Death Head Crossing
James Reasoner’s latest is a mixed-genre novel that satisfies two ways, although it’s a little stronger as a mystery than it is as a Western. DEATH HEAD CROSSING opens with a tease prologue that hints at the horror to come, but the story proper begins with a bang: “The old man was going to keep screaming until Jackson rode down there and put a stop to it.”
No one is going to read that sentence and then toss the book away out of boredom.
Jackson is Hell Jackson, gunfighter, and the screaming old man is being tortured by three punks who think the aged Indio is hiding a treasure. Jackson removes the torturers from this hemisphere of wickedness and strife, but he doesn’t do it in time to save Julio’s life, and before he expires, the old fella begs Jackson to retrieve the treasure from his cabin – consisting of religious artifacts of none but personal value – and deliver it to the old man’s granddaughter in the town of Death Head Crossing. This Jackson swears to do.
His quest for the lovely Philomena is what brings Jackson to town in time for the discovery of Luther Berryhill’s corpse – and a particularly nasty one it is at that. The town soon will live in terror because a hooded madman who calls himself The Hand of God serves his Lord by using the business end of a sawed-off shotgun to the face to reprimand sinners – especially drunkards and fornicators. And since the town of Death Head Crossing exists in a Western, it contains no shortage of drunkards and fornicators.
Jackson makes the acquaintance of a young newspaperman from New York named Everett Sidney Howard, and the two form an unlikely but believable friendship. Everett asks Jackson if he may accompany the gunfighter while they remain in town, and Jackson agrees. Soon, they develop a partnership based on mutual trust and they begin to investigate the Hand of God murders.
Reasoner is a savvy old pro who knows all the best ways to keep the story moving along. There are hints of possible romance between Everett and a couple of toothsome young ladies, and even Jackson may be falling for the beautiful Philomena. Love appears as a possible motive for the murders, and is so strong it covers up other theories.
Characterization is solid and varied, with the dialogue being appropriate to the person who is speaking. And watch the way Reasoner uses what the characters say and how they say it to hint at secret background details.
Reasoner has written elsewhere on the web that he would like to develop Jackson and Everett into series characters. What a blessing that would be. Criminal investigation is a long trail, and I’d ride with them to the end. –Doug Bentin
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• DUST DEVILS by James Reasoner
James Reasoner is one of the best western writers around today, and his mysteries are top notch as well. Cutting his teeth on the Mike Shayne novelettes taught him how to plot and create characters, while entertaining the reader. I pick up everything this author writes!
Death Head Crossing is indeed a fine yarn and as you say let’s hope there are plans to turn it into a series or at least publish more Hell Jackson novels.