Morgan Kane: Without Mercy, by Louis Masterson

Kane is a Texas Ranger who never seems to stay down for long.  He gets shot and thrown off of a train, seemingly left for dead, but Kane would not let something like that hold him back.  He is found by a rancher, and nursed back to health, but he does have some lasting scars.  It is because of these scars that he decides to seek revenge.

Westerns are not typically my thing, so you will need to keep this in mind throughout my review.  I thought the character of Kane was well developed, and we got a fairly decent sense of who he was and what motivated him.  It did get a little tiresome, all his run ins with the ladies.  This is a relatively short book, and during the course of it, 3 different women are wooed by him.  While Kane is a multi-dimensional character, I did not find him particularly likable.

I think my biggest problem with the book is that it seems like a lot of the nuances were lost in translation.  Originally published in Norway, I get the distinct impression that a bit of the beauty of the writing was lost in translation.  The transitions between scenes are abrupt and at times non-existent.  That made for a very choppy reading experience.

All in all, I think this is a pretty typical Western, and therefore fans of Westerns will probably love it.  For non-fans, I do not think this is the book that will win you over to the genre.

I received a review copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for my honest review.


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