The Savage Trail

This book appears to be the middle of a series that follows John Savage on a classic revenge quest with his laconic partner Ben. Jory Sherman's tale kept me turning the pages, so I'll be sure and pick up the others. But it isn't for the faint-hearted. As the other review indicates, Sherman gets pretty graphic in his descriptions of blood and thunder, and like Peter Brandvold, the bodies just keep piling up. The bad guys (and gal) are horrifically bad, and the good guys are just a shade better. But I love a Western that gets me out on the trail, as this one does, rather than cooped-up on some High Noon-type street. Give it a try--gets a thumbs up with the hammer coming down.

This is the first novel by Jory Sherman that I've read. I found it a great read and everything I hoped to find in a good Old West Western.Sherman is a highly talented writer who crafts a great, engrossing story; that is filled with fast action,interesting characters,lots of very good western verbage and expressions. He gives a good ,well thought out story and doesn't revert to digressions to fill the pages. In this story, we meet John Savage,who has seen his parents murdered by a scum of the earth ,Ollie Hobart.Savage has decided that he will hunt this murder to the end of the earth,if necessary,to bring him to the justice he deserves. The story has a lot of characters,both good and unsavory,but the author introduces them with precision, and it is not too difficult to keep them all sorted out.While Savage is determined to hunt down Hobart,he is led over a long trail,but in the end,Hobart finally comes to him. Sherman is a master of descriptive writing as evidenced by many lines like these; "All dead?" Ben sniffed,feeling his own throat tighten up as if it had been suddenly encased in a vise made of the coldest iron. "Yeah." "It's like looking at eternity,ain't it,John? Like starin' down into a bottomless well." "I don't know what you mean,Ben." "They've gone on from this place. God only knows where they are now.But,wherever they be, it's for the rest of eternity." Or; "Kerrigan ate the lead as it smashed through his teeth and into his mouth.Shards of teeth crumbled from his lips. The ball slammed into his spine at the back of his throat.There was an ugly smacking sound,the sound of bone breaking.He stiffened.His hand went slack and the pistol hung there,half out of his holster.His eyes glazed over with the final frost of death,fixed on a point just above John's head,and stared lifeless into eternity." Stranger,you don't think long on a thing,do you?"Bender said. "I gave him fair warning,"John said.