Review: Early Anti-hero Rediscovered
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2013
I agree with 'Suncoast' that the time has come to rejuvenate the Western genre.  This series of books, published between 1966-1985, does not constitute a 'rejuvenation' although republication in English of "Without Mercy" is amply justified. The original publication dates and violence quotient are more in line with the 'spaghetti Western' genre of Lee Van Cleef and Clint Eastwood, where the hero has to come 'back from the grave' almost in order to 'see justice done,'Morgan Kane is a lawman and he is also a deeply flawed man with weaknesses for gambling, women, drinking and violent action.  A reader has to accept that Kane would also be so much of a greenhorn as to get suckered into the first poker game or that he would combine high-stakes poker with heavy drinking.  A man with his kind of 'back trail' only lives to be older by being more alert and more cautious.  The story does have him starting carefully enough but he is too close to his last killing to allow his guard to fall so low as he does. It also strikes me that the late outlaw's associates are able to mount a revenge scheme far too quickly to be believed.  Well, with just a 108 page rating, this is a short novel and the pace has to be quick.  The author is deft in presenting the slick and dangerous outlaw leader, the voluptuous but Bad Woman, the nasty young gunman and the 'decent women' Kane finds along the short path of this story.  For me, the second most interesting character in the book is the thoughtful and experienced gun hand in the gamblers' band.  Again, his part in the doings is 'compressed' as the story follows narrowly along the line of injury and revenge.  There is entertainment here but the story 'reads too fast' for a Zane Grey fan and I felt the loss of the exposition that could have taken place along the way.