4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Frontier Trackdown, January 8, 2003
This review is from: Relentless (Paperback)
Marshal Lane Morgan keeps the peace in Skylar, Colorado, even when those efforts send him into a headlong confrontation with Paul Webley, the most powerful man in town. Trent Webley got drunk and shot up the town, almost shooting Lane in the process. As a result, Lane feels he has no choice but to bring the young man up on charges. However, Lane also goes out of his way to ensure that Trent Webley is only going to have to lay out a few months in jail. The sentence is actually much reduced from what it could be. Paul Webley refuses to accept that and tries to buy Lane off. When that doesn't work, Paul concentrates on the marshal's wife, Callie. Three years ago when Callie came to Skylar and began to teach, she had a past that she didn't speak of, and every so often Lane would see a haunted look in her eyes. He never asked about that past and just contented himself with loving her. But that past catches up to the marshal and his pretty schoolmarm wife with a vengeance as Paul Webley puts the pressure on. David Staunton, a visitor to Skylar, turns out to be a womanizer, a con artist, and a gambler. Years ago, though, Staunton was also Callie Morgan's husband. While they were together, Staunton swindled a woman out of a lot of cash and used Callie to do it. When the law came after them both, Callie fled, and a warrant for her arrest followed. All these years, she's been a fugitive. And now the marshal has to find out who really killed Staunton before his wife gets hanged for it.
Ed Gorman is a prolific writer of mysteries, westerns, thrillers, and horror. His Sam McCain series, about a soft-spoken guy who is a part-time lawyer and part-time private eye, has garnered a lot of critical acclaim and a wide audience. He's also edited several anthologies. Fans of mysteries will want to track down copies of his Jack Dwyer series, and fans of westerns will be interested in the three books he wrote about Leo Guild, a bounty hunter filled with guilt and confusion.
In all the books that Gorman writes, readers can depend on frantic pacing, true-to-the-ear dialogue, suspense, and a depth of character that is not immediately noticeable but seeps into the tale with incredible ease. In RELENTLESS, the author presents Lane Morgan's love for his wife Callie in straightforward terms, but also with the confusion that such a situation would present for a man whose world has just been turned upside down. Gorman fills Morgan world with people and places, as well a history of Skylar, Colorado and Morgan's own personal backstory. The book is a perfect page-turner, one that will keep the reader engrossed and zipping right along.
Western readers who like a bit of mystery mixed in with a fairly true picture of the Old West will enjoy RELENTLESS. Gorman's novel will also satisfy the shoot-`em-up crowd as the build-up leads to a climatic finish. But there are twists all along the way, prices that must be paid by all the characters. RELENTLESS earns its name as the writer spurs his story on through the finish gate.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A FRESH APPROACH TO THE WESTERN LAWMAN!!!!, March 7, 2003
This review is from: Relentless (Paperback)
Marshall Lane Morgan is an honest man in the town of Skylar, Colorado. He believes the law applies to everyone in town, both rich and poor. Paul Webley tries to bribe Lane with an envelope filled with greenbacks in hopes the marshall will not press charges agains his son Trent, who while drunk, tried to kill Lane. Failing at the bribe, Webley resorted to looking in to the past of both Lane and his wife Callie. Webley tries to blackmail the marshall with information that Callie had been previously married to a confidence man and a gambler. But Lanes's troubles are only beginning when Callie's ex-husband Stanton is found murdered in his hotel room and Callie has blood stains on her blouse. Callie is not the only likely candidate for Stanton's murder. After resigning, Lane must determine who killed Stanton to clear Callie's name. In RENTLESS, Lane is not your typical western lawman relying on his gun. Instead, Lane uses his gun as a last resort. RENTLESS is a fresh approach to western lawman story telling and Ed Gorman does this as well as any writer in the genre.
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