Brimstone

March 30, 2009
Parker's gunslinging saddle pals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch return for their third adventure, in which the two lawmen-for-hire exchange snappy dialogue and hot lead with assorted owlhoots, deadbeats and unwashed baddies in south Texas. Here, Virgil and Everett rescue Allie French, Virgil's former sweetie who ran off to become a prostitute, and head to Brimstone, where the two gunmen sign on as deputy sheriffs. Brimstone, however, doesn't exactly provide a quiet respite for this trio. Virgil and Allie have a hard time getting over his hurt and her shame, a mysterious Indian is killing local folks and leaving taunting messages, and brutal saloon owner Pike and corrupt preacher Brother Percival are headed for a showdown. Virgil and Everett settle on a tricky solution that involves a talented tracker, a bribe, a double-cross, a noxious cloud of gun smoke and a pile of perforated bodies. The result is classic Parker—exciting, suspenseful, fast-moving and entertaining.

April 15, 2009
Freelance gunslingers Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch (Resolution, 2008, etc.) ride into yet another town and treat it to another baptism of fire.

Though he hasn't seen Allie French for a year, Virgil has never given up hope of finding her again. Riding south with sidekick and amanuensis Everett, he catches up with her in Placido, Texas. Virgil and Everett spirit her off in jig time, but the magic doesn't return so easily. Everett can spot the problem with Virgil right off:"With Allie he was different. I didn't like different." Clearly it'll take something special to rekindle the flame—something like the job Virgil and Everett are offered as deputy sheriffs in nearby Brimstone,"an actual town" that's more than just a collection of gamblers, drunks and whores. Val Verde County sheriff Dave Morrissey is concerned by the growing tension between Pike, a gang leader who's opened a perfectly law-abiding saloon, and Brother Percival, a firebrand revivalist determined to close down every watering hole in Brimstone. With each saloon Brother Percival shutters, his mission sets him more clearly on a collision course with Pike. The episodic plot prescribes some preliminary skirmishes: the kidnapping of a slain rancher's wife and daughter by a Comanche brave with a grudge against Pike; their rescue by Virgil and Everett and a half-breed tracker they've hooked up with; and their traumatic difficulties readjusting to life in Brimstone. But there's never any doubt that all this is heading to a climactic showdown between Pike and Brother Percival, followed by a post-climactic showdown between Virgil and his friends and the sole survivor, according to the iron rule that governed Virgil's first two adventures:"Let the vermin fight to the death and then pick off the winner."

No surprises, but provides some excellent evidence for anyone who wants to argue that Spenser's creator has been writing nothing but westerns for 35 years.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2009
Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole have landed in the dusty border town of Placido, Texas. Theyre finally located Allie French, the woman who breached Coles seemingly impenetrable heart, working in a brothel. With Allie in tow, the cowboy buddies move up the train line to Brimstone, where the idea is to let Allie and Cole mend their relationship. Meanwhile, Brimstone is in need of a law-enforcement presence, as a conflict is brewing between an evangelical preacher, Brother Percival, who sees evil residing in Brimstones many saloons, especially one called Pikes Palace, and Pike himself, a former military officer turned criminal and now saloon keeper.While Hitch and Cole watch this conflict play out, a woman and her daughter are kidnapped and abused by an Indian with a murky agenda. Our boys rescue the woman and, with Allies help, attempt to care for the daughter. This third entry in Parkers Hitch-Cole series is deeply satisfying on at least three levels. First, its a well-told western adventure. Second, its an ode to the unassailable friendship that comes along so rarely in life. Third, its an unabashedly sentimental love story of two profoundly flawed people who may be able to fill the deep chasms in their lives. Could mysteries have just been a warm-up for Parker, a lead-in to his real home on the range?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)