From Booklist
Buck Carrel, after years of riding for others, finally has his own modest spread, the Broken Bow. His spartan but peaceful life is shattered one night when a lovely young woman faints at his door. When she revives, she tells a tale of stagecoach robbery. Carrel leaves her to summon help, but when he returns the woman is gone, and his cabin is in shambles. Following "Broken Bow" in this trilogy of stories by western master Paine is "Taos Man", in which drifter Coke Bright falls in with a group of settlers moving through Apache territory. As the trip proceeds, the Apaches and the inhospitably arid environment are less daunting than the unseen danger from one of the other settlers. The titular "Gunman" is a revenge tale with a twist in which Ray Kelly returns home from Yuma Prison set on extracting a price for his lost years. All three novella-length tales reflect Paine's ongoing interest in character over action, and his ability to take the cliches of the western genre and turn them into something new and quite powerful. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
