Ralph Compton Reunion in Hell

The Gunfighter #1

by Carlton Stowers, Ralph Compton

A farmer is pulled into the world of outlaws when his estranged brother turns up dead in this new Ralph Compton Western.Brothers Clay and Cal Breckenridge, sons of a hardscrabble East Texas farmer, never did see eye to eye. Clay, the eldest, returned home after the Civil War to help his father run the family farm; Cal deserted his military post and disappeared into a new life with a new name. Everyone knew who was the good son and who was the bad.Clay had almost forgotten his wayward brother until the morning a limping horse approaches the farm with young Cal Breckenridge’s body slumped in the saddle, shot in the back.Vowing to avenge Cal’s death, Clay sets off on a perilous journey across the West to find the man responsible and bring him to justice—and take down an outlaw enterprise in the process.

Genres: Westerns

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2020

Reviews

[HornFan2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the late author Bill Crider, with his 'Outrage at Blanco' novel that made me love revenge stories so much and in away revenge stories for me will always be a tribute to him.

"Reunion in Hell", was the first release from the rebranding of the 'A Ralph Compton Western' by his Estate and Penguin Random House and I was glad to see this happen. This book features my favorite cover for a novel published in 2020, that I've read or seen.

While these books are written off of an outline the late Ralph Compton wrote, they give writing credit to the author whom complete's it and always like they did this verse ghost writing these titles.

As a reader my favorite thing to do is discover a new author to read. By reading these Compton books have discovered several authors that I started reading after reading their Compton book, plus a few authors I didn't like their writing and enabled me to skip their novels.

This was my first read from the author Carlton Stowers, liked his writing style, he broke it apart into three parts, it has all the elements you would expect in a Western and will have to check out his other books.

The setting is in Texas, weeks before the Civil War ends, involves a crafty Outlaw who prays on
smaller ranchers, poor people with small cow herds, it involves two brothers, a neighbor helping a neighbor, several real good town support characters from and help from a Sheriff.

Don't want to give anything away, will say you have some real good parts a couple of parts that could have been better and they really don't hurt the story at all.

[Billy Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never read a Western before, but this was pretty good! I'd read more of them. Good action, easy enough read, likeable characters. The ONLY thing I'd complain about here is that, while I got a feel for what the characters were about, I never really could picture what they look like. Just a little more character description would have been good. As it was, I was picturing all the male cowboys either looking like Clint Eastwood from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly or James Marsen from Westworld!

[Roxie McClaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never read a Western before in my life, but watched plenty growing up. After playing Red Dead Redemption 2 I knew I needed more Westerns. This book didn't disappoint in the slightest.

I showed it to my young daughter as well. Before this, she never picked up anything except animal books. As of today, she's read something like 10 Ralph Compton books. Now she loves Westerns just as much as her other favorite genres. Thank you for expanding young horizons!

I'll definitely be picking up another one.

[William Rabjohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good guys win again

Typical of the genre, it's a fast pace story of good over evil. Wholesome, yet, predictable read which is exactly the point of westerns. If you like Louis L'Amour, you'll enjoy this too.

[Ray Ratliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very intriguing story of the West.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyable at first, but then started to drag. Became a matter of finishing what I started by the end of the book.

[Capt. Rodg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revenge story

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special. Just a typical western. Too bad the author was unaware that the term "IQ" came into being some 50 or so years after the time period of the book. Accuracy with even semi historical fiction is kind of nice.

[Dan Mayville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical western but my favorite part was the story of Will Darby's life and.........😉