Cow Cookies

Good novels in the mainstream press are getting harder to find. Gems appear from time to time from small presses and independently published novels. This is one such novel. The author takes us and his quirky cast on a dessert journey though the lore of poisonous plants to find solutions to what's killing both man and cattle. Of particular interest is the cast of characters populating a typical bureaucracy battling for territory, position, and authority. It's obvious this author loves his work but is equally tired of dealing with the system. What better way than to take it out in a novel.

C F Button's first novel is a western of the "new West". After an opening that I found somewhat tedious, "Cow Cookies" quickly begins to flow smoothly and is well paced. While I found both the hero and the villain predictably somewhat larger than life, the remaining characters and their interactions are believable and entertaining. Those who have worked for the Bureau of Land Management, or probably any other bureaucracy, may find themselves as entertained by attempting to associate the characters with people they have known as by the plot itself. Liberal use of satire throughout tends to make up for any weak areas in plot development, and the ending is just anti-climactic enough to leave the reader both satisfied and expecting a sequel. If you like Zane Grey blended with a bit of S. Omar Barker, then I think that you will find "Cow Cookies" well worth reading. For me, it was a "two sittings" book, and I read slowly due to low vision.