The Master Executioner [Paperback]

Loren D. Estleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2002

Ordinary people do not understand Oscar Stone. Everything he does, he does impeccably. He is a profound student of his art, completely versed in its traditions over the centuries. He is a student of ropes and their properties, a master of the latest scientific knowledge about the human neck, a careful calculator of weights and drops, and an exacting observer of results.

For more than a quarter of a century he has worked to create a reputation as a man peerless in his craft: the master executioner.

Yet he is utterly alone: His devotion to his work costs him his marriage. Suddenly, one day, a piece of his past catches him unawares, and Oscar comes to a moment of devastating truth and for the first time knows himself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This superbly crafted novel of the American West not only outshines any of Estleman's 12 previous novels (Billy Gashade, etc.) with Forge, it also stands far above considerably weaker efforts currently being cranked out by many who still labor in this fading genre. Oscar Stone goes from being a carpenter to a hangman, "a master executioner" who heard his calling by accident but once his talent is discovered, he embraces it to the exclusion of everything else, including his wife or any hope of an ordinary life. Fabian T. Rudd, a veteran executioner and frontier philosopher (and one of the most wonderfully original characters to come out of a western novel in years), tutors Stone in the finer points of death by hanging. The apprentice takes his lessons well beyond the fundamentals and elevates his profession from a mere vocation to a veritable art. He achieves personal (albeit dubious) celebrity as a result, but the darkness of his trade haunts the young man as he traverses the American West, dispensing the final act of justice, applying and always improving his expertise to guarantee an efficient and humane dispatch to some of the worst villains of the frontier. Eventually, Stone must come to terms with who he is and what he does. He tries to understand that to do a thing well and with respect is the greatest goal of human endeavor, no matter how grisly the particulars may be or how lonely he may become as a result. This excellent novel is well researched and effectively and unsentimentally delivered, with only the occasional anachronism marring a nearly perfect and historically accurate dramatization of the American West and the colorful people who built it. Print advertising in Western publications.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Oscar Stone accepts a temporary position building a gallows in Topeka, Kansas, where he meets Fabian Timothy Rudd, a hangman of some repute. Rudd is impressed with Stone's carpentry skills and pride in his work and so takes on the role of mentor as Stone becomes a kind of apprentice hangman. But no one loves a hangman, including his wife, who can't live with her young husband's career choice. Stone travels through the West with Rudd from execution to execution, drinking to dull the isolation and refining his skills. Miscalculations can lead to strangulation or worse: a beheading. Decades pass, and Stone has a final meeting with the wife who left him and learns a terrible truth. Estleman has created an unforgettable character in Stone. Swept up by circumstance and an unwanted gift for dispensing death, he's unable to break away from his life's fated path despite the loss of all he holds close. A dark, compelling journey into a previously unexplored facet of the Old West. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (September 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812584376
• ISBN-13: 978-0812584370
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,818,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since the appearance of his first novel in 1976, Loren D. Estleman has written more than 65 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. Alone (Dec 2009, Forge Books) is the second in a new series about L.A. film detective Valentino, and features Greta Garbo.

To kick off the new decade, Estleman's The Book of Murdock (eighth in the U.S. Deputy Marshal Page Murdock series) will appear in March and, to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Private Detective Amos Walker, The Left-Handed Dollar will publish in December. It's the 20th novel in the award-winning series.

An authority on both criminal history and the American West, Estleman has been called the most critically acclaimed author of his generation. He has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award.

He has received seventeen national writing awards: four Shamuses from the Private Eye Writers of America, five Spurs from the Western Writers of America, two American Mystery Awards from Mystery Scene Magazine, two Outstanding Mystery Writer of the Year awards from Popular Fiction Monthly, two Stirrup Awards for outstanding articles in the Western Writers of America magazine, The Roundup, and three Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1987, the Michigan Foundation of the Arts presented him with its award for literature. In 1997, the Michigan Library Association named him the recipient of the Michigan Author's Award. In 2007, Nicotine Kiss was named a Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.

Estleman graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Journalism. On April 27, 2002, EMU presented him with an honorary doctorate in letters. He left the job market in 1980 to write full time. He lives in Michigan and is married to writer Deborah Morgan. For more information, please visit his website: www.lorenestleman.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Passionless, December 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Master Executioner (Hardcover)

It's clear to me that many readers, and many professional reviewers, liked this book. I, unfortunately, couldn't manage to.

This is the story of Oscar Stone, professional hangman, from his Civil War experiences to nearly the turn of the century. I found the plot to be flat, lacking in climactic events and tension. Stone becomes a hangman, his wife leaves him, and then... well, he hangs people. The story is about how his profession changes him, and also about how the West changes during his lifespan. I found the plot dull, though, essentially because I couldn't get into Stone as a character. A psychiatrist would say he has a "flat affect". He has little personality, little passion. The end of the story, which should be devastating, lacks impact because of the character's lack of apparent emotion about anything. Even when he searches for his wife, when he learns his son is dead, we never really get into Stone's head. Stone's wife is an utter cipher, even when she explains her motives.

The book is written in a spare, occasionally awkward style. Dialogue stands out, with Rudd, Stone's mentor, being particularly well done in this regard. A use of language which some reviewers have interpreted as stark and stylish came across to me as quite boring. I got very little sense of the sounds, smells and sights of the West -- with the exception of a wealth of detail on carpentry and hanging ropes.

Estleman does seem to have a good grasp of his period, with only a few minor errors (La Matte for LeMat) apparent. However, he tends to "tell" rather than "show" his historical information, enhancing the dry, dull feeling of the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Supurb storytelling, August 7, 2001

By 

Frank T. Wydra (Clarkston, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Master Executioner (Hardcover)

Estleman is at his peak. Mailer and King have both told execution stories, but neither can compare to the chilling reality Estleman brings to this tale. The diction rings true; nary a word is misplaced. And this care of the language makes his journey down this seldom travelled road both a reading pleasure and a commentary on man's motivation. If you read nothing else this summer, read this.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Master Writer, August 18, 2003

By 

M. Dog (Everywhere and Nowhere) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Master Executioner (Paperback)

No one writes a better western than Loren D. Estleman. In The Master Executioner, Estleman tells the story of a hangman in the middle of the 19th century. As is always the case with this author, the reader is treated to incredible dialogue and characters that are immediately drawn with a few expert lines and details. I will not give away the ending, suffice to say this is a terribly sad novel about a complex and very unique man. Estleman is too fine a writer to pull at your heartstrings in a clichéd or obvious way. The man character, Executioner Oscar Stone, is not the sort of character that would easily win a reader's sympathy. He is, first and foremost, a hangman. He is also a hard, cold individual never at ease among his fellow humans. Yet, in Estleman's expert hands, this character lives and breaths and, finally, effects the reader very deeply.

Estleman is also the master of the authentic western. This book contains rich, detailed portraits of western towns, both large and small, from this time period. He is always accurate in the details, and I always feel Estleman gives me the most accurate portrait of how things really must have been in the West, more so than any other author. For the best taste of this, one should read Bloody Season by this author for the best account of the Shootout at the OK Corral.

Fascinating characters and great, original writing. Buy this book. You will not regret it.