.45-CALIBER FURY by Peter Brandvold - Berkley, February 2005
Ever since reading .45-Caliber Revenge I've been looking forward to reading this, the second book featuring Peter Brandvold's young hero Cuno Massey. So does this book match up to my expectations after the excellence of the first book in this series?
The story begins with Cuno and his new, expectant bride, July, making a go of a small farmstead. But Massey's dark past isn't far away as a group of bounty hunters arrive, eager for the reward on Massey, and it isn't long before the bullets fly and July dies. Once again Massey will take up the gun as he vows to kill the bounty hunters who got away, once more Massey thirsts for revenge.
This time I thought Peter Brandvold presented Massey as a colder, more deadly figure, a man who didn't give a damn about anyone else, a man who only lives to kill his quarry. Even when the chase teams him up with a young woman who's also hunting the killers, who've stolen her map for hidden gold, he shows no interest in her or the gold.
Yet Brandvold does not strip Massey of all humanity by totally turning him into an unfeeling killing machine. Massey does not ignore the plight of others, will help them with deadly proficiency.
The violence is graphic and brutal and the characters very well presented, the story gripping, building to it's savage final showdown at a terrific pace.
So did the book match up to my expectations? More than so, in fact I thought this was even better than .45-Calibre Revenge. All that I can hope is that Massey will return in a further book.
Highly recommended.
