Melanie (MELNELYNN) reviewed Ralph Compton Death of a Bad Man (Ralph Compton Western Series) on + 669 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Solomon Brakefield is a miner living in the dusty little scrap of a town of Warren, New Mexico. Really, even calling this tiny collection of tents ruled over by Charlie Lowell, the tight fisted owner of the silver mine; a `town' is being generous.
When a gang of desperadoes ride through town and steal Charlie's money, Sol takes it upon himself to save the day. This event and complications from it change him in unexpected ways, causing Sol to strike off and seek his fortune and the help of a bad man named Nestor Quarles.
I thought Sol's `awakening' was handled very well. Most of the characters were pretty two dimensional stock types, but there are moments with Sol that are very well done, with a better sense of characterization than I was expecting. Often the author would work in little throwaway moments of Sol reflecting on who he was and who he is becoming. This could easily have been done in a treacly or overbearing manner, but here it is pulled off pretty smoothly.
Nestor was also pretty deftly handled. He reminded me a bit of Clint Eastwood's character in Unforgiven. The author doesn't want you to hate Nestor. He doesn't go around gunning down widows or children for instance. But he never acts in a heroic, out of character manner either. As a reader you are never made to question how dangerous a man Nestor is.
Marcus Pelegrimas is never going to be confused with Henry James, but he really knows how to write good pulp novels. He has a very good sense of pacing that keeps interest in the story high. He narrates the story in a very conversational manner that gives the feel of a tale being told over a camp fire. the style is so conversational that he easily could have blown it with a turn of phrase that would have come off as too modern, pulling me out of the Old West, but he never did. I could see that he worked hard to put out writing that seems so natural.
The only real problem I had with the writing is that sometimes the description of action scenes was a little confusing. Still, it is a little gripe. Only a very small flaw on a book that I enjoyed quite a bit.
I will be picking up the other two books he wrote under the Ralph Compton label and have already picked up the first couple of books from his Man From Boot Hill series.
When a gang of desperadoes ride through town and steal Charlie's money, Sol takes it upon himself to save the day. This event and complications from it change him in unexpected ways, causing Sol to strike off and seek his fortune and the help of a bad man named Nestor Quarles.
I thought Sol's `awakening' was handled very well. Most of the characters were pretty two dimensional stock types, but there are moments with Sol that are very well done, with a better sense of characterization than I was expecting. Often the author would work in little throwaway moments of Sol reflecting on who he was and who he is becoming. This could easily have been done in a treacly or overbearing manner, but here it is pulled off pretty smoothly.
Nestor was also pretty deftly handled. He reminded me a bit of Clint Eastwood's character in Unforgiven. The author doesn't want you to hate Nestor. He doesn't go around gunning down widows or children for instance. But he never acts in a heroic, out of character manner either. As a reader you are never made to question how dangerous a man Nestor is.
Marcus Pelegrimas is never going to be confused with Henry James, but he really knows how to write good pulp novels. He has a very good sense of pacing that keeps interest in the story high. He narrates the story in a very conversational manner that gives the feel of a tale being told over a camp fire. the style is so conversational that he easily could have blown it with a turn of phrase that would have come off as too modern, pulling me out of the Old West, but he never did. I could see that he worked hard to put out writing that seems so natural.
The only real problem I had with the writing is that sometimes the description of action scenes was a little confusing. Still, it is a little gripe. Only a very small flaw on a book that I enjoyed quite a bit.
I will be picking up the other two books he wrote under the Ralph Compton label and have already picked up the first couple of books from his Man From Boot Hill series.
