Charles G. West

I enjoyed the previous Charles G. West western I’d read (Shoot-out at Broken Bow) immensely. It was the most entertaining pulp western I’ve yet read and I was looking forward to trying more from the author.

Luke’s Gold seemed right up my alley. Young cowhand Cade Hunter befriends an older cowboy, Luke who tells him of a stash of stolen Union gold. They go to retrieve it only to be bushwhacked by a scoundrel from Luke’s past. Cade survives the attack and sets off down the path of show more vengeance.

Wow! I pictured a grim tale of murderous justice in the Old West, set to Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold”.

Luke’s Gold is not that. Oh, the story is there all right. But it is thrown off by over reliance on coincidence and a meandering, episodic pace. Cade doesn’t meet Luke until a third of the way through the book. The ambush takes place somewhere in the middle. At that point, I was thinking “Okay, NOW things are gonna get cookin’!”

But I was wrong. Side trips are made to introduce some mountain folk, a father and sons leading a herd of horses and various other encounters. Each part of the story was interesting enough, but it never felt like a cohesive whole.

The story is spiced-up with various western action scenes and Mr. West writes a good action scene. But even they felt coincidental. Long simmering tensions just happen to come to a head when Cade is around. Even the finale seems silly and relies on unbelievable happenstance.

Luke’s Gold is a slim book at 230 pages, but it still felt like it should have been tightened up and refined. The basis of the story is a good one. But the tale gets lost in the telling. show less

Charles G. West's Shoot-out at Broken Bow was one of the most enjoyable westerns I've read in a long while.

Young marshal Casey Dixon captures and hangs outlaw Billy Blanton outside of the tiny town of Broken Bow. Billy had just murdered Broken Bow's sheriff, so the judgment was deserved. However Billy was the youngest of the notorious Blanton family who caused quite a ruckus in the Indian Territories a few years back. Once the infamous Roy Blanton and his no-good sons find out, there will be show more hell to pay.

I liked Mr. West's writing. He moved the story along at a snappy pace without making it feel like it was going so fast things were getting skipped. I liked reading about the Choctaw Lighthorse police, and the general portrayal of the Indian Territories. I wish there were more description as I happen to like well written details. Mr. West's writing was geared more towards suspenseful yarn-spinning than describing the layout of various saloons or details for characters clothing. He did provide enough detail to keep the narrative from ever feeling vague.

The characters are all cardboard cutouts, but again, for the story he is telling it worked. There were enough twists and quirks to the characters to keep them interesting, even if they weren't particularly deep. Roy Blanton makes for a very strong bad man. He is a despicable and amoral scoundrel who is never softened and it is fun to root against him.

Casey is teamed up with older marshal Buck Fletcher, who was responsible for chasing the Blantons out of the Territories previously. The story of Buck's previous showdown with the Blantons is revealed slowly and made Buck a much more interesting character than he could have been.

I would easily recommend Shoot-out at Broken Bow as a fast, suspenseful western. Charles West is a more solid writer than a lot of the other modern western authors I have read and I have already picked up a few more of his books.

This is a very well done pulp western. It's not the second coming of Lonesome Dove or anything, but it is slick, fast moving and constantly entertaining. show less

An undemanding, by-the-numbers read. It hits all the right notes you'd expect from an action Western, even if it does so without any real flair. The writing is workmanlike and occasionally clunky; it is a story you don't mind hearing spun but not one you'd seek out either, or remember much afterwards. I feel a bit guilty talking about it in this way, as I love Westerns even when they're average and I respect an author who shares that love. Left Hand of the Law won't shake your world – or show more even nudge it slightly – but it is clean and pleasant enough. show less

The First Day of Eternity by Charles G. West
The Hunters #2

Solid story set in the Bitterroot Montana Territory sees Cody “Crazy Wolf” Hunter find out he was not an orphan after all, going to surreptitiously see how his relatives are doing, and then becoming their guardian though the youngest of the bunch. I have to admit that I did not read book one in the series and felt at times I needed more background to flesh out Cody and perhaps that book might have given more information about his show more family, too.

Cody’s father and older brothers have established the Triple H ranch with a large herd of cattle roaming their and government land. They are on good relations with settlers, farmers, and the citizens of the nearby town BUT a new bunch of cowboys is in competition with them – the Kincaid brothers – and they are ruthless killers with a team that works for them that knows more about guns and killing than herding cattle. A range war is brewing and Cody arrives just in time to assist and weight the Triple H’s chances against the encroachers in a very positive way.

Cody becomes the target as he plays cat and mouse with those out to kill him while also protecting his family. He does what he learned to do best while with his Indian family and works as a one-man weapon to downsize the number of the enemy.

There was a bit of romance, a lot of family, discussions by good and bad men, a lot of killing, and the beginning of getting to know one another by the Hunters. The bones were there to the story but I wanted more information about Cody, the Hunters, the reasons behind what was going on, memories of the time the Hunters were together before they get together again, their thinking while the situation was brewing, what the women were thinking, and more interaction between characters. I never really engaged with or identified with any of the characters and wish I had been able to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington-Pinnacle Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars show less