Smith writes in a smooth, ,almost laconic style, which makes this western set in the early part of the 20th century a joy to read. Nate cooper has been in jail for thirty years and on his release he finds himself a fish out of water, horses giving way to cars, everyone he knows older and adopting to new ways. How he copes with these changes is the centerpiece of the book— and yes there are shootouts, land frauds and women with hearts of gold.

I’ve just started to watch westerns on television and I have read just a few, so reading this novel was quite different for me but quite entertaining nevertheless. It was what I would call, a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. This novel didn’t have a romance like some westerns do but it did have its share of conflicts and there were the shootings, whether the individuals deserved them or not. A bullet here, a bullet there, just make sure that you were carrying and you knew how many bullets you had left before you pulled the trigger.

Nate had just been released from doing a 28-year stint in jail. Wrongly accused of a crime, he is given a suit and $163.14 and shown the door. A true cowboy, Nate finds the nearest store and doesn’t think twice about laying out $28 dollars for a new hat and some boots that fit. He heads into Opportunity, he needs to settle a score that he promised a young man from prison and then he heads back into familiar territory to look for work. Nate wants to get back into the saddle and out on the range but he knows his age and being an ex-con is not something everyone is looking for. Times have changed while he was away and technology has made its advancements, something Nate and a few others are having a hard time accepting.

Nate finds some old acquaintances and they inform him of some things that have occurred while he was away. Some individuals never change including Nate and he immediately sets about inquiring about an issue that others would like to hidden. Nate is about justice, he oversteps his boundaries at times but he is a man of his word.

I liked the language in his novel, it felt descriptive at times and other times it felt rugged and choppy. As Nate left the prison he wanted to lead a good life, he never wanted to go back to prison yet when he returned to his old stomping grounds, he realized what some individuals were up to and he knew he had to stop them. He did what he had to do, no matter the cost because the end result mattered to him more than his life behind bars. I liked that about Nate. I liked the character of Rose. I had this mental picture of her the minute I met her and the more I got to know her, this picture changed. What a transformation Rose made. I enjoyed reading this novel, I just might be reading more westerns if they are like this.

I received a copy of this novel from Skyhorse Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for providing me a copy of this novel.

I received this from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Nate Cooper is an old-school cowboy who has spent nearly 30 years in a Montana prison of a wrongful life sentence for a false murder conviction.

I respect Nate, he does all the wrong things for all the right reasons. The story lagged a bit in places but a great western story with all the right moral ingredients.

3☆

ABOUT THIS BOOK: The year is 1910. Nate Cooper is an old-school cowboy who has spent nearly 30 years in a Montana prison of a wrongful life sentence for a false murder conviction. Nate's moral compass is true and unwavering: he does all the wrong things for all the right reasons. Upon his release he learns that the turn of the century has brought great change--none of it good. Horses are being replaced by the motorcar, his girlfriend has long ago married his best friend, his nemesis is running for Governor, and the Blackfoot Indians (the people he went to prison trying to defend) are still being betrayed by the ranchers. So some things haven't changed. Nate is one of them. He returns to his Northern Montana ranching town a free man and stirs up the pot of controversy immediately--seeking justice, evading hired guns, brawling in saloons, righting past wrongs, and ferreting out--with the help of a young newspaper reporter and the woman in used to love--a fraudulent boundary adjustment robbing the Blackfoot (again) of their territory. Along the way, he ruffles feathers all the way to the State House, and before the storm he brings is over, he and the friends of his youth will pay a shockingly high price for justice.

MY THOUGHTS: I have been a lover of westerns for many years, and I have read a great number of them. But never have I read one in the same class as The Return of Kid Cooper by Brad Smith. The author vividly details life in this era to the point where you can believe yourself there, right amongst the action, the everyday occurrences.

Basically, this is the story of one man's fight against greed. The story of a man prepared to put aside his own needs and safety in order to fight in the defence of others, others who have no one else to protect their interests. That's not to say that Nate’s a saint, because he's not. He's just as capable of making dumb mistakes as you or I, and frequently does. But that is another thing that makes this book as good as it is, the humanity of the characters.

I would give this book ten stars if I could.

Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing and Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Return of Kid Cooper by Brad Smith for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

I am not a fan of westerns and wouldn't have jumped up and down to read this book but it was recommended by someone who knows that I like historical fiction and mysteries. Set in Montana in the early 1900's, Nate Cooper is released from a 30-year prison sentence for helping in a hostage situation. He returns home to find some things have change (cars exist) and some things have stayed the same (Indian still being mistreated, the same corrupt people still in charge). When Nate starts butting his nose into a questionable survey, things get heated and the "western" in the book really comes out. Bar room brawls, men on hillsides shooting people, and cattle rustling all come in to play. Mr. Smith does a terrific job with his writing style of evoking an old western feeling to the story. Many of his characters were a bit stereotyped, but that too felt right. If he has more books like this, I might just become a fan of westerns!

The Return of Kid Cooper is a magnificent Western set in 1919 in the grazing lands of Montana. It’s a book about time travel in the odd sense that someone who’s been in prison for thirty years sees a whole new world with automobiles and other changes. But it’s also about the things that haven’t changed, the scores that haven’t been settled, a woman’s heart, and doing right.

Nate Cooper, who perhaps isn’t quite a saint, has an awesome witty way of talking and the balls to say what he thinks. And, he slowly but surely stumbles on a crooked conspiracy and makes some enemies in the process.

This terrific novel doesn’t have the frenetic breakneck pace of many thrillers. It’s set in a time and place where time moves a little slower. And it brings that time and that place alive like few other novels do. You can hear the horses on the ridge, the gunshots, the wind through the high grasses.

Awesome!

Great story. A young cowboy goes into prison for a wrongful conviction of murder. (he claimed self-defense.) He was released 28 years later and leaves prison an old cowboy with everything he knew about daily life changed. Cars, roads, electricity...modern life in the 1920's. Nate is a man with a strong sense of morals and social justice. Sometimes, well mostly this gets him into trouble. He leaves prison with some goals. The first is to track down a fellow inmate that brutalized a younger inmate driving him to suicide. His moral compass tells him to kill the inmate and so he did, with a gunshot to the head. There follow other shootings and troubles for Nate. He stands with the Blackfoot Indians whose land had been stolen and whose people had been driven onto unproductive lands called reservations. Nate and friends dig to find the truth of this travesty. it leads them into danger and straight into the evil that is power and greed.
The author introduces the reader to interesting and colorful characters and characters with depth. I found myself loving Nate, although he desired the "right" thing- well, his methods were sometimes not so right. The ancillary characters also held their own. The setting and time period made this special and the author makes it all real....Like the reader had been plopped right down into 1920's Montana.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes good historical fiction, stand-out characters and a sense of adventure.

Having read previous novels by Brad Smith, I was highly anticipating enjoying this novel. The novel did not disappoint in the least. Characters were well developed and the plot drew you into the story. Fans of Lonesome Dove should enjoy The Return of Kid Cooper, as I found it very reminiscent of Lonesome Dove.

A lot of killings go on in this book. Some are justified. Some aren’t. But they’re all fun.

Brad Smith, author of “The Return of Kid Cooper,” stutter-stepped into being a writer, but once he got going he’s been productive. His website lists 6 novels and, if they are as good as Kid Cooper, I need to read them all. He’s touching, comical, and keeps the reader involved with clear-cut prose.

After nearly thirty years for murder in a Montana prison, Nate Cooper is released and promptly goes to work. His first job is killing another former inmate who terrorized a young man while in prison by subjecting him to sexual abuse resulting in a suicide that didn’t sit right with Cooper. So our hero immediately tracks the ugly deviant down and shoots him in the head. The story calms down after that, but not by much.

Cooper returns to a ranch operated by his former friend and partner, who is married to Cooper’s ex-girlfriend, and settles in as a guest with nothing to do but roam the 1910 Montana countryside. He spends his time dodging the new motorcars, bothering an old adversary who wants to be governor, and trying to obtain some justice for a poverty-stricken Blackfoot tribe huddled on a reservation that has been whittled down to the size of a postage stamp through illegal maneuverings by said nemesis.

Cooper, the lead actor in the book, is a seventy-year-old reprobate who has spent his life swimming with his nose barely above water, trying to do the right thing, but stymied by the clumsy way he sometimes goes about it. The author guides his readers through the perplexing problems and solves them, after a lot of poking into past deeds and gunfire, with an innovative ending. I was greatly entertained by the characters and the writing skill, and felt okay with the ending.

I enjoyed the book and was impressed by the author’s talent. Many great writers, think Dennis Lehane, Richard Russo, and Tony Horwitz, sing his praise. If you want to, you can add my name.

Brad Smith whisked me back in time over a century ago to the blue skies and grassy plains of Montana. I was swept along with a masterful description of life back in those days of long ago. What it was like. How it felt. Down to its greatest detail. The author vividly displayed life on the ranch, on the prairie and in the growing cities with such clarity, that I felt I was there. Sitting tall in the saddle. Drinking nickel beer. Seeing it, feeling it for the first time. The heartbeat of America. From page one, I found this to be a well-written narrative with a supportive story line that never let go. The character of Nate Cooper came well-developed. I knew exactly where he stood.

In 1882, Kid Cooper had been tried, convicted and sentenced for murder. A crime for which he claimed was self-defense. The deck had been stacked against him. For this injustice, he would spend the rest of his natural born days in the Montana State Penitentiary. When he went in, he was a roustabout cowboy in the prime of his life. Those days slowly vanished before his eyes. Twenty-eight years later, the aging cowboy had been granted a pardon. The year was 1910.

Now a free man, he came to discover a new world that had undergone many changes since his abrupt departure. He had been left behind. Technologically speaking. Motorcars had taken to the road, electricity surged through every nook and cranny of the city and the advent of the airplane had literally, taken off. Sadly, the days of the horse and buggy were numbered.

Nate was a friend of the Blackfoot Indians. At least what was left of them. Life-sustaining land the tribe had lived on for countless generations had been stolen right out from underneath them. With nowhere else to go, they had been herded on to a reservation. Like cattle. Understandably, the Indians harbored deep resentment toward the white man.

Nate was sympathetic to the indignities suffered by the Blackfoot Nation. As he considered their hopeless predicament, he became increasingly suspicious of the survey that robbed them of their sacred land. Something about the land survey didn't sit quite right. He wanted answers to some tough questions. As he started to connect the dots, he found that the loss of Indian land led in one direction. To one person. A man of power, influence and wealth who would stop at nothing to see that his secrets remained safe. There was too much on the line. Even if it meant permanently silencing the do-gooder cowboy. And anyone else for that matter who might get in the way.

If there's a moral to this story, there's one word that expresses it best - greed. One of our sorrowful human traits that have undermined society since the dawn of creation. And always will. I wasn't prepared for the ending. It had taken me by surprise. I enjoyed the ride.