MASSACRE AT AGUA CALIENTE

In this old-time Western, a ruthless outlaw begins to change his ways after he becomes infatuated with his hostage. 

Boyd Hutton is a notorious criminal who’s as infamous for his hard heart as he is for his legendary gunfighting skill. He travels with a gang to Agua Caliente, a town in east Texas, and boldly decides to rob a local bank. The bank’s (and town’s) founder, Chance Joiner, has offered the large sum of $50 to any man that bears arms against bank robbers, so the town’s male population quickly establishes themselves as formidable “Ready Men.” Boyd’s robbery attempt devolves into a blood bath, and although he somehow initially escapes capture, he’s eventually apprehended by the Ready Men and left to die in the middle of nowhere, bound and badly wounded. He’s found by traveling Mormons making their way through dangerous country, but after they save his life, he murders three of them and absconds with their collective treasury. Later, when he kidnaps a young woman, Juliana, from a politically prominent Mexican family, he not only has Texas Rangers after him, but also bounty hunters and the Mexican government. However, as he becomes fascinated by Juliana, his cruelty to others starts to wane. Meanwhile, Juliana’s reliance on him, in order to survive, slowly begins to transform into something tender. Debut author Rainey keenly depicts an unforgiving landscape throughout this novel—a nearly lawless world where brutal violence can erupt at a moment’s notice. He also draws the character of Boyd in nearly mythical terms, showing him to be fearless and seemingly invulnerable. However, the fugitive’s metamorphosis from coldblooded sociopath to romantic suitor is implausible, as is Juliana’s own change of heart. Also, Rainey’s prose can be awkward and stiff at times: “He had never before been confined as he was. His imagination could not be diverted from its dominating comparison of his predicament to that of being trapped in a coffin.”

A dubious plot that’s further hamstrung by ungraceful prose.