The Unhired Hand by R.O. Lane

This book is a short western featuring frontier justice. The bad guy is motivated mostly by greed and evil not vengeance. No redemption that I’ll give credit for, but there was an opportunity. This is the first western I’ve read in some time. And through my life I’ve only read a handful. Westerns and crime fiction have much in common. To me, a different setting is all. This seemed like a familiar story. After the first several chapters I thought of Shane, as well as High Plains Drifter or Pale Rider. The latter two faded out as the hero is alive and has not revenge-driven backstory. I read the author’s bio. Shane and that author were early influences on him.

Dutch is a former soldier in the Civil War for the south and a former cattle hand that is drifting through Wyoming. He stops at a homestead for some water and is drawn into their battle with a large cattle association rancher that wants all the homesteaders, or nesters, out of the valley so he can take all that land. Dutch sticks around and helps the family. One thing missing from this story is motivation for Dutch to do this. Other than being a nice guy, we don’t get enough backstory to indicate why this would be something he’d latch onto. Like Shane, it could be the relationship he develops with the young boy, who narrates much of the story. The book is less than 180 pages, so the author had space to explore this further.

Much of the story is told in first person point of view by the young boy. It’s structured in a way that the boy is looking back to this event. There are deviations into third person point of view from other characters. As a reader, these POV shifts don’t bother me. Some writers who belong to the POV Police would probably object to the structure.

One other aspect I thought could have been explored more was the Federal Marshall. He definitely treads in gray areas of law enforcement. This was one character where redemption could have been explored. Something happens to him that I believe is a result of his non-conventional techniques. But nothing beyond that is explored.

Overall, this is a clean story. Some profanity. No sex. And the violence is not over the top. I enjoyed the story as I’m usually a fan of a hero stepping in to help those oppressed by evil. If you enjoy traditional westerns, I believe you’ll enjoy this one as well. As for ranking, I put this one at number ten. This year, so far, 15 of the 18 I’ve read are 4 and 5 star reads. The other three are 3 stars.

1. Love’s True Calling by Lori DeJong
2. Through Thorny Ways by Jennifer Q. Hunt
3. The Seven Day Resurrection by Chevron Ross
4. With Mercy’s Eyes by D.T. Powell
5. Justice by Jeff Hill
6. Already in the Kudzu by Hannah Hood Lucero
7. The Last Wife by Matt McGregor
8. The Misadventures of Itchy Izzy by N.Y. Dunlap
9. Ranch Showdown by Tina Wheeler
10. The Unhired Hand by R.O. Lane
11. The Shocking Truth by Steve Rush
12. Daughter of Darkness by Ed Gorman
13. Burning Angel by James Lee Burke
14. Death in the Kremlin by E.J. Simon
15. Irresistible Impulse by Robert K. Tanenbaum
16. Line of Fire by Taylor S. Newport
17. The Longest Day by Terry Toler
18. Left to Die by Lisa Jackson

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