Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Vengeance Road


Vengeance Road, Erin Bowman, 327 pages


Kate Thompson’s father has been murdered by the notorious gang of outlaws the Rose Riders, and she is determined to get her revenge, no matter the cost. But she finds mentions of a lost cache of gold in her father’s diary, and her quest for vengeance risks becoming sidetracked by gold fever.

I’m not sure I liked this one. For a book with a protagonist as single-mindedly focused on vengeance as Kate is supposed to be, Vengeance Road meanders quite a bit and ends up feeling like a cautionary tale on the risks of greed. The action scenes felt flat, and although it seems Bowman tried to avoid tired, racist tropes when dealing with the Apache who live nearby, I’m not sure she succeeded, which is of course always a risk when writing a Western. The romance felt uninspired as well, until the end when it redeemed itself somewhat. I’ve heard good things about the standalone sequel, RetributionRails, but I’m not sure if I feel like giving it a try.

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