The Killing Season

Trail of the Gunfighter #2

by Ralph Compton

A gunfighter rides into legend in this western from USA Today bestselling author Ralph Compton.

It was the 1870s--Jesse and Frank James led daring raids on banks and trains. Doc Holliday's name struck dread in the hearts of men, and Wild Bill Hickok played poker with bullets in the hole. A young killer named Billy the Kid was hunted by a determined lawman, and a General named Custer took the Seventh Cavalry into Dakota Territory.

One man rides this untamed frontier like a shadow of death. His name is Nathan Stone, and he had learned to kill on the vengeance trail. He would have stopped after settling the score with his parents' savage slayers. But when you're the greatest gunfighter of all, there's no peace or resting place. And it's Nathan Stone's destiny to fight for survival against the most famed and feared figures from Texas to the Black Hills--on both sides of the law...

More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Adventure, Novels

441 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Ralph Compton (April 11, 1934—September 16, 1998) was an American writer of western fiction.

A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.

Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his passing, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David Robbins, under Compton's byline.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphc...

Reviews

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another transfer station rescue. Just in time for my variation in reading genres plan! We leave merry Olde England now for the plains of Texas and Kansas. Maybe New Mexico later on... So far this is just OK. Plenty of gunfights and killing and our hero has been wounded three times already and I'm not even to page 100 yet. Seems like the author owes a lot to "The Autobiography of John Wesley Hardin," who also gets a mention. Nothin' but shootin' and killin' in that one. Nathan seems like the "good" version of that bad man. The revenge story is underway a third time. The first one was the first book of the series. The second one straddles the two and now Nathan must avenge the death of a Ranger friend. Meanwhile, everyone wants to kill him. Whew!

- "Desperadoes" by Ron Hansen is much better written and more interesting than this.

- The cover of my paperback edition is shown as the cover of the e-book version.

Moving on from Texas to Kansas and New Mexico and back to Texas. Nathan really gets around. Right now he's in Mexico chasing horses with his new pal Fisher(probably doomed) in "Blood Meridian" territory about 25 years later. The shootin' and killin' continues unabated and Nathan's bullet wound count is up to six! Is he very lucky or very unlucky? Lucky I'd say...

- J. W. Hardin comes up again as do many names of real-life events, lawmen, cattle men and bad boys(and girls) of the wild west. This gives the story a nice, authentic feel.

- The story gets a bit repetitive but is also pretty readable, though the prose is workmanlike, not inspired.

- p. 131 - names get confused - poor editing!

I'm a bit past halfway last night and Nathan now has received 8 bullet wounds. Still kickin' and killin' though! His poor doggie wasn't so fortunate. I figured it was a matter of time before poor ole Cotton Blossom would bite the dust(agonizingly). This was an excuse to have Nathan kill a varmint with his bare hands. I think I have to lower my rating now to 2.5*, which means this is now a 2* book. Not BAD really, but uninspired. Far from challenging the limits of its genre for sure...

- Nathan gets shot at(and shot) so much that he forgets that he was ambushed a few hours earlier so he can devote his attention to a beautiful "fallen" lady in distress. He sleeps with her a couple of times and proposes marriage - kinda hasty-like! Then almost gets killed by the aforementioned assassin!

In the home stretch now and, sure enough, Nathan's got another dog. I'll bet he doesn't make it through the third book. Another reason for Nathan to kill someone I suppose. The bullet wound count is now up to double figures. I figure on at least two more before the end of the book! This book reminds me of a book I read in 1967(or so) while on board ship in the Navy. It was about a guy who avenges the deaths of some family members at the hands of the Mafia. It turned out to be the first book in a long series but I can't remember the "tag" though a bunch of these books turned up later on the local transfer station book shelves! Something bloody and action-filled. Someone in town must have really liked them! Junk literature IS fun to read occasionally.

Finished last night with Nathan in a pickle. Of course he'll survive because there's another book in the trilogy! Whether he'll survive that one is doubtful... the bullet wounds survived count for this book alone is 13!!! It's tough to rate this book. It really IS a 2.5* book but under my system that must be rounded down, not up, and 2* is too low a rating. So... I'll give it a 2.75* rating and round up. One of the "issues" that I didn't mention yet is the relative absence of geographical detail. The west is a beautiful, dramatic, striking etc. landscape and is not talked up enough here, as it is in the books by better authors(Larry McMurtry, Cormac McCarthy, Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour etc.). Basically Nathan rides from one shootout in town to another in another town. It's VERY repetitive. On the other hand, there are a couple of charismatic doggie characters and the ending is a nice cliffhanger. Likely not nice enough to get me to read another book but I do wonder what will happen to Nathan...

- At the end Nathan gets caught up with some badness somewhere near present-day Safford, Arizona. He escapes... where will he wind up... Hollywood? Like Wyatt Earp... ?

- Mr. Compton's knowledge of old west history is a big plus.

[Randy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was entertaining, but read like one of the old serialized novels. It was a series of short stories strung together. Real life characters were inserted throughout the story, so you get a bit of history, as a bonus. The ending was very disappointing, obviously leaving you hanging for the last book in the trilogy. At 440 pages, Compton could have at least brought this to a satisfactory end! I will pass on the 3rd installment.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first novel that I read by this author was just fair. This one I don't really care for. I own one more novel by this author and don't know if I want to read it or give it away.

[Nolan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the second book in the series of Nathan Stone. The beginning of the book rehashes a lot of the same stuff from the first book, which gets boring. Nathan is 26 years old. Still moving around to different towns and doing different jobs. Sex with three different women. Whines about men going up against him trying to get a reputation by killing him about ten or so times. In the story Nathan gives up his guns to some outlaws who get the drop on them. They won’t shot him because the shot could be heard, so they tie him up to a wagon wheel with the loot they have stolen. Could have just cut his throat and be done with it but no, that would be to easy and the “hero” Nathan Stone, we can’t have that right? Nathan gets shot 15 times in this book. Some are through and through, some are grazed somewhere on the body. Another stupid part of the book is he gets shot in the thigh. Doesn’t hit the bone or the femoral artery. Plus, our “hero” gets up afterwards and walks the doctor? 🤣🤣 Yeah right. Poor Cotton Blossom is poisoned, but Nathan gets another dog, Empty who is the son of Cotton Blossom and is as perfect too. There was a few times I thought about giving up on this stupid story, but I hung in there.

[Vermillion · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not actually bring myself to sit through to the conclusion of this book. I detest how women are used in this book.Stone’s humility is false. And while he may talk a good game, in his heart nothing would please him more than to take advantage of a woman and yet pretend that he cares for her honor. If he can’t keep his dick in his pants then the author may as well let him lie with whores. It is the pretense that I can no longer stand. ON top of that the man is sometimes as dumb as a box of rocks. He has been shot more times than 50 cent. You’d think he’d learn tactics, but noooo. I can’t put up with him anymore. I would if he’d just decide to screw whores or leave women alone altogether.

[Zelmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it well enough to want to read the next one. The only reason why I can't give it five stars is because of one detail I know not to be true. The way I see it, if there are real people from that time period, in this case the Old West, you (as the author) must be faithful to the facts. Wyatt Earp makes a brief appearance. He wasn't the sheriff of Dodge City. A sheriff was the law enforcement of a county, not a city or town. Earp was a deputy marshals when he lived in Dodge City. A minor detail, I know, but an important one.

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on real people. The main characters are fictional. Nathan returned from the Civil War to find his family murdered. In a previous book, he completed this quest. This book starts with a new quest, but there are several new ones throughout this installment. If I had a complaint, it is the wanton death coming at the guns of Nathan, the main character. The action never stops and the book ends to be resolved later. This is a good Compton effort.

[Jeffery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it is similar to Louis L’amour in that the main character is always respectful to women, always the fastest draw and wins his physical fights. Though it is different in that Nathan Stone always gets involved with others battles. Most of the Characters in Louis L’amour books are loners and they stay out of peoples business and does not fight their battles.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad western. I prefer historical fiction, but this one fed my need for a decent book.

[Space · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book! It did feel like a series of short stories tied together but it did read well and I enjoyed it :)

[Richard Guerrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good western read.

[Laura Vogt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cowboy Page Turner

It doesn’t get better than Nathan Stone and his fast draw. A page turner. Compton at his writing best. Enjoy

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took sick for a few days and was not in much of a mood for reading, however, it was nice to have a good western by my side when the mood did strike me. In Dawn of Fury character Nathan Stone rides a vengeance trail, blazing down those no good varmints that done kilt his family. In doing so he earned himself a reputation as a fast gun. Now all sorts of up starts want to test their skill against Stone's Colt's in a very brutal Killing Season. Compton really strikes me as a fine writer that can really spin a tale. My only weak spot in these two books is Nathan's superhuman ability to survive multiple and often critical gun shots. In Dawn of Fury I was amazed at how many lead plugs passed through this young man. Now in the killing season he continues to be target fodder for various six guns and Winchesters. I guess if one hits him center between the eyes he won't be surviving that one, right? Overall so far a very good series that Compton makes that much more fun by sprinkling in real characters of the old west and salting the soup with actual events of the times.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not normally a western fan but a few writers seem to jump out and grab me. Ralph Compton writes a quick paced and very historically accurate book. Nice read with great characters. Very recommended

[Dan Panke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2nd of of the "Trail of the Gunfighter" trilogy. Nathan Stone gets shot so many time he must be a walking scar tissue. However, the wounds are never fatal and he alwasy comes out of top.