BETWEEN HELL AND TEXAS

Gunfighter's Reputation #2

by Ralph Cotton

We fully guarantee all orders and gladly accept returns for any reason.

Genres: Westerns

Mass Market Paperback

First published March 2, 2004

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 2 out of 5]

From Hell to Texas is the second book in I believe an eleven book series about Fast Larry Shaw and his friend, Clay Dawson. I was initially under the impression that all of the novels in this series focused on Shaw, but that's not the case. This one focuses exclusively on Dawson and his return to Somos Santos, where both he and Shaw grew up. I liked this novel overall, evidenced by the fact I read it in five days, which is unusual for me. That said, I much prefer Shaw, the gunfighter, and his exploits, to those of Dawson, at least at this point. Here, Dawson has just helped Shaw avenge the death of Shaw's wife, and has murdered the culprits in a nearby town. This novel begins with the two separating, and Dawson heading back home to Somos Santos. In the process, he desperately attempts to escape his newly acquired reputation as a gunman. While Shaw is a gunfighter who in some ways wants to escape that life, Dawson is a Drover, with the reputation of a gunfighter, who wants nothing to DO with that life. Unfortunately for him, he cannot escape the reputation, and events force him to become the one thing he has tried to avoid. Dawson is a good, decent man who cares about people, and values human life. Okay...these are noble characteristics, and I particularly like his respect for women and his treatment of those less fortunate. However, Dawson has that annoying tendency I often find in novels like this of being so hell-bent on NOT becoming what he has to be to survive, that he risks his life and the lives of others in the process. For example, several times throughout the novel, he has the opportunity to kill the "bad guys," and we all know that his failure to do so out of respect for life, will only cause the deaths of more innocents down the road. As any good general will attest, sometimes it's better that one man perishes, than thousands of men perish out of respect for the life of the one. Predictably, Dawson repeatedly shows lenience with these evil ruffians, and he lives to regret doing so. It's my hope that from here on out, he has learned his lesson and will become more ruthless, like Fast Larry Shaw has become. Shaw knows that you're much better off eliminating the evil while you have the chance, and the reason he has survived so long is because he does just that. In this novel, Dawson is going through that process of discovering this sad reality, and sometimes for the reader, the journey is difficult. However, by the end of the novel, just enough of the people Dawson cares for have been murdered. He loses his patience, and once he does, there's hell to pay, and the story becomes far more interesting and enjoyable, at least for me. I require swift and ruthless justice for those who deserve it. I'm hoping that the next novel in this series will turn back to Shaw, because I'm really in the mood for some vengeance after painfully watching Dawson allow criminal after criminal to walk off into the sunset, at least until the end, that is. Again, I am pleased with the conclusion of this novel...I just would have liked to see a little more justice throughout.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as part of a brief Western genre study I did with my Reference coworkers, so needless to say, this is not something I would normally choose to read. Fast pacing, familiar characters, and lots of action would make this a good read for someone who enjoys paperback westerns, but sadly, that person is not me. I felt it was too cliche and predictable, and this is coming from someone who isn't even all that familiar with traditional Westerns, either in book or movie format. Granted, that is the appeal of the paperback format to Western fans, but I think I may have enjoyed something a little more historical or literary than this. I'm glad I made myself read it, just so I'm better able to help our patrons who come in looking for these Westerns, but I won't be trying another one.

[Barbara Lee Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

"GRAVE YARD LOVE"

Nothing good ever happens when your in love with your best friends wife..then that silent love of your life is murdered. So now you join up with the husband to hunt these murderers down, and
punish, punish them..with "DEATH"even that's not enough of a punishment. Then you get involved with a "soiled dove"who falls in love with you while she's nursing you back to health; you become intimate with this sad, loved starved abused saloon girl whose made a living selling her body to any type of man as long as the price is right. This is a western with the overtones of "the young and restless". This cowboy needs to get himself together especially his feelings, because another woman is emerging as a possible love interest with benefits..my suggestion to everyone who reads this western, ENJOY.. its clean and it's the bad guys vs good guys..there's humor and it will make you chuckle...

[HornFan2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent read from Ralph Cotton. This is Book 2 of the Gunman's Reputation, which features two wily gunfighters Lawrence Shaw and Cray Dawson. Between Hell and Texas, features just Cray Dawson who returns home to Somos Santos, at odds with his growing gunfighter reputation and still trying to overcoming the death of the only woman he's loved in Rosa Shaw.

He finds his hometown taken over by outlaws, who is the elected Sheriff Lematte by the town and his deputies and starts a relationship with Carmelita, Rosa's sister.

Cray gets pushed by Lematte and his deputies repeatedly and when they push him to far. He takes them on by himself, after tricking the Cowboys from Double D who also have revenge on their minds to avenged the death of their owner and several Cowboys at the hands of Lematte and guns them down one by one.

Anything by Cotton's a really good read, highly recommend him. He's quite the wordsmith, has the knack to put his readers into the pages of his book. If you never tried reading a Westerns, he's a good author to start with and he'll get you hooked.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't know how I got into this one. Think it was a gift and having nothing else around I read it. Good cowboy overcomes the bad ones.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unwanted Title

Cray Dawson never wanted to be a gunman but got caught up in the way things were at the time.