Author: Alex Bledsoe
Burn Me Deadly is the second book in the Eddie LaCrosse series by Alex Bledsoe. The first book, The Sword-Edge Blonde, was one of my biggest surprises of the year and eagerly anticipated the next in the series. The only real minor quibble I had with The Sword-Edge Blonde was that it started out a little slow before it picked up. But the last half of the book was an emotional roller coaster and just blew me away. This would be a tough act to follow in Burn Me Deadly.
Summary
Burn Me Deadly has no delay before the action starts and the reader is through right in the middle with good ole’ Eddie LaCrosse. He is riding the horse he acquired from the first novel through woods when he is surprised by a distraught female. He agrees to give her a ride back to town. She explains that she just escaped from several men who were torturing her and that she is on the run. When they reach the edge of the forest they are attacked and dragged back to a cabin in the woods. They are then tortured and left for dead in a ravine. When Eddie wakes up he finds that the girl is dead and so his horse. This part kinda pissed me off as I really liked his horse from the first book. It is time for Eddie to get all Clint Eastwood and start mowing down the bad guys.
So Eddie nursed back to health and he burns to go after the people who did this. There is one problem though, the only information he has to go on is that girl’s name was Laura Lesperitt and one of his attackers had a dragon on his boots. He soon discovers that a cult of Dragon Worshippers have moved into the local whorehouse. To make matters worse the cult is in league with the Gordon Marantz. Gordon is the defacto mob boss of the area and someone you don’t want to get on the wrong side of or likely you will end up dead. To make it even stranger is that the cult is expecting the return of a dragon but Eddie knows full and well that dragons are just a myth or are they?
Review
Mr. Bledsoe has struck gold with this series by combining crime fiction with fantasy. But, Burn Me Deadly has more of a gritty western type movie flavor to it. Since I a big fan of westerns this made me like the story even more. I did not become as emotionally involved in the story like a I did with The Sword-Edge Blonde but Burn Me Deadly is more of complete story with a solid beginning, middle and end.
I hate to compare the Eddie LaCrosse novels to the Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series but they have much in common. The most important item they share is the main character. Both authors take care in developing their protagonist and making them fully fleshed individuals that a reader can imagine existing in the real world. The authors also seem to love beating the crap of them as they are usually a walking corpse by the end of the story. Most of all, they always do the right thing in end even though it may cost them the things that they love the most. Just like any good western anti-hero should.
Last Word
I am definitely sold on Alex Blodsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse series and cannot wait for the next novel to be published. Burn Me Deadly has all of the critical elements, good story telling, characters, etc. that any great novel should have but more importantly, it is a joyride of a read. You will not be disappointed.
My Rating
No comments:
Post a Comment