42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hitch and Cole, Together Again, June 12, 2008
Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole, Parker's protagonists in Appaloosa, are back. This time they're in a town in the Western territory with the promising name of Resolution. Needless to say, Resolution will be a better, but less-populated town, when their work is through there.
The western is at its best when it is exploring the implications of a world without law, a world with shifting rules and shifting borders, a world defined by the men and women who find themselves there and must somehow create civilization (or hell) by themselves. That is the ethos of Resolution and Parker plays it like a first-chair violinist. I have always said that he is at his best when he is stretched and his occasional forays into this genre stretch him. The result is a tight plot, engaging characters, and the opportunity to reflect, very economically, on the nature of man and the nature of law. The dialogue is spectacular, as is the tone and the texture. Bottom line: prime Parker. Don't miss it.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good to see you again Hitch..., June 6, 2008
This book came along at just the right time for me. It's been a while since I've read a Western and I was having some trouble finding a good one. I walk into work this past Tuesday and I find out that Mr. Parker has one being release that day! Didn't have to ask me twice what my next book was. I read and absolutely LOVED Appaloosa and while I don't think this was a sequel, it was a continuation.
I did enjoy this one but not quite as much as Appaloosa. It seemed like Mr. Parker was always leading up to something and then when it got there it was like bang, instead of BANG!!! I did, however, love the banter, if that's what you want to call it, between Everett and anyone, Cole and anyone, and Everett and Cole. Simple, to the point, no minced words, and no double talking. Mean what you say and say what you mean.
I was looking for a little more violence in this story. And I don't mean violence just for the sake of violence. I mean violence that went along with the personalities of the men. I loved how Everett dispensed of Koy (not a spoiler, it's in the dust jacket) and how Cole did what he did at the end but I wanted more of that in this story. I do like the way this author writes his Westerns and he's got me very curious about his other work.
This was a very good book, but not a great book. I think there could have been so much more with this story but this is just my opinion and this is not my work. If you like Westerns then I would suggest you get this one. I just like my Westerns to be a certain way, others will love this book just the way it is.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Town Tamers, June 15, 2008
After the final scenes of Robert B. Parker's novel APPALOOSA, fans knew the story of Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole couldn't end there. Especially not with a movie starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen waiting in the wings.
RESOLUTION takes up only a short time after the previous novel. Everett Hitch is still riding solo at this point and takes a job at the Blackfoot saloon as a security guy. I enjoy the relationship between Everett and Virgil, because that relationship is the bones of what Parker has stated will be a three-book series. I knew I wouldn't have to wait long for the action to begin, or for Everett and Virgil to get back together.
Parker delineates his two principle characters very well. Virgil Cole is an unfinished man in a way. He knows what he has been but he doesn't yet know what he will become. Everett Hitch, on the other hand, has no qualms about addressing what he is. His moral convictions are centered and steady, and he never questions his actions or his motivations for doing them.
The town of Resolution remains somewhat undefined and isn't seated in the historical Old West. Parker seems content to just lay the town in where he wants to and sketch in the background and surroundings the way he did in APPALOOSA. Given the story that he wants to tell is skeletal and action-packed, readers don't need much of a history or true-to-life geographical setting the way Louis L'Amour and Elmer Kelton do them.
In no time at all, Everett finds himself neck-deep in trouble. As security man for the Blackfoot Saloon, he works for Amos Wolfson. Wolfson is intent on buying up as much of the town and surrounding land as he can, and he's made enemies of the local ranchers and Eamon O'Malley, Resolution's other financial baron who is also making moves at a major land grab.
Although Parker concentrates on the relationship between Everett and Virgil, he paints an interesting picture of an Old West town being born. The shifting fortunes of the populace bounce back and forth between Wolfson and O'Malley as each of them squares off to become top dog of Resolution.
Everett quickly ends up becoming recognized as a protector of women, starting with the prostitutes that work the two saloons, and spilling over into the domestic arena. He's a definite man of action, but also of compassion, and that rankles the ire of Wolfson who doesn't want the added aggravation. Still, Everett sticks to his guns.
The characters are simple for the most part, but that's why I enjoy reading these books. Parker portrays Everett and Virgil as the same kind of men I grew up with in the small Oklahoma towns where I lived. I understand the values at once, even though a lot of people might think those men were more complicated. Virgil seems driven to understand more about what he's doing and why, but Everett just accepts himself without question.
I think the duality between the two men, the places where they fit together so well, and Virgil's imperfections that keep them apart, paints a pretty accurate picture of the differences between men of the Old West and of the New West.
The story is light and straight-forward. There aren't any surprises in this one, but I had a good time and read it in a couple sittings. Parker fans will love the book and Western readers will enjoy it if they've never read anything by the author before.
I'm looking forward to the movie and to the third book in the trilogy. Seeing how Virgil eventually reconciles himself to his lethal attraction for Allie, the singer that has all the morals of an alley cat, should be interesting.
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