For this final Friday before Christmas
it seemed like a good idea to do another Double Take review. It also seemed a
good idea to keep the Bill Crider Appreciation Day started on Patti Abbott’s
blog last
week going. That idea has appealed to many folks as I continue to see additional
posts on Patti’s blog, on Facebook, and many other places. Bill is loved by so
many and it is very moving to see those posts and comments.
Today I am reposting our 2015 Double
Take review of OUTRAGE AT BLANCO. As
usual, Barry Ergang’s review will be first followed by mine. Make sure you
check out the other books suggested today at Patti’s blog. May your weekend and your
holidays be bright.
OUTRAGE AT BLANCO (1998) by Bill Crider
Reviewed by Barry Ergang
“Jink Howard sat in
the shade of a tree and ate tomatoes out of a can while Ben Atticks raped the
woman in the wagon bed.”
So opens this irresistibly readable
western novel by Bill Crider.
The nature of a crime
doesn’t matter to Jink and Ben; they’re equal-opportunity amorals. Once Ben is
finished with the woman, Jink takes over.
Waiting to meet up with Daniel O’Grady, with whom they served time in
prison and with whom they intend to rob the bank in the placid town of Blanco,
they encounter Ellie Taine not far from its outskirts and decide to have their
brutal way with her.
The subsequent
robbery doesn’t go anywhere close to as smoothly as intended, and Jink and Ben
add multiple murders to their list of crimes. The plunder is only a fraction of
what was promised, which results in some internecine warfare.
For their own
individual reasons, Ellie Taine and Jonathan Crossland set out in pursuit of
Jink and Ben. Crossland, an elderly tough-minded local rancher who has worked
hard and honestly for many years to attain his wealth, is a man afflicted with
a “wasting disease,” who knows his time is nearly up, but who doesn’t plan to
concede to his ne’er-do-well son Gerald—or anyone else, for that matter—that
he’s willing to die passively in bed.
To provide a broader
perspective, heighten tension and suspense, and add character depth, Crider
takes the reader into the minds and points of view of the principal characters.
Ellie Taine’s is the foremost, and her internal conflicts depict her as a woman
who wants both justice and revenge while at the same time seeking acceptance
and a kind of absolution.
Written in Crider’s
clear, uncluttered style, Outrage at
Blanco is a fast-moving novel packed with action and drama that is
genuinely hard to put down and that should appeal to most fans of westerns.
Strongly recommended.
© 2015 Barry Ergang
Derringer Award winner Barry Ergang's
own whodunit/howdunit, "The Play of Light and Shadow," along with
several of his other works, will be available at a reduced price during Smashwords'
year-end sale, which runs from December 25th to January 1st. His website is http://www.writetrack.yolasite.com/.
My review from March 2014…….
A trip to town and
back for Ellie Taine has gone very wrong as this western from author Bill
Crider begins. Just outside of the small Texas town of Blanco she had made the
mistake of stopping for the two men who seemed friendly. As it became clear
they had something else on their minds, she thought they only meant to rob
her. Unfortunately for Ellie, robbery
wasn’t what they wanted. Ben Atticks and Jink Howard wanted something much more
personal to Ellie than the few items she had purchased in town at Roger's
Mercantile.
When they were done
with her they left her alive. That was another mistake in a long line of
mistakes in their criminal careers. What happened to Ellie is just part of this
very good western from Texas author Bill Crider.
Originally published
in 1998 by Dell Books, Outrage at Blanco is now available
as an e-book. Reminiscent of The Baby Shark Series by Robert Fate
in that a rape spurs a woman to seek justice on her own, this western set in
the Hill Country of Texas features a number of interesting characters. A
complicated tale of vengeance and redemption for several characters results in
a book that moves forward at a rapid pace despite the many players and almost
as many agendas.
Outrage at Blanco (Ellie Taine)
Bill Crider
ASIN:B00KAJX6DE
June 2013
E-Book
240 Pages
$2.99
Material was picked up during the
author’s recent free book promotion for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014, 2015, 2017
My book, Mind Slices: A Collection
of New and Previously Published Stories, will be available for FREE during the Smashwords' year-end sale
from December 25th to January 1st. If you choose to pick it up and read it,
please review it as you see fit.
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