Damon Yerg gives us a typical western recipe in Yellowstone Fury. As you would imagine, the good guys defeat the outlaws. But it’s the details that weave this story together are excellent. Yerg treats the reader to great characters with a solid story.
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- Title: Yellowstone Fury
- Author: Damon Yerg
- Publisher: Self Published on May 8, 2020
- Genre: Action Adventure/Western
- Pages: 311
- Format: Kindle Edition
- Rating: 4/5
Many thanks to Reedsy Discovery and Damon Yerg for gifting me a free copy of Yellowstone Fury in exchange for an honest review.
Trigger Warnings: Violence, Murder, Rape
Available Now: Order on Amazon
Synopsis of Yellowstone Fury
Townsfolk, strangers, and outsiders unite to battle murderous hired guns.
Sam has taken a break from the trail in the small town of Green Forks. A chance encounter with a young lady draws him into a helter-skelter arena of love and hate, honesty and deceit, survival and death.
Razed buildings, rustled cattle, and dead friends demand bloody retribution. With their aging sheriff unable to stop lawlessness, ordinary folk chase down a fearsome gang, hired by a shady businessman to deliver his most recently acquired assets. Odds are stacked overwhelmingly in favor of the outlaws.
Failure threatens the very survival of Green Forks.
Quoted from Amazon
My Review
In the town of Green Forks, there has been an influx of ne’er do well outlaws making trouble. Frightened townsfolk lead to a young man who takes on a couple of these bad guys in the general store. From there the story explodes into a volley of violence that starts the story.
Ben and Joanna are childhood friends turned sweethearts. Sam is a drifter who rides into town after a long time in the saddle. Ed is the owner of the High K ranch. These four form the core of the good guys. On the other side, we have a cast of forgettable no-gooders led by Abilene Jack. Though with hints of a powerful person behind the whole operation.
After several altercations with these outlaws, the core four knew there was a reason the men were in town. Apart from drinking and causing trouble, of course. Still perplexed when the ambush came, they were all caught unaware.
The best part of the book was the sheer tenacity of Ben, Joanna, Sam, and Ed. Nothing kept them down. No matter what Abilene Jack and his cronies dished out, the core four took it in stride. Another great aspect of this book is that Joanna is a central character. She is not treated as a “little lady” as was typical of that era. She was right in the thick of everything and was lethal. The Chinese characters earn respect and reverence, again, not typical of the time.
The most disappointing thing was that everyone got a backstory, including Abilene Jack. Sam got no backstory at all. All we know about him is that he is a drifter. But there are flavors of being more to him than that, but the reader never finds out what his story was. Assuming that this meant to add to his mysterious nature, it is a good tactic, but it was a letdown.
I am happy to award Yellowstone Fury 4 out of 5 stars. Anyone who is a fan of westerns will love this novel. Unfortunately, westerns are a lost art these days, but Damon Yerg does a good job with this one.