Wednesday 5 December 2012

The Outlaw Life

By Owen G. Irons
Hale, November 2012

When Chase Carver dragged himself into Mammoth Springs he was cold, hungry and exhausted and any man in that condition will gratefully accept the help of a stranger. But the stranger led him to an outlaw stronghold, filled with cutthroats, thieves and gunmen. After joining the outlaws on a bank job, and earning himself the name ‘Mad Dog’ Carver, both the county sheriff and the army are now hot on his tail.

And by rescuing two young women from the ruthless Bandolero he has committed a crime against criminals and faces the entire outlaw contingent who are ready to take up arms against him. The outlaw life had been easy to fall into but there is going to be a fight to the death to try and crawl back out of it….

Owen G. Irons has created a very engaging character in Chase Carver, a man not afraid to jump into a fight, but his inexperience in many things makes him somewhat naïve, it’s this gullibility that will get him into some dangerous situations.

The book moves forward at a very fast pace as events sweep Carver along with them and he has to struggle to find a way out of them and stay alive in the process, for instance what seems to be an easy bank robbery has a fallout neither he or his partner in crime foresaw.

The latter part of the story sees Carver start to realise he may have been set up and you have to wonder how he’ll get out of it alive.

So, once again Owen G. Irons (Paul Lederer) has come up with a great read that leaves me looking forward to his next book.