Customer Reviews

Fabulous gunman

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This book by Wayne D. Overholser is very hard to put down. For a person who likes Louis L'Amour, Max Brand and Zane Grey, it will be good reading.

Bill Womack is a man who lives by hiring his gun, but not for any job where he would go against the local law. Now, he has found a ranch he wants to buy and retire to ranching, and is in Denver contemplating his next move. A young man, Ed, finds him there, and convinces Bill to take on one more job, this time to be on the side of the small ranchers and farmers who are being forced out through intimidation, scheming and murder by the owner of the largest ranch in the area.

Bill journeys to Ed's home town, on the way being met by Rose, Ed's sister. He is smitten!

A lot of action that will keep the reader hooked.

I gave it a 4 rather than a 5 for detail: Bill arrives without much, certainly not a saddle, saddle blanket, canteen, and all the gear a man who will be on horseback would normally carry. There is no mention, even, of his having a rifle. One guesses that all that normal gear is left behind in Denver.

Bill rents several horses on a day-by-day basis from the local livery, and takes off riding long distances with no gear one usually carries. No telescope, no rifle, no poncho - he has to buy a new sheepskin coat as the weather is getting colder.

He falls more and more in love with Rose as he works to save their ranch and everyone but Ed and Rose wants him to either leave or die. No one is happy Bill is there to be the little man's champion, as he slowly comes to acknowledge the concept of fairness and standing up against might because he is on the side of right.

But, my nit-picking aside, I highly recommend this book to all lovers of good Western fiction.