Wowza. I love novels based in the weird west. I am a huge fan of Landsdale, who sort of revitalized the genre, and cherished my time playing Deadlands years ago. That was a great RPG, and noose jumpers is a mix of humor, action, and magic that you don’t get to see very often. In fact, you rarely get to see this quality of writing in ANY genre. The story is really great, and I enjoy flashbacks. Flashbacks can really enhance a tale if used properly, and here, there is no doubt that Cooley knows what he is doing.
The comradery of the outlaws reminds me a lot of how Billy the Kid felt about his pals in Young Guns. They are a tight unit and would go to hell and back for each other. Honestly, if this audio had pages I would call this a page turner, and I do not recommend increasing the speed at which you listen no matter how much you want to see things happen. You just have to sit back and enjoy the story as it unfolds.
One thing Cooley does extremely well is writing gunfight scenes. This is the part most writers choke on, but Cooley manages to give the fights a life of their own, and you will be right in the thick of battle with our not so black-hatted outlaws. Oh, Yeah, another thing is he has such a depth of character to each of his protagonists, and they actually manage to develop and grow in this book in such a satisfactory manner that you will be amazed at their three dimensional qualities.
I am somewhat on the fence with the cover. It does look like the cover for a Red Dead Redemption video game, and it does look cool. But I am not overly in love with it. I’d have preferred a L’Amour style cover. This one will do, as it does have a noose and the badge carries some significance to the tale.
Tell quick draws his way through this story like a rancher out for revenge against the man who stole the deed to his farm in a card game. Sincerely, he meshes right into the storyline with his voice and acting . . . . . er, voice acting. The story is quirky, and he plays it with a touch of whimsy when necessary, and with a hint of malice when called for, and he never misses what he is aiming at. I enjoyed him like a cowboy hitting a saloon after riding for three months on a cattle drive.
This book seems to be a set up for a series, and I really hope this is true since it is such a high quality creation from the words to the reading, but it could easily be read as a stand alone and happily so. I do enjoy trilogies, but I really like endings. I just hope the boys don’t go and get their bounties raised too high, or else they won’t be jumping any more nooses. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.
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