SLOCUM BURIED ALIVE

 

SLOCUM BURIED ALIVE

Book 424 of 430 + 17 Giant Editions

By Jake Logan

Cover illustration by Sergio Giovine

Jove, June 2014

Passing uneasily through the dried-up town of Espero, Texas, John Slocum learns soon enough that his apprehension is justified. After a not-so-friendly welcome at the Six Feet Under Saloon, he’s given the choice between a bullet or a bit of employment: Escort the town mortician’s strikingly pretty bride-to-be from a train station at Dexter Junction – in exchange for a hefty sum.

But with someone after the gunslinger and the mysterious beauty, Slocum reckons that the undertaker neglected to tell him the whole story. There’s treachery in store for Slocum upon returning to Espero, a place where men have been known to land in an early grave… much too early…

The author had me hooked right from the start and soon added more questions that needed answering, along with mystery upon mystery. Are any of the characters Slocum meets really who they say they are? The undertaker’s bride-to-be, Miranda Madison, is certainly hiding something… and who is the man trailing her? The mortician is definitely acting strangely. What is his game? He doesn’t act like a completely sane man either… especially when he announces his wedding gift to his wife-to-be will be a newly made coffin! 

The book contains plenty of action, and some truly horrific scenes as the undertaker’s sinister acts are slowly exposed. Slocum has to endure being buried alive, a fate many of us fear, and this part of the book will stay with me for a long time, as will the truth behind the undertaker’s plans and that of Miranda. 

I believe the author behind the pseudonym of Jake Logan for this book is Robert Vardeman and here he has come up with a very memorable plot. It was also great to see that he includes a fair bit about Slocum’s past; explaining how he became a man wanted by the law, and how he’s still willing to commit crimes so he can survive. 

Slocum Buried Alive proved to be a very entertaining read and I’m now eager to dig out more of Vardeman’s entries into the series to see if they’re just as good as this one.

American readers can get a copy here

British readers can get a copy here

Slocum #247

DEAD MAN’S SPURS 
as by Jake Logan

Jove, October 1999

When Slocum and his partner, Billy Quince, end the life of a notorious cattle rustler, it’s the young man’s first kill. But Billy’s first kill is far from his last as the infamous rustler leaves him with a mysterious – and murderous – legacy. Now Billy’s got the taste for the limelight and begins a savage killing spree. As the death toll grows, Slocum takes on the task of breaking the deadly spell – if he can stay alive long enough…

Robert Vardeman has been writing as Jake Logan since 1984 – and I think still is today – and this must be his strangest storyline I've read so far. Dead Man’s Spurs has a strong supernatural element to the plot and this makes it one of the more unusual westerns I’ve read, and comes as a surprise, as it’s part of the Slocum series, where one wouldn’t expect such as story.

Slocum has always been a tough, hard man but even he is repulsed by the changes in Billy. Changes that horrify Billy’s sister as Billy continues on his quest to kill everyone he meets whilst searching for his intended target, that of John Wesley Hardin.

What makes this a gripping read is the need to know whether the spurs are really the cause of the changes in Billy, history seems to say so.

The book really picks up in pace as a sceptical Slocum attempts to stop Billy and destroy the myth of the spurs.

If you fancy a more unusual storyline in a western then this one is well worth tracking down.