GREAT GUNS AND HORSES: RIDE A FAST HORSE BY KEVIN WARREN

Ride A Fast Horse introduces a new talent in the western genre. A writer with real cowboy experience, Kevin Warren, delivers the authenticity many of us thirst for in the genre. He also just knows how to write a good shoot em' up.

He opens with the bad guys. A collection of rustlers and gunman remaining from the notorious Lincoln County War, who have rode into Arizona, robbing, pillaging, and killing. along the way. As they set up camp for night, Warren sets up their personalities, particularly the demeanor and cold blood of the leader, Jessup Henry. It's demonstrated by a way he dispatches a rival in the middle of the night.

The next chapter introduces us to our hero, Captain Tom Skinner. The army has placed his calvary unit in charge of bringing in The Jessup Henry gang. When the outlaws attack the family of the woman he loves, leaving her and her twin,brothers to fend for themselves, the only bringing them in will be over a saddle.

Warren serves up a direct and uncomplicated tale of good guys hunting down the bad. He mones te drama from the relationships with each group. This is richy played out with Skinner's right hand man, Chaco. Warren brings in the idea of survival and victory on the frontier depending on hw a group of individuals sticks together and makes each personality pop.

We also get a real feel for how these characters would operate in this time and place. We see how Skinner and his men track The Jessup Henry Gang down and use the terrain for strategy. Warren excels in representing horsemanship. Skinner's relationship with his steed Two Tall is one of the best man-horse partnerships I have read.

Kevin Warren plants his flag with Ride A Fast Horse, It's reminiscent of the early powder burners of Elmore Kelton, told with style and authority. H lole demonstrates the possibility of riding to great heights.