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4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable western by a master professional, February 2, 2008
This review is from: The Ghost with Blue Eyes (Mass Market Paperback)
The protagonist is Lancaster ,a hired gunman who makes a clear moral distinction between that and being a killer for hire and so rejects a generous fee offered by a Big Bend ,Kansas "businesssman",Hannibal Kane to kill a man .The intended victim does not know this and confronts Lancaster and is killed in the resultant shootout.Unfortunately ,so too is a small girl caught in the crossfire .Lancaster is haunted by her death and in particular her startlingly blue eyes .He is wracked by guilt for the accodent and embarks upon a downward spiral which sees him working in a saloon in Dunworthy ,Texas and earning a reputation as the town drunk.
One morning he witnesses the arrival of the new teacher and her small daughter Alicia who reminds hin so forcefully of the dead child that he becomes obsessed with her and with preventing a malign fate befalling her.The teacher and Alicia are fleeing her husband/father an abusive millionare named Delaware who has engaged the services of a professional tracker Josiah Alton to track them down .Lancaster is too late to save the life of the mother but kills Alston and goes on the run with Alicia pursued by a posse headed by Delaware ,two of his hirelings ,and a reluctant contingent of townsman from Dunworthy ,including its sheriff .
Lancaster becomes fixated on the idea of taking the child to Big Bend and uniting the bereaved nother and the bereaved child in a kind of instant family .
The narrative cuts between Lancaster and Alicia between whom a real bond is forming and their pursuers many of whom cordially detest their employer.The chase takes in encounters with ladies of the night and a wagon train of pilgrims heading West and matters climax in Big Bend where Lancaster must deall with Delaware and a hired gunman set upon him by Kane .
This is a propulsively told Western with just a faint hint of the supernatural and a strongly redemptive theme as Lancaster is seeking atonement for his involvement in the death of the child in Kansas amnd it is implied that it may have become a life quest ,one going beyond even the circumstances of the present case.It also brings out the role of women in the Western as most are either soiled doves or teachers but it is made clear that even the roughest and most mercenary of men will not tolerate an abuser of woman in the society of the west
It is briskly told in snappy dialogue heavy prose and is thoroughly professional in its telling and is recommended to all -not simply genre devotees -who enjoy a brisk tale well told
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