Customer Reviews

Gunsmoke 2: Dead Man's Witness

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Having grown up with "Gunsmoke," I was excited about the prospect of reading stories featuring the characters of the series. I expected something similar to the books that use the "Star Trek" characters in which relationships are explored and developed, where the past is explained and there is an effort to carry on continuity in the characters' lives. This is the second in the series and so far, it appears that the author doesn't seem to care about Matt, Miss Kitty and Doc because he doesn't seem to know much about them. In the first book of the series, Festus even reads a newpaper. In the second, Matt actually asks Kitty to marry him? The plots, although fairly standard, aren't objectionable. The characterization is what is off the mark. I hope the series continues but maybe the author should watch some more reruns.

For Gunsmoke fans who crave tidbits of romantic verbal interplay between Matt and Kitty, this book is worth the reading. However, there are glaring character discrepancies, such as Festus's accent, grammar, and ability to read. Worse was the major plot device which contended that Matt was a lawman chosen by the town council and thus could be dismissed by them!

For those of you who enjoyed the Gunsmoke show, you will enjoy the book as well. For those who were and are complete fans of the show and can't get enough, you may not like the book as well. The story is quite good, but the characters speak close to perfect english at times, making the book less believable. I would like to see more development of the main characters and perhaps we will see that is future books. I hope there are more.