3 out of 4 stars
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Man Killer by Wes S. Henson is a novel that takes the reader on a journey for vengeance and retribution. Set in the Old West, this novel follows a boy as he becomes a man and spends his days searching for the one chance he needs to avenge the lives stolen by a ruthless band of outlaws. Relying only on himself, this cowboy becomes an avenging angel against those who prey on the weak.
Ty Morgan is only seventeen when he leaves his home in the East with his parents to start a new life out West. The family joins up with a wagon train headed for a better life, but their journey is cut short when a band of outlaws attacks them. Killing his mother and father and leaving Ty for dead, the outlaws continue on their way, making the attack appear as if it were done by local Indians. After waking at the bottom of a ravine, Ty meets an older man named Luke. Luke takes Ty home with him, and begins to train him in the ways of the West. Years later, Ty sets out to avenge his family and the other victims of the wagon train massacres. Along the way, he finds love and friendship.
I am a fan of westerns, both in books and movies. Having grown up watching westerns with my father, I was very excited to read this book. I found the storyline to be very entertaining, and was drawn in by the characters created by Mr. Henson. I found myself upset when Ty and his family were attacked, and also cheering Ty on as he took on the outlaws. Ty is a character who has to grow up fast in a violent world. He learns all he needs to know to survive in this harsh environment, but still manages to be a good man at his core. He only kills out of necessity, and avoids it if possible. I admired him for the stance he was taking against the outlaws.
While I really liked the story, there were several issues I had with the book. There were several spelling errors, punctuation errors, and grammar issues. Throughout the book, a “rifle” is referred to as a “riffle” and dining rooms are “dinning rooms”. The author also uses excessive commas, as well as unnecessary hyphens in phrases such as ”three-days ago”, “four-inches shorter”, and “fifty-pounds”. There were also several instances where homophones were used. The author often uses rode instead of road, through instead of threw, and want instead of won’t.
Another issue I had was the sentence structure used in the book. There are often misplaced periods and incomplete sentences. These errors disrupted the flow, and made it very difficult to get lost in the story. Due to the poor editing, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It’s a very entertaining story set in the Wild West, but only if one can overlook the multiple errors found in the novel.
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Man Killer
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