, placing the reader right there with them, experiencing the deadly cold, the lack of vision, the hunger, and the fear of death. It’s during this strength zapping trek along the high trail that Glaze thinks about his past, horrific events that lead to him being sent on a fools’ mission.

There are many memorable scenes within this tale that will remain in the memory for a long while, such as a deer with a gun (yeap, you read that right) and a meal unlike any the soldiers have had before. It’s on meeting the deer that the book takes on a dark tone that continues until the end when Glaze returns to face his enemy, and it is here that Rob Hill has a great twist to the tale waiting, one I didn’t see coming that finishes the story in style.

With each Rob Hill book I read I find myself eager to pick up another, hoping it won’t be too long before a new one is published. Rob Hill has definitely become one of my favourite Black Horse Western writers and I’d suggest that if you haven’t read any of his work before then The High Trail would be a great place to start.

Tom Rider's Reckoning

By Rob Hill

Hale, February 2013

A group of men who founded a prosperous cattle town are to be called to account for something they thought was long buried. After a local lawbreaker blows the cover from their abhorrent nest of lies, Sheriff Tom Rider finds himself accused of looking the other way.

Faced with the realization that his closest friends are guilty of unspeakable atrocities, Rider is forced to accept that he has been manipulated and betrayed. Can he find out exactly what went on? Will he have the courage to admit his part in the cover-up which, until now, he had not known he played?

This tale is filled with mystery and intrigue. Every time I thought I knew where the storyline was going Rob Hill threw in another twist. His plotting easily grabbed my attention and I also found his prose to be very visual, particularly the scene when Rider returns to town to find it deserted and discovers three items waiting in the town square that really start him questioning what is going on and his friendships of the past years.

With strong characters of both sexes, plenty of action and hard-hitting revelations embroiled in murder and greed, this really is a page-turner; a book that demands to be read in one sitting.

As far as I can tell this is Rob Hill’s seventh Black Horse Western and it's the fourth I have read by him. The three I read before this all left me looking forward to reading more of his work and this book follows that path, and I’ll also add that this is probably his best yet.

Tom Rider’s Reckoning has an official release date of February 28th and is available for pre-order now from the usual Internet bookstores.

Judgement Trail

By Rob Hill

Hale, October 2012

At the outbreak of Civil War, regiments stationed along the Oregon Trail are posted back East to fight for the Union. Hastily assembled militia units seize control of the trail forts and wagon trains are left vulnerable to exploitation and attack.

Halted with a broken axle, westbound pioneers Eve Maddison and Wesley Jackson encounter a mysterious frontiersman known simply as ‘Stranger’. They also run up against the vicious Viperine brothers, in charge of a local militia and plotting to extort money from the stranded pioneers.

Stranger insists that everyone is judged by their actions on the trail. His philosophy of courage and self-reliance inspires Eve and Wesley to make a stand against the Viperines – and face up to some difficult truths….

At first this story seems to be the standard tale about standing up to those running a protection racket, but as I read further into the tale it became much more as Eve’s past is slowly revealed and becomes a lethal threat to her and Wesley’s future. How this will be solved proves to be a great hook that kept me turning the pages.

Rob Hill has created a group of strong characters in Eve, Wesley, Stranger and some of the people who work in the fort. The story rotates around Eve and I soon found myself caring about what would happen to her and her companions. How can a small, scar-faced woman stand up to the brutal Viperine’s who think nothing of inflicting pain, framing people for killings, and stealing from the helpless? And once Eve seems to be gaining control more secrets are exposed in an unforeseen, by me, twist that proves to have a deadly sting-in-the-tail.

Judgement Trail is officially released at the end of the month but is available now from the usual Internet bookstores.

Ace High in Wilderness

By Rob Hill

A Black Horse Western from Hale, June 2011

It has been seven years since the Civil War ended. Ex-sharpshooter John Wright has tried to forget the horrors of his incarceration in the Confederate POW camp at Andersonville, where he watched, powerless, as one of the guards murdered his childhood friend.

Now, two ex-prisoners show up, telling John they have tracked down the murderous prison guard and need help bringing him in. They offer John a share of the reward. But all is not as it seems and John is about to find out that the road to justice is rocky indeed….

Rob Hill sure packs a lot into this book, each chapter seeming to add more problems for his hero to overcome. As well as the opportunity for revenge against the prison guard, there’s a bank robbery, a crooked sheriff, John’s woman’s ex-husband wanting his son, a jailbreak, a Sioux uprising, a town waiting to be massacred by the Indians, the army trying to keep a tight rein on everything, and a few other story threads too.

The story switches from one set of characters to another seamlessly, often leaving them with a problem to face, ensuring the reader keeps turning the pages. One can’t help but wonder how Wright can possibly come out of this in one piece and on the right side of the law, or even if he’ll be alive at the end.

As soon as you think you know how the story will turn out, Rob Hill adds another twist into his fast paced, action-packed tale, meaning his latest book is another gripping read. Once more leaving me looking forward to his next one.

Ace High in Wilderness is officially released on June 30^th, but it is already available through the usual Internet sources.

Rangeland Justice

by Rob Hill

A Black Horse Western from Hale, July 2010

When Jack Just, weary from long days on the trail, rides into an isolated cattle town on the Texas Panhandle, he discovers that the greedy and powerful Clovis Blacklake has the whole town in his pocket.

But when Jack discovers that Blacklake has cheated the town’s most downtrodden inhabitant out of his rightful property, he decides to make a stand.

It takes a real man to fight the ruthless Blacklake and when Jack does; the table finally begin to turn….

It seems as though this is the first Black Horse Western to appear under this author’s name, whether this is his real name or a pseudonym I have no idea.

The book begins at an almost gentle pace, even though the opening pages do include a vicious beating, and slowly builds towards its climax at ever increasing speed.

The author takes time introducing the various characters that are going to be the main players in the story, such as Jack Just, Clovis Blacklake and his sister Adela who is near blind, Sheriff Bull Brown and his part-time deputies, the crippled Indian Moses and more. There’s one, though, whom he doesn’t reveal much about: a Comanche who keeps appearing and watching events at the abandoned mission, thus adding a touch of mystery to the story. There’s other questions too, for instance is Blacklake really as bad as Just believes, as most of the townsfolk hold him in high regard.

Rob Hill doesn’t include any events that aren’t going to have a part to play later in the story, for instance the brutal beating at the beginning, which at first appears to be just showing how savage the deputies can be, sees the beaten man having an important role to play later that helps shape the outcome of the book, particularly during the showdown between Just and Blacklake during a prize fight challenge.

The story ends in a somewhat surprising way, considering the plot seems to be following a traditional western storyline for the most part, in that who lives and who dies, and what the future holds for those who survive, may not be how many might expect the book to finish.

Rangeland Justice should be available from Internet bookstores now, and I, for one, hope it isn’t too long before another book appears from this author.