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Buck Fletcher #2
Doomsday Rider
To win his freedom, a man must save a wayward woman in this Ralph Compton western.
Buck Fletcher is facing a twenty-year sentence for a murder he didn’t commit. But he just might have one chance at freedom. Senator Falcon Stark needs a man of Buck’s notoriety and gunfighting skill to travel to northern Arizona—and locate his missing daughter.
Estelle Stark has joined a doomsday cult led by the charismatic prophet known as the Chosen One—and she refuses to go home. To find her, Buck must elude a band of Apaches on the warpath before descending into the lair of a possible madman. But Buck’s got competition on the trail—someone who has set his gunsights on Estelle....
More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
Buck Fletcher is facing a twenty-year sentence for a murder he didn’t commit. But he just might have one chance at freedom. Senator Falcon Stark needs a man of Buck’s notoriety and gunfighting skill to travel to northern Arizona—and locate his missing daughter.
Estelle Stark has joined a doomsday cult led by the charismatic prophet known as the Chosen One—and she refuses to go home. To find her, Buck must elude a band of Apaches on the warpath before descending into the lair of a possible madman. But Buck’s got competition on the trail—someone who has set his gunsights on Estelle....
More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
- GenresWesterns
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
11 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Joseph A. West
49 books8 followersJoe West was born and raised in the seaside town of Saltcoats in Scotland. At 19 he became a police officer, but soon turned his love of writing into a career as a journalist, working for the Daily Mirror in London among others. In 1972 West was recruited as a reporter for the National Enquirer, and began working in the United States. Traveling the world in search of stories, West almost froze to death on an Alaska mountain, and a spider bite nearly killed him in the Amazon rainforest. 'I swelled up like a balloon and turned a real pretty violet color,' he recalls.
Now a full-time novelist, West and his wife Emily reside in sunny Lake Worth, Florida, where he enjoys tamer pursuits like canoeing the alligator-infested swamps of the Everglades. His daughter Alexandria attends a local college where she studies forensic technology. She will have absolutely nothing to do with canoes and alligators.
West researches the settings of his novels by exploring the terrain in person, usually with little more than a sleeping bag and a can of coffee.
Recently he and Emily celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at the Lodge in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a gift from the students at Rio Rancho High School who use West's first novel as a textbook. They then spent a month in the mountains and deserts of New Mexico, often pitching their tent where the air is thin at 9,000 feet above the flat.
Now a full-time novelist, West and his wife Emily reside in sunny Lake Worth, Florida, where he enjoys tamer pursuits like canoeing the alligator-infested swamps of the Everglades. His daughter Alexandria attends a local college where she studies forensic technology. She will have absolutely nothing to do with canoes and alligators.
West researches the settings of his novels by exploring the terrain in person, usually with little more than a sleeping bag and a can of coffee.
Recently he and Emily celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at the Lodge in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, a gift from the students at Rio Rancho High School who use West's first novel as a textbook. They then spent a month in the mountains and deserts of New Mexico, often pitching their tent where the air is thin at 9,000 feet above the flat.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 26, 2019
I don't know if it's just because I listened to this via abridged audio book (I did not realize it was abridged till like halfway through; normally I eschew abridgements), but this story seemed kind of herky jerky. Maybe it's also because I didn't realize it was a sequel until I added it on goodreads. There are a lot of reasons why I should not have started with this book as my view into the world of "Ralph Compton (not written by Ralph Compton)" novels.
In any case, I overall enjoyed about the first half of this book. I thought it made a couple of statements about how the rich have always been outside the law, and how the rest of us are just kind of caught in the system. But then the third act seemed to start far too early, then meander for quite some time before finally hitting the conclusion, where randomly Ulysses S. Grant shows up and seems to almost be winking at the camera because of his cameo appearance. Oh, and then there's a strange coda that wraps up a plotline that was just left dangling. It feels really uneven.
Overall not bad, I suppose, but utterly forgettable.
In any case, I overall enjoyed about the first half of this book. I thought it made a couple of statements about how the rich have always been outside the law, and how the rest of us are just kind of caught in the system. But then the third act seemed to start far too early, then meander for quite some time before finally hitting the conclusion, where randomly Ulysses S. Grant shows up and seems to almost be winking at the camera because of his cameo appearance. Oh, and then there's a strange coda that wraps up a plotline that was just left dangling. It feels really uneven.
Overall not bad, I suppose, but utterly forgettable.
May 17, 2023
It's just a perfect book to pick up and read if you like classic westerns! I haven't read a western in a long time but this had all the good bits. This isn't a deep review just me acknowledging my enjoyment of the book as a pick-up.
October 14, 2017
Totally enjoyable western adventure.
May 31, 2020
The story captured my attention, and held my interest all the way through. I enjoyed seeing President Grant and Wild Bill Hickok in the story. It was a good escape-read.
August 16, 2022
Fun western to read. Almost as good as Louis Lamour and Chet bowdrie.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews