Manhunter

Luke Starbuck #5

by Matt Braun

No Man Crosses Him-And Lives To Tell The Tale...

When Luke Starbuck takes on a wealthy banker as a client, the only thing more compelling than the paycheck is his prey. The James-Younger gang has confounded countless detectives, including the men of the Pinkerton Agency. Now it's Starbuck's chance to bring down the most notorious group of outlaws the West has ever seen-led by none other than cold-blooded killer Jesse James. Undercover work and patient tracking take Starbuck from Kansas City straight through the Indian Territory. But when Jesse outwits him during a bank heist in Minnesota, innocent blood is spilled, and Starbuck's mission becomes a down-and-dirty vendetta that will leave one man standing-and the other six feet under...

Genres: Westerns

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 28, 1981

About the author

Matt Braun is an author of fifty-six books, most of which are in the Western genre and has over 40 million copies in print.

Reviews

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Manhunter" (1981) is about an old western bounty hunter named Luke Starbuck who has accepted an offer to personally hunt down and kill the famous outlaws Jesse and Frank James. The Missouri, Kansas, and Indian Territory countrysides are so swept up in the James-Younger gang's escapades and newspaper-filled accounts of Robin-Hood-esque banditry that Starbuck knows, even bringing the James' in to face charges they'd never be convicted of those crimes by a system with its current tainted jury pool. If Jesse James is to be brought to true justice, he needs to die.

Verdict: Braun's take here is an interesting setup but not an interesting read. Starbuck puts on disguises and acts out false identities to ingrain himself among the hookers and crooks to get a line on James' whereabouts, but there's only one gunfight and the rest is just a lot of boring exposition and plotting. I fell asleep once reading this.

Jeff's Rating: 1 / 5 (Bad)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[Lemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Read it in two days.

Personally, the best part of this book is how it explored the main character's idea of honor, justice, and morality. That kind of introspection made the book more interesting. It's also what I love about westerns in general.

Negative side? There are overly theatrical scenes sometimes, like the character's living in a movie, could work but I found those cheesy. Also, there was not much action aside from the chase, no epic mexican standoff or gunfight, left me a little hungry, I guess, haha. Overall, good book.

[Emilie Gagne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huge fan of Matt Brauns book. I find him a wonderful author, especially considering some westerns I have read in the past were not as great, and I find his writing flows very well and it makes it very enjoyable to read.

[Nana Aboagye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent novel to read. My first non comic western. I loved it. Matt Braun is a good storyteller.

[Mike Bradford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great western. If you love westerns you will enjoy reading this book. Highly recommend this book to any western readers. The author weaves a great story about true characters and adventures

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the story, I liked how the story is a little closer to the facts than myth but it is still fiction.

[Megargee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manhunter is one of Matt Braun's 10 or so western novels featuring Luke Starbuck. Over the course of the series, which stretches from the early 1880s to 1903, Starbuck progresses from being a range detective to owning a national detective agency staffed by former lawmen with offices in major western cities. Each novel focuses on a particular time, place, or set of events such as Tombstone or Deadwood and Starbuck , like a Western Zelig, gets involved in actual historic events such as the OK Corral fight.
In Manhunter, a wealthy banker hires Luke to track down and kill Jesse and Frank James since the Pinkerton Agency has been unable to deal with their murderous careers robbing trains and banks. In addition to being a fast gun, Luke is a master of disguises and he manages to deduce where the James boys and their associates, the Younger brothers, hole up and infiltrate their favorite recreational spa, Ma Ferguson's brothel, where he takes up with Jim Younger's favorite chippie. The information he garners enables him to deduce their next target is Northfield, MN where he provides the information that enables the locals to thwart the historic 1876 bank raid and shoot several Youngers. However, he misses his chance to kill Jesse and must track him down to fulfill his contract.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author used a little history (Jesse James, Belle Star, the Hanging Judge, and such) and muddled the dates around. Fiction, after all--he can do what he wants, say what he wants.

Just picked a colorful section of history and created some dialogue and action to create a book. Muddled the St. Louis, MO, population: said it was 500,000 in 1880 when it was really closer to 350,000.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid western historical action from Braun. An interesting perspective on Jesse and Frank James.