For a man who vowed he would never kill again, ex-Yankee soldier Adam Dawson sure leaves a lot of bullet-riddled outlaws fouling up the desert air of 1870s' Texas. This is an uneven hayburner from Fenady, novelist (The Man with Bogart's Face) and movie producer (Chisum, with John Wayne). Oddly, in a western yarn where the good guys and bad guys are clearly defined, the hero, Dawson, cannot seem to make up his mind which to be. A former army buddy of General Custer, Dawson drifts into Pinto, Tex., looking for work. He signs on as a cowboy with ranch owner Chad Walker, an embittered cripple who hates Mexicans, Indians, Confederates—just about everyone, including his beautiful, adulterous wife, Lorena. A bitter love triangle develops when Dawson and Lorena act on their mutual attraction; meanwhile, Dawson must deal with Joe Nueva, the man whom he replaced at the ranch, and the malodorous, murderous gang of Comancheros that have been wreaking havoc. Fenady adds other equally transparent plot lines to kill time between the gunfights, pistol-whippings and bushwhacking—an evil neighboring rancher schemes to take over Walker's spread; a hardened saloon girl nurses a tormented widow whose husband was murdered by the Comancheros; and the tough town sheriff teaches his teenage deputy how to handle a rifle and a broom. Murder plots abound, but there is little mystery or suspense. Fenady tips his hand too early and the reader will see each bullet coming long before the characters do. The gun smoke and hot lead action are fast and bloody, but nothing makes this tale more than another oater, in which the cowboy should just kiss his horse and keep on riding. (June)
