Red River

Edge #6

by George G. Gilman

Edge is a new kind of western hero. Edge is a man alone.

Jailed for a killing he didn't commit, Edge's memory is jogged by the prisoner in the next cell. Where had he met him? Was it after Shiloh?

Travelling back to the bloody days of the Civil War, Edge's mind takes him to the horrors of Andersonville prison camp, where thousands of Union soldiers died in conditions of indescribable squalor—died of disease, cruelty and starvation.

A follow-up to Edge: Killer's Breed, this new adventure has all the well-known ingredients of authenticity, action, violence and gallows humour. When the armies in blue meet the armies in grey, the land is tainted with red!

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

Paperback

First published May 1, 1973

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

[James Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal, like all of the books in the Edge series, but Gilman can still craft a compelling tale. Josiah Hedges, known by most as Edge, is framed for murder when a poker game gone wrong ends in the death of the only son of a wealthy landowner who controls a large section of San Francisco. While in jail, Edge runs into an old drunkard who once served as a guard at a Confederate prison camp Edge spent some time in during the Civil War. The rest of the book alternates between the past and present - as an honorable young deputy investigates the crime Edge has been accused of committing, the anti-hero himself is plagued by uncomfortable memories of the barbaric torment he and his men underwent at the prison camp. Is it a spoiler if I tell you this story ends in gunfire and bloodshed? I’m having a ball rediscovering this series my dad read while I was a kid, and I see why he kept going back to them. Edge is a mostly amoral anti-hero, but he’s usually surrounded by much worse, and as the series progresses, we learn more and more of how the Union army become the cold-blooded killer he is today. Not for the squeamish, but an exhilarating fake nonetheless.

[John Reis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edge is sitting in a jail cell in San Francisco after a card game bursts into a gun battle. He is accused of killing the son of the richest woman in town, Lydia Eden. Vic Paxton, a young deputy, is the only person who believes Edge is innocent.

Sitting in the jail cell, Edge reminisces about a battle and its aftermath in Murfreesboro, which is interrupted by a raid by a rebel band. One of their captives is Jeannie, Edge’s girl. Edge and his men, Forrest, Rhett, Seward, and Douglas do not arrive in time. They are then captured by a Confederate army and sent to Andersonville where Edge is horribly tortured. Edge loses the last of his humanity.

Back in San Francisco a trial is staged.

This is darker than the other Edge novels I have read.

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edge is in a saloon playing poker, a man hit by a stray bullet, the son of a very powerful women. This women wants revenge for her son's death and even though Edge didn't do it she wants him to be hung. Edge will be smashed over the head with a bottle and cracked again with the butt on a gun before being thrown in a cell. While unconscious Edge will dream about the battle of Shiloh where 20 thousand died. The war was merely a job that he had to do. The battle just made Edge an even better killer. Heading into another battle, heads and arms blasted off, Edge enjoyed the bloodbath and found exhilaration in killing. Edge wants to win the damn war all on his own. Edge goes to a church gathering with his woman, a bunch of outlaws/gunslingers who saw in opportunity to legalise their brutality of killing and raping take all the women captive. Edge will lose the last sliver of human emotion as his woman is burnt alive, the flames raging high, the flesh blackening, the sick cooking smell through the air. Edge will be taken captive, imprisoned. Back to reality, Edge through the hard effort of a deputy will be set free.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book reads well with a quick pace and two interesting stories. However this is the second time in three books that we get a hurt Edge having flashbacks to his civil war days. Again the book is good just seems a little quick to do another flashback one. The main story is Edge is railroaded for a murder he didn't commit, is hit in the head a couple of times, and is thrown in jail. While there a prisoner in the next cell reminds him of his civil war days and in his concussed state he flashes back from time to time about an incident where he ends up in Andersonville, a notorious Confederate prison.

Highly recommended, A fast read with a great pace. Also is well written with compelling characters other then the fun Edge character.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is split into two parts. One story is a continuation of Edge's Civil War days. The other sees him in a card game where he kills a cardsharp and in the process a young man who else mother is the town's wealthiest person is also killed. Edge is blamed and held for trial.

What you'd expect from this series. Extreme violence played out in the old west. Even if you're not a western fan, you'll probably like these books for there action and violence

[John Werrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Half Breed Hero

Just one chapter in a great series of books that will get you hooked. I was reading this series over 50 years ago and was so glad I found them available again. Written by a very underrated author at that time.

[Peter Barrass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked it 😉 cool

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another instalment with storylines in two time periods, which I think are to the books' benefit. The contemporary story is a detective story, capped with a trial—interesting enough. But the Civil War flashback is a far more interesting and meatier tale. Again, Gilman's predilection for quips—far too many of them with anachronistic modern-day references—drag the mood down.

[Ronald]

read some in 1980