DEVIL’S MANHUNT is one of the latest offerings from Galaxy Press in their ongoing reissuing of L. Ron Hubbard’s classic pulp fiction stories. Hubbard, a master of many genres, wasn’t afraid to write on any thing from outer space to fantasy and crime busters, but this time it is the wild west and you can feel every wind devil blow and almost hear the crack of a “peacemaker” as the bullets whiz by you ear.
The title story finds a lone miner out on a verdant island deep into the alkaline desert, striking it rich, only to have two desperados show up to not only steal his gold but enslave him until all of it is dug out. He has to find a way to outsmart these two and not only survive but keep his gold.
Next up is JOHNNY, THE TOWN TAMER. Last year one of his men solfd the herd to a cheating thief who ran the town at the trail head, and now Johnny is out to get his money and pat a well earned lesson to a sneak and a hustler.
Rounding out the book is STRANGER IN TOWN that tells the story of an innocent man, framed for murder and theft, being tracked down by a dirty law man. If he goes with the law, he knows he will be gunned down. If he shots the lawman, the town will lynch him. But he has to do something and soon.
I enjoyed all three thrillers and can’t pick a favorite from among them. I’m giving this book four stars though it should be four and a half, but not five. Five stars are being reserved for the very best of Hubbard. I know I haven’t read it for my review but I hope to soon.
Thank you to both the good people at LibraryThing and Galaxy press for this fine edition. ( )

The pacing on this story is breathless. The action never lets up and the resolution is great. A real action-packed classic from the golden age of pulp fiction. I bought the paperback and then ordered the audio version for my car. This is pulp fiction western excitement from the glorious golden age! Highly Recommended!! ( )

L. Ron Hubbard was a master of "Pulp" fiction because of his life of adventure and interaction in his work and travels with unique people throughout the world. Like Melville, London, and Hemingway Hubbard had the discipline to write stories based on his widely varied experiences and observations. He was able to sell approximately 80% of his submissions to the pulp magazines, so his writing was valued in the very competitive pulp market. The weekly or monthly pulp magazines produced in the 1930's and 1940's were low in price with rough cut pages, cheap brown pulp paper and garish art work on the cover. The goal of these publications was to offer stories that were well-written for reader excitement, easy comprehension, and education with basic, well-researched content related to historical periods and contemporary life.

The Devil's Manhunt is a collection of three L. Ron Hubbard action stories in the category of "Westerns." The first story, the title of the collection, is a tale of a twenty-three year old man who has learned the tough trade of gold prospecting from grizzled veterans and has had success during six months of work on his own claim site. Murderous thieves steal Tim's bag of gold and set him free as a hunting target in the barren Arizona desert near Desperation Peak. The two armed criminals hunt down the unarmed Tim but are in for many surprises from the resourceful young prospector.

The second story, Johnny, the Town Tamer, is a tale about a cattle rancher whose representative had been bilked out of payment for a herd brought to market the prior year. The undisputed boss of Thorpeville, George, had taken back the money in a crooked card game. Johnny and his top rider and friend big Mike teach George a lesson that no one messes with Texas ranchers and gets away with it.

The last story, Stranger in Town, is the saga of corrupt Mesa lawmen who set up a hardware store clerk, Zeke to take the fall for a stagecoach robbery while the lawmen robbed the stagecoach and got away with the loot. Zeke runs away and hides in plain sight in a small western town, Dry Creek. He is hunted down by the corrupt sheriff who wants to get rid of the witness to his crime. The lesson here is that it pays to be part of a community in a rough town even if you are a solitary man and you were a complete a stranger only a short time ago.

Reading this collection of pulp stories is a good way to spend a few hours in pure escapism written by a man who knew how to tell an exciting western tale. This is a shorter collection than the Hubbard collection, Under the Black Ensign (Stories from the Golden Age), I read before, but it is just as good as an exciting and fast reading experience. ( )

I think this is one of the most suspenseful stories I ever read.

The bad guys are just definitely callous and mean. There are a lot of outdoor survival skills involved such as tracking, and knowledge of life on the desert and mining knowledge that makes this quite real.

International Book Awards Winner and AudioFile Best Voices Audiobook of the Year ( )

Excellent nail biter. Intense.

Fine use of Mr Hubbard's real life experience with mining, tracking and his knowledge of weapons. Meticulous detail used in this story and realistic, consistent emotional attitudes of characters with the intense suspenseful story line portrayed superbly by the voice actors make this audio performance an unparalleled production. ( )