Review: Van Holt and the Art of the Western
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 4, 2013
It seems there is no stopping the ideas that pour from the pen of Van Holt. Having finished twenty six published novels with four more scheduled for publication in the very near future, Holt has taken on the concept of ebooks and made them ride the range. People seem hungry for these tomes of yesteryear - back in the days before CGI blighted our imagination synapses and we were dependent on fine writers to take us on a trip outside the everyday world in which we live. The books are short in reading space but linger with a terrific afterburn - the kind of books you can easily read in one night - if the action doesn't disturb your sleep.Van Holt's stories keep rolling and while we would expect there to be some repetition in themes or in characters the novels continue to be fresh. SHOOT TO KILL  is a strong story about a man by the name of Mark Reston, a wild west guy who had no intention of becoming a killer, but that decision is not left for him to decide alone: due to his saving the life of a beautiful young woman he becomes the target for the men behind the scheme to have that rescued lady kill Reston! The outlaws have their devious plans and soon Reston, the unwilling killer, has a list of five men he must shoot to kill in order to prevent the rescued damsel from carrying out her unwanted assignment to kill Reston - or be killed. Throw in subterfuge and some rowdy gunfights and you're immersed in the magic that makes Van Holt's Western dramas the best being written today. How it all turns out - leave that to the curiosity of the spaghetti westerns. Grady Harp, October 13