After completing a cattle deal in the nearby city of Bartonville, Rod Cameron receives the shock of his life when he returns to his hometown. He finds it completely empty of all life! How could a town of a thousand inhabitants become deserted overnight, leaving half-consumed drinks and meals on the tables of the town's saloon? Desperately trying to solve the mystery he first tangles with bandits then finds himself branded an outlaw and a murderer. His future seems bleak indeed and only his strength and ingenuity will save him from the hangman's rope.
A prolific author in various genres under his own name, John Francis Russell Fearn also used these pseudonyms: Astron del Martia, Brian Shaw, Conrad G. Holt, Dennis Clive, Frank Jones, Geoffrey Armstrong, Griff, Hugo Blayn, John Russell, K. Thomas Mark Denholm, Paul Lorraine, Polton Cross, Spike Gordon, Thornton Ayre, Vargo Statten, Volsted Gridban, Dom Passante, John Cotton, Ephriam Winiki, Lawrence F. Rose, Earl Titan, Ephraim Winiki.
John Russell Fearn was an extremely prolific and popular British writer, who began in the American pulps, then almost single-handedly drove the post-World War II boom in British publishing with a flood of science fiction, detective stories, westerns, and adventure fiction. He was so popular that one of his pseudonyms became the editor of Vargo Staten’s Science Fiction Magazine in the 1950’s! His work is noted for its vigor and wild imagination. He has always had a substantial cult following and has been popular in translation around the world.
Very well thought out plot with a little unexpected turns but also some predicated happenings. Basically a fun read but there were some bad "saying quotes". A lot of the old sayings were wrong and in p!aces English terms were used instead of American terms. Somewhat distracting, especially when it was written as an early American story.