Another 5 star read from Chuck Mason. This author consistently writes excellent westerns, full of action and excitement, and Hell Star is no exception. 

When US Marshall Link Leyland's  ex-partner Dan is killed, Link sets off for Prairie City to investigate. But before his investigation even gets underway, trouble finds Link and he finds himself on the bad side of the town's untrustworthy Marshall. It is not long before bullets start flying and the bodies start piling up.

A quick read at only 151 pages but I defy you to put it down once started. 

Thank you to Endeavour Press, Pioneering Press via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of Hell Star by Chuck Mason for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

In Chuck Mason's Hell Star (Pioneering Press 2017),   Link Leyland is a retired Marshall back in the days of America's Wild West, when the law was pretty much whatever could be meted out between an action and reaction. The faster you were, the more power you had. Despite reaching the old age of 37, Leyland is called back from retirement to investigate the death of his former partner in the lawless town of Prairie City. He goes undercover, supposedly to buy cattle, but before he even enters town, he comes upon a stagecoach being robbed and must stop it. From that point on, it's a struggle to maintain his cover and face down the robbers who have the support of the town's leaders. Here's a taste of Mason's storytelling:

"Southward, the prairie, wide, rolling, featureless, stretched away to the distant horizon and beyond, and so it was to the east. Northward, the silent shoulders of rugged mountain ranges reared up like sentinels, and somewhere among their foothills lay Leyland’s destination—Prairie City."

The characters are interesting, the plot is quick, and the ending satisfying. I'd love to read more of this author.

--my blog review (http://wp.me/p90mx-3Z8) won't be out until August 4.