If you like your stories with dust, danger, and men who don’t waste their breath, The Gun Man Jackson Swagger by Stephen Hunter ought to suit you just fine.
Jack, fifty-five, a Civil War veteran and sharpshooter through and through. Death don’t scare him none; it’s just part of the job. He’s been hired by a railroad magnate to protect his interests as the line pushes toward Los Angeles. Jack reckons it’ll be a straightforward job. But railroads have a way of drawing trouble, and it ain’t long before he uncovers the kind of things men don’t want known. Jack’s got secrets of his own, and it don’t bother him none if a little blood gets spilled along the way.
Set at the fading edge of the cavalry age, the world is changing fast. It’s a time of ambition, exploitation and rebellion. There’s the Pinkerton Detective Agency, revolutionary armies, labor men stirring up unrest and there’s talk of new guns that fire faster than any man can aim. Through it all, Swagger holds true to his own rough code, doing what must be done, come what may.
With its frontier speech and hard-edged characters, The Gun Man Jackson Swagger is a reminder of why the Western endures. The tale moves along at a brisk pace, and readers will find themselves drawn in from the first page to the last shot fired.
A fine piece of frontier fiction, available now at the Champlain Library.
