This western story written by Les Savage Jr. was written in the late fifties and was at the time considered to far from the accepted model of western books. The Author died and his agent felt that it should not be published in the form I read it in. The agent supplied a rough draft to another author and he wrote a story that fit the stereotype western of the day called Gun Shy.
This original work breaks many rules of westerns and plows new ground through the western novel world. Today’s readers are subjected to many new and different story lines with the hero’s being from any age group, race or gender. The story begins with the murder seen by a boy who did not like guns or killing anything. He sees his father killed and his mother shot and she eventually die’s of a broken heart. The story is wound around a robbery that his uncle is spending time in prison for. Gordon’s father knows his brother is innocent but is struggling to find enough evidence to free him and that is what gets him killed and the story takes off on a run down hill. There are many twists and turns as the story shows new events and introduces more characters and possible guilty people.
I really enjoyed this story and I recommend it to the western reader who likes to branch out away from the cookie cutter mold of a lot of westerns.
