Friends

Willie Goodwin, the hero of this first-rate debut, is getting old. He'd like nothing better than to sit back, drink and reminisce with his friend Clete Shannon. But Clete, no spring chicken himself, is sheriff of the Dakota Territory town of Two Scalp and needs Willie's help as his deputy. A ruthless killer is on the loose in the spring of 1877, and when he kills Jesse and Nell McLeod by setting fire to their home, Willie and Clete begin a relentless journey to track down the perpetrator and exact rough justice. Willie's salty first-person account of the two tired lawmen's pursuit is interspersed with short, taut third-person passages depicting the killer as a malevolent force of nature whom civilized society must halt if balance is to be restored. The story is expertly and methodically plotted without being mechanical. Willie and Clete, as they seek retribution, are as driven as the man they hunt. A twist ending, which explains the psychopath's actions with references to another long-dead badman and an incestuous relationship, surprises and satisfies with psychologizing that gives the book a modern feel without betraying its western sensibility. While the story ends with Willie again hoping for retirement, readers may very well want Clete and his erstwhile deputy to saddle up at least one more time. (July)