Friday 18 November 2011

Morgan Kane: Without Mercy


By Louis Masterson
WR Films Entertainment Group, Inc.
eBook, November 2011

Kane was a born gambler. When he was taken to the cleaners in a rigged game of cards in St. Louis, he didn’t realize it was part of a private vendetta. Three men and a woman were after Kane. The woman was the bait…

And when they thought they had finished Kane off in the dark, he was left for dead. The buzzards saved him. But, to match the Ranger’s star he carried, Kane had gained a star-shaped scar on his right hand – the hand that meant the difference between life and death to a ranger who lived by the speed of his draw.

Kane wanted revenge – and got it.

This book tells how Kane came by the scar on the back of his hand and why he has two fingers bound together. It is also a study in fear – fear that Kane won’t be able to use his gun-hand again, this fear keeping him from returning to his job as a Texas Ranger. It’s emotions like this that I feel is one of Louis Masterson’s strong points, something he writes so well, puts over in words that strike a lasting chord within the reader. 

Fear isn’t the only emotional theme Masterson puts Kane through. The events that trigger this lead to a strong need for revenge. Masterson also vividly describes animal magnetism, strong desires between Kane and a number of different women – desires that Kane struggles to keep in check. 

The book also introduces us to Charlie Katz, another Texas Ranger who often partners Kane, and through memories of his, and Kane’s, we discover little snippets about previous cases they worked on, assignments that helped shape Kane into the man he is in the opening scenes of this very fast moving story. 

The final, desperate gunfight closes the book extremely well, and leaves this reader hungry for more.


4 comments:

Jan Pettersen said...

A bit confusing, but the mentioned previous cases will show up in later books with Kane as US Marshal. Without Mercy was the first book in the Kane series, but the sixth novel Hallbing wrote about Morgan Kane. The first five novels were later rewritten to fit into the ongoing series.


A minor translation error by Phil Newth has survived the transition to ebook:
All the time he had been aware of the screams but it wasnt until he threw himself down beside the dead body that he understood what they were all about.

It should of course be «until she threw herself down», as this is about Allison MacKay.

Jo Walpole said...

The cover's a bit racy. Looks more like an erotic western...oo er. If I didn't know better I'd overlook it because of that...unless there is a bit of graphic naughtiness in there...?

Steve M said...

Nope Jo. Hinted at...but not graphic.

Anonymous said...

Jan,

Thank you for your comments - as always. We will fix this error in the next edition of the eBook.

Otto Holm-Johnsen
WR Films