Apache Death

Edge #3

by George G. Gilman, Malcolm Davey (Editor)

WARNING! This book is not for the fainthearted. APACHE DEATH: Edge finds himself hold-up in Fort Rainbow, deep in the heart of Apache territory. With Cochise and his warriors on the warpath, Edge allies himself with an Englishman, a man who considers himself to be Edge's equal and who also holds the key to the whereabouts of a million dollars worth of gold bullion. The two men make plans to retrieve the gold, but things don’t always go according to plan … especially when the Apaches attack the town and fort, inflicting their special brand of suffering to soldiers and civilians alike. As the death toll rises and the brutal onslaught comes to a head, Edge will have to put his fate in the hands of a man called … Gatling!

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Ebooks

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1972

About the author

A pseudonym used by Terry Harknett.

Edge (61 books as George G. Gilman)
Adam Steele (49 books as George G. Gilman)
Edge Meets Adam Steele (3 books as George G. Gilman)
The Undertaker (6 books as George G. Gilman)

Reviews

[Dave Edmunds · Rating 4 out of 5]

"whether an isolated incident or part of a territory wide campaign by the Chiricahua Apaches - it was none of his business. At least it wasn't until he found out the going rate, in dollars, for dead Apaches."

3.5 🌟's

Initial Thoughts

George Gilman's Edge books are more than an entertaining read for me, as they have turned into an opportunity to connect with my late Grandfather. He was a huge fan of westerns and George G. Gilman's 'Edge' was without doubt his favourite. I spent many an afternoon eating sugared apples, listening with rapt attention, as he recounted one of Edge's crazy adventures. They always contained large amounts of "blood and snot" as he liked to say and reading them now as an adult it's all coming back to me. Have you ever had a book that reminds you of a specific person or am I alone here?

Anyway, after having a great time with the first two installments in this sixty-one book series I'm now onto the third, Apache Death. I'm expecting more violence and death as well as plenty of moments that bring memories of Grandad Joe flooding back. Not sure if I'll be able to read the fifty-eight remaining books but God loves a trier. You know the score...so many books and so little time. And on that note, on with the review!

The Story

This episode is a straightforward tale of survival as we pick up with Josiah Hedges (AKA Edge) escaping a near death experience and about to run his horse into the ground. Talk about flogging a dead horse! Winding up in the small town of Rainbow with the view of resting up and getting himself a new steed, he learns of a fragile peace agreement between the local Apaches and the neighbouring cavalry fort that looks like it's about to be broken. That's after a local farm is attacked and the family slaughtered.



Add to that rumours of a small fortune hidden somewhere in the neighbouring hills and we've got the basis for a very entertaining yarn. Edge soon finds himself in an uneasy alliance with the English gambler Lord Hartley Falliowfield who won the map in a poker game fair and square. So it's the standard fair of get rich or die trying for our hero and you can bet there's going to be plenty of twists and turns along the way!

"They're like beasts of the jungle"
"But it was their jungle first," he answered..."

Final Thoughts

So, much like the first two books, Apache Death is an extremely violent tale that is certainly not for the weak hearted. Action packed and full of brutal mayhem. Exactly what I've come to expect from this series.

However, due to the straightforward plot and limited character development it wasn't quite up to that standard. There was a good reason for that lack of character development as they were dropping like flies. Still an entertaining read though and Lord Hartley certainly added a lot of humour. It's great how Gilman can inject elements of comedy into what would otherwise be a very dark read. Help keep things balanced.

So I'm looking forward to the next installment, which is one that delves into Edge's past when he fought in the Civil War...Killers Breed...sounds lovely. Hope you'll all be joining me for that one.

Thanks for reading and...cheers!

[Still · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've only read one other entry in the Edge series ...the 1st or 2nd, I think.
I enjoyed it in the moment. Edge is a kind of Clint Eastwood "Outlaw Josey Wales" character, wandering around the West, committing acts of mayhem when he's crossed or just gets the notion.

This one is a paint-by-numbers "cowboys & Injuns" actioner and a damned unpleasant one at that.
Poorly written and filled with really dreadful "jokes", puns or whatever - some of them racist. I've never read a writer drive 10 pages out of the way to use a "joke" that ends with the word "n****r".

Violent segments are written with an apparent love of gore, torture, and inhumanity -vividly described.

If you're interested in this kind of stuff, you'd do yourself a favor by skipping "George G. Gilman" and opting for a Robert E Howard "Conan" novella.

[Steve Dilks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first EDGE I've read. It's a slim volume, clocking in at 119 pages but it rips along in a frenzied orgy of guts, gore, rapes, scalpings, murders, gun fights and outright mayhem from the onset. Really I want to give it five stars but, at some point, I want to review Mervyn Peake's GORMENGHAST and Charles Bukowski's HAM ON RYE, so you see my dilemma. I mean, this is pulp! Not art! It's a cheap car crash thrill for the great unwashed!
Which is why I love it.
It's a fun book- gruesome and nasty. Edge doesn't have much of a character, he's a loner with a gun who takes no prisoners. And that's all you need to know. There's no subtle character building- he's got the instincts of a feral wolf-always on the lookout for betrayal, except when he has something in his sights. The writing is practical and lean- sharp edged as the man himself.
I saw these paperbacks in the stores a lot in the '80s. I never much gave a damn for westerns and so I passed them up, usually for more fantastic fare. Had I known the sheer fast paced energy of the writing and the brutality of the violence, I might well have been a convert a long time ago. So it looks like I got some catching up to do. Count me in.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terry Harknett was a British author of almost 200 books, mostly within the Western or Crime genres. Writing under the name George G. Gilman, he penned one of the most popular western series, “Edge”, cementing his place among the best of the Piccadilly Cowboys (a group of British authors who wrote westerns despite never having set foot in the US). All Gilman books are known for their sardonic and sarcastic humor and for their very violent content.

This third novel in the Edge series is no exception. Book two saw Josiah Hedge (now known as “Edge”) in Mexico, fleeing a $10,000 bounty on his head but now, at the beginning of this episode, he feels enough time has gone by that he can return to the US. He finds himself deep in the heart of Apache territory, stuck in Fort Rainbow. The Apache, it seems are on the warpath, led by “Little Cochise” as he is known by the soldiers at the fort. He is the younger brother of Cochise himself. Edge allies himself with The Englishman, a man who is nearly Edge's equal in skill and sarcasm. He claims to have an ancient map that leads to a million dollars in gold bullion. Of course, these books are known for their extreme violence and brutality and the author makes good use of the Apache to uphold this tradition.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edge seemed a bit more merciful than usual and there was a bit more comedy relief in this one, but the action was still gruesome and by the end you feel you are covered in gore along with everyone else in the book.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it better than #2 in the series, mainly because Edge didn't seem quite as much of a brutal asshole. The endings of these are fairly weak.

My copy has a different cover.

[Mikepottz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edge comes across a farmhouse the malodorous stink of decomposing bodies, a man scalped, a women with a split skull where a tomahawk had chopped the bone in half. Edge killing some native Americans, scalping them with his long sharp knife. Coming into the town of Rainbow he punches a Sheriff in the guts and throws his pistol into the bottom of hot steaming horse manure. Edge will cash in a dead or alive criminal and hang out in a saloon, the pianist playing, dancing girls showing nickers, people playing cards and hard drinkers knocking them back. The native Americans are rumoured to be making a raid against the town with the military fort close by. The native Americans will attack the town, a fat lady gets her skull crushed by a wagon's rim, war cries unleashed, freezing blood, sending a river of urine down ones pants. Edge will ask a man if he has a stomach-ache after stabbing him in the guts. Edge will try to balance killing loads of native Americans and trying his luck with finding a million dollars worth of hidden gold from a map.

[Chris Haynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, bad ebook formatting

I really like the Edge books. The writing, dialog, characters and story are all great.

But the formatting in the ebooks is just horrible. One could overlook the issue if it was just this one book but it's not, it's in the first 3 books for sure. There are random commas, random capitalizations, in a lot of places the letter "r" is replaced with an "m". At times it makes it very difficult to read the book.

I love the stories but with the formatting problems I don't know if I'll read another one or not.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read in this fast paced and vicious western series. This time Edge falls into a golden opportunity (literally as in knowledge of a hidden gold stash) that he deals himself into. However there is also an Apache uprising and 300 Apaches or more is no easy force to get through. Of course Edge only cares for himself and violence is amped up throughout the book.

Highly recommended, these are fun quick reads. They are fairly mindless, full of action and violence which everyone needs on occasion.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the bloody violence you would expect and more in this, the third book in this series. Edge rides into a town in the Arizona Territory with a army fort that has just received some of the latest guns to add to their arsenal. He meets an Englishman with a map to an unknown treasure. Mix in an Apache uprising, thus the title, and the blood runs red.

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good western read. This is the third book in the series and I am glad I found this author and this series. These are the kind of western books that I enjoy. As I have always said, a western read is a good getaway.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out more crime, thriller and pulp reviews on CriminOlly.wordpress.com

The problem with reading old pulp paperbacks is that they’re often pretty icky. I’ve fallen foul of this with Matt Helm (a bit rapey) and MIA Hunter (massively racist). When I picked up my recently arrived copy of the third novel in George G Gilman’s ‘Edge’ series and saw that the title had the word ‘Apache’ in it, I was pretty sure I’d be shaving a star off my rating for objectionable bigotry. Turns out I needn’t have worried quite as much as I did.
Like the previous two books, this is a brutal, nihilistic tale, where the hero’s aim is simply to survive to the last page. This time Josiah Hedges (Edge) winds up in a small town, Rainbow, which sits next to a US cavalry fort. There’s a fragile peace in place between the population and the local Native American tribes, which is broken when a local farming family are slaughtered. Throw into the mix rumours of a fortune hidden in the nearby hills and a foppish English gambler, and you’ve got the makings of another great western page turner from Gilman.
Like the other books this is an insanely violent tale, with a tonne of gory action throughout, culminating in a stunningly destructive ending. The English character adds some humour to the proceedings, with him and Edge indulging in some entertaining banter. Other characters come and go, rarely lasting very long but all adding a bit of colour.
Written in the 70s, and very much aping westerns from previous decades, this was never going to be a book held up as a great example of the portrayal of Native Americans. There are some interesting nuances though. The Apache characters are ruthless and bloodthirsty, but then everyone in these books is. In fact Edge seems to prefer their approach to life and combat than that of the white characters, who are far more likely to be duplicitous. “I’d try exactly what old Cochise is trying,” he comments at one point. What’s more, both Edge and the book seem very much aware that this isn’t a fight of the Native Americans’ making.
“They’re like beasts of the jungle,” a woman said to Edge.
“But it was their jungle first,” he answered.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is the Edge books that I remember: lots of blood and gore! I especially liked the ending battle at the fort. looking forward to the next one.

[Ronald]

read some time in 1980