CAPE HELL
By Loren D. Estleman
Forge Books
224 pgs
Available May 2016
Now we’ve only read a few books by
Loren D. Estleman but those were enough to convince us of his immeasurable
storytelling talents. It is also clear
he possesses a genuine fondness for westerns as this latest title soundly
confirms.
Montana
based U.S. Deputy Marshal Page Murdock, a seasoned lawman, is ordered by his
superior, Federal Judge Harlan Blackthorne, to Cape Hell,
Mexico, to investigates the
activities of former Confederate officer, Captain Oscar Childress, said to be
assembling a private army to capture Mexico
City. From
there Childress plans to turn his attention to United States and attempt to start
a second Civil War.
Murdoch finds the entire idea
ludicrous but has little say in the matter and soon finds himself aboard an old
steam engine train called The Ghost barreling
his way south with a shifty Mexican engineer and Joseph, his Indian
fireman. Their destination, Childress’
camp hidden deep in the heart of the rugged Sierra Madres overlooking Cape Hell.
The ex-Confederate would-be
conqueror is a well used plot that in lesser hands would have proven tiresome
and unoriginal, but it is Murdock’s weary world voice that gives it a new
feel. His curiosity at what makes
Childress tick and his stubbornness in seeing the mission completed offer up a
truly likeable protagonist who, considering how many times he’s cracked over
the head, must have a skull made of rock.
“Cape Hell”
is as fast paced as the locomotive that carries us into the eerily beautiful
but deadly landscape and in the end delivers a fresh, exciting yarn worthy of
the best classic westerns. This one is a
winner hands down.
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