Bloody Merchants' War

By Roland Cheek

Book 2 of the Valediction for Revenge Series

ISBN-0-918981-09-3

Skyline Publishing

2003, Trade paper 288 pages $14.95

            On August 6, 1877, Jethro Spring rode into Lincoln County New Mexico Territory and became an important player in the event history calls the "Lincoln County War."  Roland Cheek has written a rousing tale of good and evil, loyalty and treachery and hard choices.

            Jethro is himself a fugitive.  Both sides in the Lincoln County war want to hire his gun.  Dolan and Riley on one side and Chisum and McSween on the other and a "Santa Fe ring" in between.  Farmers and Mexicans are at the mercy of the guns on both sides. Jethro finally chooses sides, but then must question if he has chosen the right one.

            Cheek offers a fast-moving carefully and densely woven story.  Surprisingly, he makes the reader like and wish to support Billy the Kid and thoroughly dislike some of the characters other views of the Lincoln County War praise.  Cheek allows the reader to see the evil in other characters before his character does creating breath-taking suspense and a great read. 

A.H.Holt, editor

WesternFictionReview

June 2004