Customer Reviews

Trouble on the Massacre

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This 1959 book is a typicallly proficient formula Western by a genre veteran .The protagonist is "James Sanderson" an agent for the Cattleman's Association and also a US Marshall who is searching for Al Craig, a man who has killed two people in Utah ,one of whom was Sanderson's fiance.He stumbles into a budding range war ,involving the ageing but still formidable patriarch ,Colonel Peters on one side and the unscrupulous Ellen Jenner on the other .Craig is among Jenner's hired guns ,and Sanderson sees the opportunity to bring him to justice.Complicating matters is the involvement of the impressionable young Boone Ralston ,who has been inveighled into joining Jenner's party ,much to the consternation of his sister ,Mary ,who is anxious not to become involved in the gathering conflict and with whom Sanderson falls in love.

The book is fast paced and ,for its era ,violent ,as first one side then the other gains the upper hand .There are burnings and shootouts in plenty as Sanderson must bring his man to justice ,seek to protect Boone who sees him as a guide and mentor and try to restore some peace to the territory .The book is low on originality but it has verve and pace .Genre lovers will enjoy its readability and skilled assembling of genre ingredients into a readable whole .Nothing startling but a very professional tale that will satisfy lovers of the Western novel