Monday 1 September 2014

Vengeance at Sundown

LUCAS FUME #1
By Larry D. Sweazy
Berkley, August 2014

Lucas Fume has had plenty of fights in his life: spying for the Confederate Army, standing up to the railroad company when it tried to take his land, then getting framed for the murder of his business partner – only to lose his land as well as the love of his life. But Lucas isn’t finished fighting yet…

With help from Ezekiel “Zeke” Henry, a fellow inmate and former slave, Lucas manages to escape prison. Riding with Zeke to St. Louis, he soon discovers that his former partner is still alive, using a different name, and doing big business with the railroads – and he has Lucas’s lost love with him. On the run from the law and up against a rich and influential enemy, Lucas is about to take on the most dangerous fight of his life.

Beginning his story with a desperate jailbreak Larry D. Sweazy throws a number of questions at his hero that will ensure you keep reading the book, such as who orchestrated the breakout and why?

Sweazy has created a superb set of characters for this tale, not least the totally unhinged supposed dead man who will do anything to keep his true identity a secret. And Charlotte, Fume’s lost love, just what part does she have to play in the deadly situations Fume finds himself in?

Switching regularly between his characters Sweazy often leaves them in cliff-hanger predicaments thus keeping the reader turning the pages. He also includes a number of plot twists that will have you wondering how Fume can possible triumph in the end, and even though all the major plotlines are resolved a few threads are left dangling for continuation in the next book of the series.

If you’ve never read any of Larry D. Sweazy’s books then this is a terrific place to start. Vengeance at Sundown is a gritty, raw, fast moving, action-packed read that I’m sure, like me, will leave you eagerly anticipating the next Lucas Fume book.

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