Customer Reviews

Crossing Fire River (Thorndike Western I)

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A straight forward western by any measure.This is my first encounter with the author Ralph Cotton .It seems he has collaborated with
Ralph Copmpton on several novels,though.It is also my first encounter with the main character in this novel,Lawrence Shaw,or as he has been known in the past as "Fast Larry". How he came to be known by that moniker becomes obvious on more than one occasion in this story.
The story is well thought out and it keeps the readers attention from start to finish. It has lots of great Old West scenes in saloons,ambushes,gunfights and situations that look pretty hopeless,but they all get dealt with.This is fairly long by western novel standards,being 286 pages.There are a half dozen main characters who are interesting and well developed;then there are another 25 or more we get to know by name ,but they don't hang around for long.To keep track of them all,maybe the reader should start a scorecard at the beginning.Then again,with all these names popping up;it would have been handy if the author had provided us with a list of them all, and their associations.I don't know if this is the first novel about Fast Larry or not;but at the end of the novel we see that the author has given us a preview of a follow-up novel "Escape From Fire River" scheduled to be released this month.That sounds good,as we are left wondering where and what happens after the finish of this novel.
Lawrence(Fast Larry") is a great character and there is potential for a series like "Longarm",The Trailsman" or "The Gunsmith".Let's hope that is what Ralph Cotton has in mind.
Cotton is a no nonsense writer and doesn't fill his story with a lot of drawn out descriptions.I do feel though that he could provide more in the way of good Old West expressions , parlance and memorable "one-liners". There is also almost nothing at all in the way of historical connections ,nor is there much in the way of description of the natural surroundings.The line I chose for my title shows the author is capable in this respect,and I for one would like him to do more of it.
Nonetheless;I am looking forward to more from both "Fast Larry" and Ralph Cotton.

Crossing Fire River and its subsequent number, Escape From Fire River, are books that can be read separately, yet I feel they should properly be read together as one long, extended book. Crossing Fire River should be treated as volume 1 with Escape From Fire River being volume 2. Doing so will afford the reader a much fuller understanding of the focus of the two novels.

Lawrence Shaw, no longer wishing to be called 'fast Larry', has yet been grieving for his late wife Rosa, now coming off a long bender, a drinking spree that can clearly be seen by one and all in this book. Being seen that way allows many to take him lightly as a bum and a drifter. He knowingly uses that to his advantage, and with his speed and accuracy with a firearm, that puts him way ahead of all other gunmen wishing him dead.

Most of the action of this novel takes place in the desert, but also in and around the 'small, dusty, border town' of 'Banton'. On the outskirts of Banton, in the hill country, Shaw finds a dessicated body of someone from the town and that will set the stage for much of the action that follows. Interactions lead one to another, with the overall plot also concerned with stolen gold 20 dollar German gold pieces from a Mexico City bank robbery. While this book only touches on this, Escape From Fire River amplifies and explains much added details of the robbery. Essentially Shaw and his two law dog friends, Crayton Dawson and Undertaker Jedson Calwell, are all on the trail in Old Mexico of the Jake Goshen gang, the main participants of the original robbery. This robbery and the stolen gold are attracting gunmen from all the area, drawing them into the line-of-fire of the 3 lawmen. In addition another person, Juan 'Easy John' Lupo is working directly for the Mexican government to also recapture the gold.

Another person mixed up in all this is Borden Hewes, a wealthy Fire River rancher, employing numerous gunmen all of whom are attempting to kill Lawrence Shaw. Hewes has several interests beyond the town of Banton, but namely one current one of melting the gold pieces down into bars of gold to render the gold pieces untraceable. Shaw, Dawson, Calwell, and Jane Crowly are all attempting to thwart this melting. Only problem being that most strangers crossing Fire River generally do not come back! Yeah, you just know that Lawrence Shaw is going to cross that river, not once but several times.

Another 3-part novel from the uncomparable Mr. Ralph Cotton. Critics used to say of Louis L'Amour that his stories 'take off like a bullet', well the same and more can be said of Ralph's books. While I find some of his books better than others, his books never disappoint and are always interesting, enjoyable reads.

Well recommended.

Semper Fi.

This is Ralph Cotton's First Novel Staring Lawrence Shaw in the FIRE RIVER BOOKS.
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Posted 02/04/10: I don't know how many books are in the FIRE RIVER Stories, but I hope there's many more. I have read have read two, this one and the next titled, Escape From Fire River. Like the oterh books these don' thave to be read in order, but in this case I did, and I'm glad as it makes for a good enjoyable read. Like all of Mr. Cotton's books, the story is high above the everyday western yarns we find out there today. Lawrence Shaw (Fast Larry) is still battling his demons, his drinking problems and his grief over his wasted life and his dead wife Rosa. But in spite of his drinking and his remorse he's still faster with a gun than any of the men who come to kill him. Anything said more than that will start giving away a really great and original story. Mr. Cotton's fans won't want to miss this one, or the rest of the Fire River titles. Shaw has made his place right up there with Ranger Sam on my all-time favorites book shelf.