Trouble Rides the Texas Pacific

TROUBLE RIDES THE TEXAS PACIFIC, James J. Griffin, iUniverse, 2005

This is the first published novel by my friend Jim Griffin, but I feel confident in predicting that it won’t be the last. It’s a fine piece of work.

Texas Ranger Jim Blawcyzk, the star of a series of on-line stories, gets his biggest case and his biggest challenge here. In a great opening sequence, the train on which Jim is riding is derailed and robbed by outlaws. Naturally, after rescuing some of the injured passengers, he pursues the owlhoots, but is no simple hold-up. Instead, the incident sets Jim on the trail of a conspiracy that threatens the expansion of the Texas Pacific Railroad across Texas.

There’s plenty of fast-paced action, and while the author’s fondness for the Jim Hatfield stories in the pulp TEXAS RANGERS is well-known, Jim Blawcyzk is no Hatfield clone. For one thing, unlike the Lone Wolf, Blawcyzk has a wife and son and comes across, at least to me, as being a bit older and more settled than Hatfield. The supporting characters, especially the group of Rangers that assists Hatfield in breaking up the conspiracy, are well-drawn and likable. There are echoes of pulp authors Tom Curry and Peter Germano in the prose, but Griffin’s style is his own and flows very well.

TROUBLE RIDES THE TEXAS PACIFIC is the sort of traditional, action-oriented Western that’s not published much anymore, and that’s a shame because it’s very entertaining and well-written. Highly recommended, and available from the usual on-line bookstores as well as directly from the publisher.