Nighthawk

by F.M. Parker

Russ was just a boy one day and a killer and outlaw the next. Instead of tending his father’s cattle and saving to build a ranch of his own, he was fleeing into the desert. It wasn’t the path he had chosen. When he killed those two lawmen, he thought they were outlaws after his father…They were lawmen after his outlaw gather. To protect his father, he gave up his future and fled into a bleak and lawless land.

Crazy Caloon had planned his escape from Yuma prison with great care and made his break in a powerful lightening storm. On the banks of the Gila River he tries to kill Russ for his horse and pistol. Instead they unite and join the ruthless gang of bandits led by Raasleer.

Samantha and her father and grandfather start a ranch on the edge of bandit land. Russ, upon seeing the beautiful young girl and knowing the danger she is in, becomes her secret protector. Now he wants to find a way to get back on the right side of the law. In a final battle for survival and to save Samantha, Crazy Caloon and Russ must fight Raasleer’s fierce band of outlaws.

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From Nighthawk

The rhythm of Russ’s breathing subtly changes, increasing slightly. Then the volume faded and Caloon could no longer hear it. He knew with certainty that Russ was awake, that somehow even though asleep, he had received a signal of danger and was now roused and alert.

Barely audible, muffled by Russ’s blankets and probably also by his had, Caloon heard the click of Russ’s six-gun being cocked. Caloon smiled and nodded in the blackness of the night. With his keen reflexes, Russ might survive for a short time in the dangerous world he lived in. Maybe just for a little while…

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1983

About the author

As a boy F. M. Parker hitchhiked around the country working as a sheepherder in Montana, a bellhop in Colorado, and a logger in Ohio. He received a B. S. in Geology from the University of Dayton, and did graduate work in Geology at Ohio State University. He worked in the factories of GM and Chrysler at night to put himself through college. After that he went into the U. S. Navy for 5 « years with service in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans aboard the Timbalier, AVP 54, a seaplane tender.

After the navy he was employed as a geologist in the oil fields of Kansas, and as an exploration geologist in the uranium mines of Utah. After four years as a geologist, Parker became a manager in the Bureau of Land Management, part of the Department of Interior. He worked in several western states and Washington, DC, then progressed up through the ranks to become District Manager of the Vale District in Oregon, which is as much as 5 million acres. He was responsible for the management of the multiple resources of the land and its environmental protection. He was responsible for hundreds of grazing permits, several herds of wild horses, wild rivers, wildlife, recreation, timber, fire fighting and other factors regarding such a large land area.

Doubleday published his first book in 1981. The title was Skinner and there was an interesting story behind that title. The chairman of the grazing advisory board was named Skinner and the Skinner of Parker's novel was a drunkard and a pistoleer, while the real Skinner was a rancher and a straight arrow. Parker wasn't sure how the real Skinner would take the use of his name, but he laughed and thought it was a good story.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently, F.M. Parker fashioned himself to be a budding James Michener. In Michener's "Texas" the celebrated author offers a prologue describing the ebb and flow of seismic plates, rushing streams, and volcanic eruptions in an effort to describe the land he was preparing to write about. Parker attempts to emulate this in his prologue as he describes how the land formations of Arizona came to be. It is poetic and beautiful writing and evokes a positive feeling for a land filled with harsh landscapes. However, it has very little to do with the actual story.

In fact, Parker gets quite confused about what the story might be about. After the multiple page prologue prepares the reader for the harsh desert and mountainous setting he introduces a set of characters that don't appear again until near the end of the story. All that the author is attempting to do is let us know that there is a female up in them there mountains.

Eventually, we get to the story and young Russ shoots down two men tracking his father only to discover that they were lawmen. The author expects us to believe that this young man was completely unaware that his father was an outlaw. In fact, this opening premise is so absurd that it almost caused me to lay the book aside. If Russ had been a teenager or a child I might have bought the absurd suggestion, but he was a grown man-- hiding in the mountains, building up a ranch, while his father was out robbing people, etc. It was just a bit far fetched.

I'm glad I didn't set it aside, because it got better. As Russ runs away from his crime, he meets an escaped prisoner from Yuma prison. The author takes the time to detail the prison, its conditions, and the escape of the prisoner. And rather than making the prisoner a real bad guy-- he makes the prisoner a fellow jailed for getting revenge over the death of his son-- who has become a hardened criminal. The author describes a very clever escape plan and this section was the best in the book.

Russ meets the escaped prisoner and they become partners. Here the book becomes problematic. The prisoner knows of a nearby gang he hopes they can join. Now, remember the prisoner is a common man, a man who killed a cowboy who got drunk and in his exuberant celebration accidentally shot the prisoner's son. However, by the second portion of the book the man has been transformed into a real outlaw. We know that he has spent time with hardened men in prison, but suddenly the man knows all about being an outlaw. They reach the the outlaw stronghold and get hooked up with a gang of rustlers. Soon, there are involved in a a rustling operation and it is during this operation that Russ comes into contact with that there woman. Eventually, the rustler creates a conflict for Russ by deciding to run the woman and her family out of the area-- but Russ is, of course, smitten with the woman and knows it is time to leave behind the outlaw life.

Somewhere along the way, the author gets confused in his own timeline. The rustling operation is the "final" operation of the year, before winter sets in. Suddenly, it is late Spring.

And suddenly, the author needs to inject a band of Indians into the story. And amazingly enough, Russ rescues a young warrior and befriends them, and so when the final climax of the story arrives his friends the Indians assist him. The author presents these Indians as noble, unselfish warriors-- which is fine-- but it is so contrived as to hamper the conclusion. This was quite disappointing.

The author had a couple of pet phrases and cliches. The gun frequently "buck" in the shooter's hand. At least twice the shooter "shot the heart out" of his opponent. Nice turns of praise, but redundant.

This was an interesting book, but for me more interesting because the author was trying to hard to blend praise of the Arizona landscape (the strongest portion of the book) with a clever story about a young man falling into the criminal element, and then decided that there had to be some romance involved. For me, it was more interesting watching the author attempt to combine the elements and work to improve his own craft at writing a western novel than it was to actually follow the story. What results is a mediocre hodgepodge with some decent western action.

[Cws]

W Par

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Good novel...I have read other novels by this author and there are more that I have not read yet, but I will.