Customer Reviews

The Devil's Lair

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I've picked up a number of Peter Brandvolt's Lou Prophet books over the years, and have not read them in any particular order. They have been entertaining, but not something that has kept me running back for more. While Brandvoldt's writing has always stood out to me over the bland authors of most other paperback westerns, the character and series didn't feel fully formed. Then I read Devil's Lair. I think Lou Prophet has hit his stride.

Lou Prophet is an interesting twist on the traditional western bounty hunter. He is not a steely eyed killer or do-gooder. He mostly does his job to support his sins. After the Civil War, Prophet made a deal with the Devil (at least in his mind) that as long as he could spend the rest of his days in this life whooping it up enough to forget the war, he'd gladly spend his next life shoveling coal in Perdition. As the series has progressed, Brandvolt has started sticking his toes over the line into the world of the "adult western", but his writing is so good that it just feels a part of Prophet's visceral now as he tries to forget his past.

In Prophet's world, towns are a place where you collect your bounty, find a saloon, and spin the world into a haze of vice until you run out of coin. Then it's back on the owlhoot trail, with saddle sores, coyotes, and freedom from the maddening crowd; at least until whiskey and jerky run out. Think Jonah Hex without the psychosis, or Maverick without the snobbery, class, and a bit less conscience. It is a pleasantly simple world, that is accessible to the reader, a joy to move around in for the duration of the read, but with enough realism that we don't want to trade places with Prophet.

I think it's time to give the rest of the series a try.

I have tried several times to post a longer review of this book;but although I got the message "Submitted" they don't get posted. So,I'll try a shorter one.

I was very pleased to see Lou Prophet and Louise Bonaventure together again in this saga. There is always lots of action when she shows up.

This is an action-packed story with everything a western fan loves. Stagecoach hold-up,Saloon fight,Canyon shoot-out,Old West Damsels and Soiled Doves,Good Guys and Owlhoots and even a major fire.

Brandvold is a great writer of the western era and his stories are loaded with many lines you won't soon forget.

His characters are exceptional and Mad Mary is a real prize!

Whether you are a long time reader of westerns or just getting started;you'll find this a terrific read.

For those who like Old West Art,you'll love the Stagecoach and team on the cover.

Since the elimination of the gang that killed her family, Louisa Bonaventure has formed a partnership of sorts with Lou Prophet, bounty hunter. But their time together is limited to occasional jobs like catching the Thorson-Mahoney gang in the act of robbing a stagecoach. Otherwise, as Louisa puts it, "We both have men to hunt." So after said job is done, Louisa is not much a part of The Devil's Lair.

This novel, the sixth in the Lou Prophet "Devil" series, focuses on Prophet's delivery of the gang to Bitter Creek and how he gets drafted into defending the town from Sam Scanlon after the marshal and his deputy are lynched in the town center. Performing such work for no reward rubs Prophet the wrong way, and he's rubbed even wronger when he wakes up from a night-long drunk to find the marshal's badge pinned to his own buckskins. But if there's one thing that will make Lou Prophet cleave to a badge he doesn't want, it's finding out somebody else doesn't want him to have it.

Someone is taking potshots at Prophet anonymously, so, though being marshal is an odd situation for a man who loves his freedom to be in, he's taking it honorably. "That's the straw I drew, but believe me, I'll never get that drunk again."

The Devil's Lair feels quite a bit different from the other Lou Prophet novel I've read, The Devil Gets His Due. In fact, with its handful of gratuitous sex scenes, I'm going to guess it was originally written for an adult Western series but was rewritten at the last moment. (The marshal angle suggests Longarm, but prolific author Peter Brandvold -- he also writes under the pseudonym Frank Leslie -- has written for The Trailsman as well, so that is also a possibility.)

Brandvold writes intelligent, action-filled Westerns that don't stop. Plus, any writer who uses words like "surfeit" and "ilk" with confidence in his genre fiction is one I can truly admire. He rarely makes predictable choices (except where genre dictates), which makes his work all the more fascinating. The Devil's Lair has an ending one can read only with awe at its brass, and as an added bonus, the book name-checks Frank Roderus, an influence on (and a supporter of) Brandvold's writing.