Iron Dust: A Western Story (Five Star Western Series) - Hardcover

This reprint of an eight-part magazine serial, originally published in 1921, tells a story that, a few centuries earlier, could easily have formed the basis of a Shakespeare play. After he was orphaned, young Andrew Lanning was taken in by his Uncle Jasper. Andrew has grown into a kind and gentle man, much to the dismay of Jasper, who is afraid that if he doesn’t learn to defend himself, Andy will be a victim all his life. Jasper arranges a confrontation between Andy and one of the town’s bullies, but his plan couldn’t go more wrong: Andy kills the bully, flees the town, and, not long after, kills a deputy sheriff who’s chasing him. As if all this weren’t bad enough, Andy has fallen in love with the daughter of a powerful man, and—guess what!—the dead bully isn’t really dead at all. Yes, the story is a little hokey, but the novel tells a powerful story of a man discovering his cold, dark inner self. Brand’s strength was always his characters, and Andrew Lanning is a multilayered, memorable creation, a character who compels us to watch him, even as he does things that frighten us. --David Pitt