Rolling Thunder

by Paul Lederer, Owen G. Irons (Pseudonym )

A settler returns to the town he founded to burn it to the ground

When Tom Quinn first came to the little patch of prairie that would become Stratton, it wasn’t paradise, but it was close. The town he built there was beautiful in a humble way, an honest Western village where hardworking settlers came to make new lives.

When Tom moved on, he left a happy town behind him. And then a man called Shelley Peebles came and turned it into hell. Backed up by a gang of hired guns, Peebles pushed out the small landowners, using money and muscle to corrupt the village and its people. Only one man stood in his way—the veteran gunman Tyler Holt—and so Peebles used his influence to have Holt lynched. This outrage brings Quinn back to the town he loved so much—not to save it, but to wipe it off the earth.

121 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Paul Joseph Lederer wrote more than 250 novels, many of them Westerns. He was born in Ocean Beach, CA, attended San Diego State University, served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War, and lived in La Mesa, CA, until he passed away in 2016.

His work can also be found under the names Paul Joseph Lederer, Logan Winters, Owen G. Irons, C. J. Sommers, and Elizabeth Wolfe. In recent years, many of these books have been reprinted as by Paul Lederer.

Lederer wrote most of the adult western series Shelter as Paul Ledd and Ruff Justice as Warren T. Longtree. He also wrote for the Easy Company and Lone Star series.

Reviews

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this ebook as a free download from Barnes and Noble. It is only 95 pages. When I looked for the ebook elsewhere all other versions I found said around 160 pages. I tried to ascertain if this is a heavily abridged edition, but could find no information. I assume it is abridged. I am guessing I got the plot but missed out on development of the story. That being said I enjoyed this book. This is a western. Tom Quinn founded a town called Stratton. He intended it to a safe, pretty, family setting. He helped settlers get established. He left his town to work on building railroads. Then he hears that Shelley Peebles, a bad man, has brought in gunfighters to pressure the residents off their land so he can take over. Quinn returns to take back his town after he hears of the murder of his friend. He recruits the few in town who will stand with him and makes his plan. He plans to use the dynamite skills he gleaned on the railroads to dam up the river and essentially starve out the trespassers. Peebles and his men won’t go down without a fight. Tom and his rag tag group of followers must fight for the land they love.

[Garth Mailman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rolling Thunder is a title I’ve already encountered. This one is set in the days of the wild west in Colorado near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in a time when bandits still managed to sew up towns installing their own sheriffs and judges to back them up. Tom seems to live a charmed life. He’s been shot at twice and so far only his coat and saddle have been winged. He has returned to the town he was instrumental in starting with the goal of wresting it back from the cattle barron who has taken over. The book is well editied but expect gunfire and death but so far no profanity. I do have some quibbles about the author’s description of the process of chambering a round in a rifle. In America seems strange someone is not better versed.

Rolling Thunder can be interpreted as weather echoing in the canyons, dynamite explosions, or the exchange of rifle fire.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story, finished it in three hours. But I liked it, even if the main character does some really stupid things. I know only a book, not real life.

[Susie Necker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick 100 pages. Some surprises but not much depth.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Westerns are guilty pleasures--not much substance but enjoyable. This is a good Western.