Eric Red

The Crimson Trail by Eric Red
A Joe Noose Western #4

Joe Noose is a man among men, a bounty hunter, kills when necessary but brings them in alive when he can. This time he plays a bit of a sleuth as he looks for a serial killer working his way through the men herding cattle on a trail drive. Why are the drovers falling like bowling pins? Who is killing them? Will Joe find the killer before everyone is dead? Throw in an evil cattle baron, his henchman and posse, a few fights with fists and guns…and don’t forget the serial killer and you have the makings of a rip-snorting, root-tooting, rollicking Western yarn.

What I liked:
* Joe Noose: almost bigger than life but very real, fast and deadly with gun and fists, a survivor, reliable, steadfast, loves Marshall Bess Sugarland, intriguing, sees things through, a man I admire and would want on my side.
* That the story picks up from where book three ends.
* The writing and plot
* Laura Holdridge: cattlewoman, widow, ranch owner, on the trail herding cattle with her team, good woman, someone we may hear more of in the future.
* That there was more than one bad guy to hate and learning how each one was thwarted.
* Copper: Joe’s faithful steed.
* That all my senses were engaged.
* Feeling I was part of the story.
* That Joe was true-blue to Bess.
* Thinking about what makes people evil…
* All of it really except…

What I didn’t like:
* The bad guys…it was easy to hate them and hope they would meet their comeuppance(s)
* Knowing that I will have to wait to find out what will happen next.

Did I like this book? Yes!
Would I read more in this series/by this author? Without a doubt!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Pinnacle Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars… (mais)

Branded by Eric Red
A Joe Noose Western #3

The prologue provides the background event that was a catalyst in the life of a thirteen-year-old boy who would become Joe Noose. Joe is a sheriff when the story begins but his past has been varied and interesting though we don’t hear many details about that time period. Coming into the series on book three was fine as I was easily able to get a feel for Joe and what may have happened in the previous books.

What I liked:
* Joe: a big man in more ways than one. He is strong, enduring, has a credo of his own, gets the job done, does what it takes, loves his horse, doesn’t have a biological family but may be on the way to having a chosen family. I like him.
* Bess Sugarfoot: a strong woman, a marshal, the daughter of a marshal, a force to be reckoned with, can take care of herself, good friend to Joe, believe there is more to her than I met in this book.
* Ethan Ford: a marshal working with Joe and Bess to bring in The Brander is hiding something, and it is a big something that is a bit of a twist when exposed.
* That though there was violence not all of it was graphic…some was left to the imagination.
* The gritty feel of the time on the trail and the realness of what that might have been like
* The plotting, writing and way the story was told. Some scenes may have seemed over-the-top or too much but it fit with the story and characters and was good fun.
* Not knowing it all in advance and being someone that often reads the end of a book first that is saying something.
* That this portion of the series felt complete
* The way the introduction to book four was made.

What I didn’t like:
* What I was meant not to like…the bad guys and the way they behaved. It was easy to be okay with the way they ended
* The loss of the animals…always makes me sad to have an animal misused, abused or die in some sad way.

Did I enjoy this book? I think I did
Would I read more in this series/by this author? I believe I would

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington-Pinnacle for the ARC – this is my honest review.

4-5 Stars… (mais)

There is nothing that is better than a good trucking story. The open highway, the smell of the diesel fuel and the wonderful beauty of those great big 18 wheel monsters as they roam the highways of America. Roy Tremble is no ordinary trucker, he is a killer, who for some 40 years has been murdering and butchering women across the American states. Known to his fellow truckers by the CB handle “White Knuckle” he feels truly unstoppable until that is he makes the acquaintance of Special Agent Sharon Ormsby.

This is a fun read and gives a real feeling of being at the wheel of a monster truck and the complexities, control and skill that is needed to navigate this powerful machine successfully from town to town.

Where this trucking tale fails is in the stupidity of the storyline. To accept that no sooner has an FBI agent become an undercover trucker’s mate than she immediately makes contact with the trucker killer (who has eluded the authorities for a very long time) is absurd in the extreme. Whilst I realise this is merely a story, I would feel much more comfortable if the writing contained an element of believability, the ending itself almost portraying Agent Ormsby as a superhuman superwoman!

This kindle edition contains a number of grammatical errors which would have been so easy to avoid and correct by simple proof reading. I would certainly have awarded White Knuckle a 3 star review if more care and attention had been directed towards the preparation and presentation of the ebook edition but because of the carelessness of these silly mistakes a 2 star review is more appropriate.
The errors are as follows:

“The officer was in a foul mood because he wasn’t supposed to working a double shift....” should read “The officer was in a foul mood because he wasn’t supposed to (be) working a double shift...”
“......were driving up to my grandmother’s in Pennsylvania. Don’t where my dad was, but it was just me and my mom....” should read “....were driving up to my grandmother’s in Pennsylvania. Don’t (know) where my dad was, but it was just me and my mom...”
“Know that. Found your badge. Nice tits for and G-gal.” should read “Know that, Found your badge, Nice tits for (a) G-gal.”
“Her legs were rubber and she again she almost tumbled off the truck” should read “ Her legs were rubber and she almost tumbled off the truck”.… (mais)