Book Review of NOOSE by Brennan LaFaro

NOOSE by Brennan LaFaro (Dark Lit Press, September 2022) Kindle Edition.  

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . 

It’s been fifteen years since Noose Holcomb perpetrated the Buzzard's Edge Train Robbery of 1872, leaving Rory Daggett an orphan. Settled in with a new family and a second chance at life, Rory never quite sheds the thirst for revenge. 

When one of the gang members returns to Buzzard's Edge, Rory's life is violently upended once more. Capturing the rogue spurs on a furious chain of events that pits Rory against each member of Noose's gang, every one more twisted and terrifying than the last, in order to work his way to their leader. With the help of a fellow orphan whose life Noose turned upside down and the town's sheriff, Rory will stop at nothing to be the man who ends Noose's reign of terror, but can he do it without becoming the man he seeks to kill?

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

 

    This was a quick read that I was able to sandwich in-between simultaneous readings of several books. That's what happens when you sign on to several group reads in the same month. But, they are were so enticing. I challenged myself and feel good having survived it. 

     NOOSE is a great adventure yarn, especially if you enjoy weird westerns. There's just enough strange and odd about this to take it beyond standard western fare. It's a short novella and a quick read. Author LaFaro also included a short story featuring one of the more interesting characters from the novella, Mirella the witch, which sheds a more sympathetic light on her. This proceeded at a different pace than the main novella and spotlights the writing skills of LaFaro. 

NOTES:

DECEMBER 05: This reminds me of the paperback westerns my father used to read, although I suspect NOOSE is a bit more gruesome. I'm ready for a rooting-tooting, rip-roaring weird western adventure yarn. I believe this will be a quick read, even quicker if I wasn't trying to multi-task and read several books at the same time. 

My favorite line so far, about 13% into the book: "I'll spare you the grisly details, Rory, but you ever been so sick you felt like you was gonna vomit 'til your innards turned to outards?"

DECEMBER 07

About 38% into the story. The supernatural element has been introduced as well as the remaining members of the Noose gang. 

21%: I had about as much energy left as a horse that just hauled a fat man up a mountain."

DECEMBER 11

At 60%, just finished Chapter 9, the most brutal and violent chapter so far and very well done.

DECEMBER 13Now at Chapter 12 (72%). 

I enjoyed the mirage-like entry into the saloon. A different beginning to that encounter. 

Hate to stop mid-way in a fight scene. Hope to get back to this soon.

at 61%: ". . . the setting sun bled a mixture of pink and purple so vivid, it looked more like a painter's palette than the hellish sky that had overseen this day."