Review: The Gunslinger - Lorraine Heath

There was some discussion recently on the WesternPulps email group about Western romances, particularly Western romance novels published in recent decades rather than the Western romance pulps. I read a number of Western romance novels from the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties back when Livia was writing in that genre and enjoyed many of them. The conversation on WesternPulps put me in the mood to read one again.

The one I picked was THE GUNSLINGER by Lorraine Heath, a novella that’s available as an e-book on Amazon. This is a revised version of a story originally published under the title “Long Stretch of Lonesome” in an anthology. That’s a much better title, to be honest. I believe I met Lorraine Heath at least once at a mass book signing, but we’re not really acquainted and I don’t recall ever reading any of her books until now.

THE GUNSLINGER’s plot is pretty straightforward: a gunman with a reputation as a ruthless, cold-blooded killer is hired by a cattle baron to get rid of a smaller rancher who owns some land the cattle baron wants. But when he arrives to take the job, he discovers that the person his employer wants run off and/or killed is a beautiful young woman who is trying to run the ranch with the help of her little brother. Naturally, our protagonist is conflicted, and gradually it’s revealed that almost nothing about this situation is what it appears to be at first. I always like it when an author peels back the layers of a plot like that, little by little. Of course, things eventually lead up to a showdown, but it’s maybe not the one you might have expected.

This plot would have worked just fine in a 1950s issue of RANCH ROMANCES, although there would have been some definite differences. There would have been more gunfights and probably a brutal fistfight in a pulp version, and the story would have ended with the hero and heroine having done no more than embracing and kissing. The action is played down in THE GUNSLINGER. There are several gunfights, but they’re over with quickly. The romance angle occupies more of the story and there’s one sex scene, although it’s not particularly graphic. And of course, the characters brood more and think about their feelings a lot.

Don’t get me wrong, though. The hero and the heroine, as well as the heroine’s brother, are all very likable characters and I got caught up in the story and wanted to know what was going to happen to them. I honestly didn’t mind a more emotional approach for a change. The book’s biggest flaw, in my opinion, is that the villain just isn’t despicable enough, leading to an ending that’s considerably less dramatic than it could have been. This has been a problem with a lot of the romance novels I’ve read. The authors set up some great conflicts but draw back at the last moment. The heroes are usually the fastest gun/deadliest swordsman/biggest badass in the county, but when it comes time to burn powder or hack and slash or kick some varmint’s butt, the author shoehorns in a way for the guy to sit and talk with his enemies instead and resolve things peacefully. There’s a little of that in THE GUNSLINGER.

But hey, am I the target audience for these books? No. No, I am not. But all the romance writers I’ve met and talked with over the years have been smart, skillful writers who know what they’re doing. The books work for their readers. A guy like me, dipping his toe into those waters, can’t expect a book written to his taste. But he can find books that are well-written and entertaining, like THE GUNSLINGER, if he knows where to look.