Review: Classic Two-Gun Stranger
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 21, 2013
I'm a sucker for westerns, and always have been. I think it's because I grew up in a time when cowboys were still heroic. Though I welcomed the revisionist takes on the genre that appeared in films in the 80s and 90s - and with full knowledge that the archetype is completely fictional - my heart still belongs to the old fashioned cowboy tale. Van Holt has spent a lifetime writing them, and 'Maben' is a welcome addition. Protagonist John Parker may or may not be Frank Maben, a local boy who disappeared after the Civil War. Returning to his family homestead with no one left alive to confirm his identity, Parker faces down sceptical and greedy townsfolk while trying to start his life over. Getting in his way, as everyone will soon learn, is a very bad idea. Great fun!