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.

With wayward Allie French along, Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole head to Brimstone, a town where trouble's brewing between a preacher and a saloon owner. The tough edge in Titus Welliver's voice serves him well, giving believability to his first-person narrative as Everett. Parker's sparse writing is deceptive, turning out more dense and modern than listeners would expect, but it seems real coming from Welliver. The situation Everett and Virgil face is an old-fashioned Western showdown, but talk of sexual assaults and bordellos plays a major part in the novel. Fans of Parker's writing and of Westerns will be pleased by his latest expedition into the fictional West. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine