Cover Image: Red River Reunion

Red River Reunion

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Member Reviews

I received this arc for an honest review.
This book had everything for me when I started reading it. I had not read a western for a while and I was glad I started with this one. Opening with a gun battle going on you are introduced to Texas Ranger Wes Payne who helps out the Marshall. He stays in town helping the marshal for a few days but then makes his way back to the Ranger headquarters where he is given his new assignment.
You are also introduced to U.S. Deputy Marshall Luxton Danner and his exploits as he returns to his area with the circuit judge. Turns out that they are both assigned to the same location but neither one knows that the other one is going to be there. They are friends and have worked together in the past.
This story will keep you going with plenty of action and with wonderful characters. The writing makes you feel like you are back in the old west. This is a very good story and a wonderful read.

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Reading this book was a vivid experience, much like watching a western movie unfold on the silver screen of your imagination. Author John Layne does a good job of depicting the 19th century American West in a way that feels very real. The story pulls you in quickly with a dramatic scene, and then keeps your attention with a combination of great characters, intense action, and a solid plot.

There are many characters in this story, and it is told through multiple points of view. Doing so is effective, but as the reader you do have to pay attention. There is suspense in this story, and villains you can really despise while you root for the good guys. This book is an entertaining escape from modern day chaos as we ride along with the U. S. Deputy Marshall and Texas Ranger who are dedicated to making sure the citizens of the Red River community can exist in relative peace and safety.

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This book has everything a novel about the Old Wild West should have--lawlessness, raids, robberies, horses, cowboys, sheriffs, Texas Rangers and plenty of gun fights. Reading this book made me remember all the times I have enjoyed watching a good Western movie.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Labrador Publishing and the author John Layne for the e-Arc of the book.

The book was published on 15th October, 2020.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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This wonderful book had the feel of a good old fashion western, complete with the all elements you would expect, most especially, justice coming and staying in town!

Satisfying Good western tale with lots of colorful characters, but the downside was I couldn’t remember who they all were. (Maybe that was just a personal thing, but it didn't take away from the overall enjoyment of the book). All in all, a satisfying and entertaining western adventure for those who like a bit of nostalgic reading about the Wild West. and the quest to keep order against those who would disturb the peace.

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The western genre is under appreciated. While I love my mystery/thrillers, a well written western can make my afternoon of reading pretty exciting. Westerns are the one genre where the books and movies made from them seem to match. My uncles passed along their love of westerns just as I'll pass mine along to the next generation.

RED RIVER REUNION has a unique set of characters set into a community along the Red River. The local lawmen face more crime than most, their town is growing and attracting many who would take advantage of the towns people they have been charged to protect. And as in any western, the law is enforced with extreme prejudice, shoot now, ask questions later. John Layne has done an excellent job of making us care about this small town and it's inhabitants so we...or at least I....cheered the sheriff and his deputy along as they worked their way through the bad guys. This was a really good story that left me ready to read the next book as soon as Layne can write it.

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This is an interesting and entertaining story. A tale of the old west told in an a way that keeps you engrossed in the story. Each character has their own good qualities, and their own beliefs. Payne and Danner are likable, honorable and determined men. The story draws you into the old west, it gives you the feel of what it was like to live back then. Raids, robberies and gunfights were all too common back then. I really enjoyed reading this book, there's not enough old west anything anymore.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. This is my honest and voluntary opinion of it.

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i really enjoyed reading this western book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed getting to know them. It had a great western feel to it.

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I gave this book several decent attempts after DNFing 3 times, until I finally threw in the towel. I have a soft spot for westerns so I really did want to like it but unfortunately it suffers from a severe case of 'character soup'.

By the 25% mark you have already been introduced to a good 2 dozen characters (I'm not exaggerating) along with countless POV swaps. I think authors make the mistake of thinking this style of story telling makes the book more exciting, when it really it is overwhelming and just makes the reader confused and exhausted struggling to keep track.

I need to be able to bond with and care about the characters but all the jumping around makes it very difficult. In the end it was just too much work.

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Horses, bad guys you can really hate, shooting... I do love a good Western, and "Red River Reunion is definitely a good Western! Most important for me in this genre is atmosphere, and John Layne packs it into this book. The plot, characters, writing - everything ties together and sums up exactly why I enjoy Westerns so much.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

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I have enjoyed reading westerns ever since I was a little girl and I read my Grandfather's Westerns that he got from the library. I was always interested in the Old Wild
West, and still am. This book conjures up the feel of a time long ago, and takes me back to my early reading days. I thought it was a great adventure, and made a change from the usual books I read these days..I enjoyed it.

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I loved reading about the Wild West! This was full of facts and the storyline just made me feel like I was right there with the characters. The characters were full of life and just jumped off the pages, The writing was truly rich in history which captured my attention immediately. Rangers and Marshalls, good guys and bad guys all together for a great read. Thank you for the ARC in exchange for a review. Truly a great book

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I enjoy a good Western. This book is full of historical facts and bigger than life characters. U.S. Deputy Marshal Luxton Danner and Texas Ranger Wes Payne have another adventure in the old West. They help the good people of the Range hold off the bad guys and help protect and grow in the area.

I have not read the first book, but I had no trouble reading this one as a standalone. The writing was good and the story rich with history.

Thank you, Net Galley, for an advance copy for an honest review

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Red River Reunion by John Layne, out on October 15, 2020.

I’ve never read a Western before, so Red Red River Reunion was my first entry into the genre. The book is a sequel to Gunslingers, which I haven’t read, but this volume stands alone.

The story concerns Ben Chance, Ranger Wes Payne, Deputy Marshall Luxton Danner and a town called Range on the Red River in Texas. Range is a new town and being plagued by bandits and, as the story unfolds, it turns out that there is more to the banditry than random robberies and rustling.

I enjoyed the pace of the book. It wasn’t a question of one cliff-hanger ending after another, but rather of becoming engaged with characters who were more than cardboard cut-outs. The two main characters, Payne and Danner, were conflicted in interesting ways, misfits in wider society and only at ease in the midst of conflict and danger. There is also a wry humour that runs through the book. Here, Payne is removing a customer from a bar fight when he is accosted by a nun:
She looked at Wes with cool, emotionless expression. “Did you have to hit that man so hard, Mister?” she asked the big Ranger.
Startled, Wes paused. “Well, Sister, I didn’t know there was any other way.”

And, in a bar:
“What’ll ya have, stranger?” The old man spewed through a toothless mouth, with breath rancid enough to singe a man’s whiskers.

There is also some beautiful evocative writing:
The sun crept skyward, its translucent yellow beams bursting above distant rolling hills. Dawn arrived with the combination of cool ground air tamped down by the warmth of the sun. The residents of Riverbend started another busy day. Doors opened, livestock rumbled about, and the occasional wagon plowed down Main Street. The fast-drying mud in the streets from all the recent rain had thickened considerably, making it difficult for wagons and carriages to navigate. Roosters crowed, and the sound of cattle calls could be heard deep in the distance.

I enjoyed the depictions of early settler life, the way in which towns swiftly became dominated by a senior entrepreneur, some good and some evil. There is the isolation and the vulnerability of these small settlements to hostile forces.

The downside of the book was that the main characters were essentially super-heroes, over-sized men whose every shot hit its mark – and there were rather a lot of shots. In terms of body count, the book is well into Spaghetti Western territory. That the characters are aware of their own bloodthirstiness but casually dismiss it, makes them somewhat repugnant.

There were also quite a few loose ends. There is a ranch which is raided, the parents killed and one daughter abducted, but we never really find out what happened, and we aren’t given quite enough information to piece it together.

Another area where I felt a disconnect was the bad guy. The book is told from multiple points of view, so we as readers had information that the protagonists did not. This device can be very strong, but only if we as readers see how the characters come to know what we know. In this book – and at least to some extent because Payne and Danner murdered everyone before asking questions – they come to know through a process of osmosis. It didn’t convince.

I enjoyed my first encounter with this genre, although not enough to dash back for another read. But for afficionados, this is a fun yarn, well-researched and at moments thought-provoking and evocative.

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Growing up as a fan of Hoppy, Gene, and Roy, it was refreshing to read a good tale of the old west. A triumvirate of protagonists are introduced and brought together to fight off a town’s boss who isn’t content with just one town. Mix in lots of bad guys, ambushes, love interests, Rangers, and marshals and you have the recipe for a great western adventure.

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