The Stranger from Abilene: A Ralph Compton Novel

by Joseph A. West

Rancher Cage Clayton has been hired to track down a man who years ago left a destructive path in his wake. Though he doesn't know what Lissome Terry looks like, Clayton knows his target is in Bighorn Point, so finding him shouldn't be too hard. But when the town Marshall only gives Clayton a week to find his man, catching him will be anything but easy...

Genres: Westerns

263 pages, Library Binding

First published August 2, 2011

About the author

Joe West was born and raised in the seaside town of Saltcoats in Scotland. At 19 he became a police officer, but soon turned his love of writing into a career as a journalist, working for the Daily Mirror in London among others. In 1972 West was recruited as a reporter for the National Enquirer, and began working in the United States. Traveling the world in search of stories, West almost froze to death on an Alaska mountain, and a spider bite nearly killed him in the Amazon rainforest. 'I swelled up like a balloon and turned a real pretty violet color,' he recalls.

Now a full-time novelist, West and his wife Emily reside in sunny Lake Worth, Florida, where he enjoys tamer pursuits like canoeing the alligator-infested swamps of the Everglades. His daughter Alexandria attends a local college where she studies forensic technology. She will have absolutely nothing to do with canoes and alligators.

West researches the settings of his novels by exploring the terrain in person, usually with little more than a sleeping bag and a can of coffee.

Recently he and Emily celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at the Lodge in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a gift from the students at Rio Rancho High School who use West's first novel as a textbook. They then spent a month in the mountains and deserts of New Mexico, often pitching their tent where the air is thin at 9,000 feet above the flat.

Reviews

[Brad Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted a decent (and short) western and that's what I got. Not an amazing or particularly memorable story but the writing was good and kept the story moving along with good characters. I kept expecting some twist but mostly the bad guys were bad and the good guys were good and everything felt pretty predictable. I think I'll try another book from this author and see if his books are for me.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to read a Western here and there to take a break from the other stuff I'm really interested in and this one wasn't to bad. It kept me guessing and I enjoyed the plot and the characters where drawn up nicely. I'll read more Ralph Compton series in the future.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Western

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked The Stranger from Abilene as far as Westerns go. Gritty and a feel for the old west were a couple of my emotions. Cage is an honorable, likeable character. There were a few twists to the story as it moved toward the end and I was surprised at one outcome especially. But, I reminded myself of the times and the reality of what probably was more the truth in the actions that were portrayed.

I was a tad put off by tons of dialogue because that's one of my pet peeves with writers these days, at least as I see it. Too much dialogue and the story gets left in the dust. A balance between showing/telling and dialogue is more interesting to me.

I hadn't read a western in a long time. Found this Ralph Compton and thought it sounded like a good read. I later discovered that "Ralph Compton" is the psuedo used by several western writers since Compton died in 1998. Signet signed on several writers to "write as" Ralph Compton. This particular piece was written by Joseph A. West.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair western as man from Abilene seeks revenge. The first 3/4 of the story was excellent but an unsuccessful surprise ending negated much of that. Still, I would recommend it to fans of Westerns.