The Assassin

by James Ryan

Matt Beck is a man hired to eliminate problems. So when the deadliest gunman in the West wanders into an Arizona town, the residents instantly fear one of them has been marked for death. Once Beck arrives, he tangles with the law, a young gunslinger itching to make a reputation on his death, a treacherous preacher, and a gunfighter hired to kill Beck. Through it all, he must protect a secret he's carrying that would surely mark his own death if found out. "A page turner," Jennifer Lynn, Middletown BooksA portion of the proceeds of this book will benefit the St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 2007

Reviews

[Travis Haselton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great first novel. I was very entertained by it and liked it. Be prepared however if your reading a western to hopefully read about a great part of the country, or beautiful scenery, or how a cowboy feels best when he is on the range. Even if your looking for a little horseplay and real cowboy work type things(Main character runs a ranch loses some strays due to cattle rustlers etc...) This is all about story, gun play and wit. You want action? You got it here. I realy liked it because it is a good western but also takes a bit of a ew angle and leaves out some of the rif raf. Good book. I must say as far as indie authors go I surely have competition. Or I just am not even up to par. be ware though if you use the read to me feature alot on your kindle this book will be hard to follow in the conversations.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing seemed flat to me. Not much feeling behind it. There were also a lot of old western clichés. Something reminiscent of a western you would see on a Saturday afternoon and had pieces of other western plots you have probably heard before. He tried to build a lot on the characters and tricky plot points but at 100 pages there wasn’t much room for that so the characters just seemed to explain themselves a lot and they tell us stories more than we get to experience the story for ourselves. And at one point, to make the plot turn out, the character stepped out of character and the book lost some credibility. I was thinking ‘he can’t possibly make him that stupid, can he?’ But, unfortunately, he did and it played out like an easy fix to a tight plot point.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were a lot of twists and turns with this book. I was very pleasantly surprised. I really liked the ending as I did not see it coming. James really keeps you guessing as to what will happen next and makes you not want to put it down. Awesome book!

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is okay as a "fill in" novel. I have read much better and much worse. If I can't find anything better, I will probably read another book by this author. I will not recommend this book to anyone, but let them decide for themselves.