Review: A Town Called Vengeance by Kevin Wolf

Title: A Town Called Vengeance

Author:  Kevin Wolf
Publisher: North Star Editions

Publishing Date:  May 1st, 2018

Pages: 248
Genre: Historical Fiction 

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  ARC

 

Faded words on yellowed newsprint tell stories of an Apache war party led by a she-wolf. For the frontier newspaperman, Kepler, the accounts beckon him to finish the battles he fought in the Colorado mountains.

Kepler’s quest brings stagecoach attacks, waterless days in the Arizona desert, and an unholy alliance with a creature of darkness. In a barroom in a town called Vengeance, Kepler faces down the gunman that even Doc Holiday feared. Renegades and gunrunners stand in his way. And his sacrifice may cost him the woman he loves.

Will his crusade for justice turn to a fight for revenge? In a battle fought with silver bullets and fire, will Kepler’s courage be enough?

I am not going to lie. I totally judged this book by the cover. It is so beautiful and eerie. I just love the colors and the wolf in the background. The synopsis sounded good too. I am so about westerns these days.I was very excited to get started on this book. The beginning really had me going. I was happy and it was good. But as the book went on it lost its oomph for me. It started to get slow and I just felt it was rushed and slow all in the same time. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on and I don’t know I was just left with a meh feeling in the end.

Kepler and his lovely companion take a trip to Vengeance. There is a story happening. A story about a she-wolf and Kepler wants to break this story. On their journey they get attacked by Apaches and Wolves, killing some soldiers and injuring others. They make it to the town, but the danger doesn't stop there when Kepler gets in trouble with a gunman. Soon Kepler is trying to escape the town he almost died before arriving. Now he needs to fight some crooks, a gunman, wolves, and the Apaches. 

I was so super excited for this book. It’s a little bit of history, a little bit of paranormal, and a little bit of western. It sounded quite good. I really enjoyed the start of the book. It started off with some Apache and wolf action attacking some men on the way to the town of vengeance. Among them are a reporter and his female companion. There was intensity, there was drama, there was action. It was a great beginning. After the attack, we follow the group to Vengeance and this is where it dropped off for me.

The time spent in the town was slow and not a lot happened but in a way, the story felt as if it was being rushed. It was missing development. Missing character development and story development. I never felt connected to the characters or invested in the story. There were a couple of scenes in the town that was good but it was far and in between. After some time in the town, the story progressed just a bit and the reporter and his girl decided to leave the town of vengeance and find somewhere safe to go. On the way out they are in trouble again and this was a little exciting but kind of felt it didn’t have a place in the story. Then after the action, it went back to being slow for me.

I really never felt invested in the characters. I didn’t like or dislike the characters. They were good characters on the surface. Strong and determined and willing to do what was needed. But it was all surface nothing deeper for me. I just couldn't connect to any of the characters. 

I couldn't get into the story either.  I really wanted to like this read. It came with such a Strong beginning and then just fell off. The story felt as if it was a beginning of a thought and the ending of a thought but the middle just kind of lacking. It's very hard to explain a story that is slow and rushed. I felt the parts of the story that were there, were slow and just nothing really happening. During this time I would have liked to get to know the characters more but that didn't happen. The events that do happen that explain the story felt rushed and just didn't fall together smoothly. 

The plot was there, the story and characters just needed a bit more, I needed just a bit more.

Kevin Wolf is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writersand Crested Butte Writers. The great-grandson of Colorado homesteaders, he enjoys fly fishing, old Winchesters and 1950s Western movies. He lives in Littleton, Colorado, with his wife and two beagles.