Robert B. Parker's Ironhorse (Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch Series #5)

by Robert Knott

Overview

THE NEW COLE AND HITCH NOVEL

Newly appointed as Territorial Marshals, Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are traveling by train on a mission to escort Mexican prisoners to the border. But when the Governor of Texas climbs aboard with his wife, daughters, and $500,000 in tow, the journey becomes a lot more complicated. An old enemy—still carrying plenty of scars from the last time he saw Virgil—has hitched a ride. He’s not alone. And he’s got vengeance on his mind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425267707
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/03/2013
Series:	Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch Series , #5
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	69,915
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.88(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert B. Parker was the author of seventy books, including the legendary Spenser detective series, the novels featuring Chief Jesse Stone, and the acclaimed Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch westerns, as well as the Sunny Randall novels. Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and long considered the undisputed dean of American crime fiction, he died in January 2010.

Robert Knott is an actor, writer, and producer. His extensive list of stage, television, and film credits include the feature film Appaloosa based on the Robert B. Parker novel, which he adapted and produced with actor and producer Ed Harris. This is his first novel.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Robert B. Parker’s Ironhorse

“Hits with the intensity of an eight-gauge shotgun blast. Ironhorse is written by first-time novelist Robert Knott, taking over this series by the prolific Robert B. Parker. Knott was co-writer of the screenplay for the film version of Appaloosa, and it's obvious from Ironhorse that Virgil and Everett's fates are in excellent hands. Local readers will also enjoy the descriptions of 19th-century Oklahoma, as well as the joys and troubles of rail travel during that time, in addition to a rip-snorting tale full of sparse dialogue seasoned with wit as dry as an Oklahoma prairie wind and enough flying bullets and buckshot to fill a caboose.”—Tulsa World

“Robert B. Parker's legion of fans will be thrilled with Ironhorse. Robert Knott, co-writer of the screenplay for Appaloosa—Bob's remarkable western—has penned the next great saga featuring itinerant lawmen Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole. Knott's new novel reads just like vintage Parker and the storyline crackles with all the excitement and humor of what is a perfect continuation of the Hitch/Cole series. Parker fans are going to love it!”—Ed Harris, Academy Award-nominated actor

“Knott effortlessly handles the nonstop plot complications.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Continues the classic Western tradition that the late Robert B. Parker featured in novels such as Appaloosa and Blue-Eyed Devil.”—NewsOK

“[Knott] breathes life back into the characters Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch without missing a beat. He has the dialogue, the timing and the character of the two gunslingers-turned-marshals down. He has a new story. So it makes for a refreshing read. Parker would approve.”—Deseret News

Additional Praise for the Cole and Hitch Novels

Blue-Eyed Devil

“You read Parker because he could tell a story and make you care about his characters. Blue-Eyed Devil…only hones Parker’s legacy as an ace storyteller, in any genre, to the end.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“The dialogue crackles. The writing is as crisp and tight as anything Parker ever wrote. And Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, soft-spoken gunmen who live by a code of honor, are enormously appealing heroes.”—The Associated Press

“Excellent…[Blue-Eyed Devil] continues the saga of gunslinging saddle pals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch…as they trade wisecracks and hot lead with back-shooting owlhoots and murderous Apaches in the town of Appaloosa….Lean, fast, and full of snappy dialogue, it’s everything a series fan would expect.”—Publishers Weekly

Brimstone

“The story is riveting, but as usual with a Robert B. Parker Western, the great attraction is the writing itself, especially the brilliantly rendered dialogue.”—The Associated Press

“There’s murder and showdowns and lots of great action. As always, Parker’s dialogue is the star of his books, especially the laconic conversations between Cole and Hitch.”—Lincoln Journal Star

Resolution

“The most memorable Western heroes since Larry McMurtry’s…Lonesome Dove…. Parker’s prose is at its very best.”—The Associated Press
“[Parker’s] back with both barrels blazing.”—The Greenville (MI) Daily News

“This novel makes it clear [Parker’s] storytelling skills and great dialogue go well beyond the escapades of the private eye.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Parker applies his customary vigor…a sparse, bullet-riddled rumination on law and order, friendship and honor…Parker’s dialogue is snappy and his not-a-word-wasted scenes suit this Spartan Western.”—Publishers Weekly

Appaloosa

“Pure, old-fashioned storytelling…the work of a master craftsman. Parker captures the West as neatly as he does the streets of Boston.” —The Washington Post

“A classic Western…with a twist.”—Boston Herald

“Tough-guy appeal…Parker provides plenty of action.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Powerfully good…straightforward and entertaining yarn.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Like the Spenser books, it’s a study of Parker’s enduring themes: buddy relationships, the weight that honor and responsibility put on a man, the consequences of violence, the way good can shade into bad and vice versa…a melancholy and sometimes moving tale of a lost but fascinating era.”—The Seattle Times

“Dryly amusing…a conclusion that had to make Parker smile as much as his readers will.” —Los Angeles Times

“A galloping tale…[a] classic Western…magnificent. As always, the writing is bone clean. One of Parker’s finest.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“For…readers with a hankering for the Wild West, including a high-noon shoot-out and all the accoutrements.”—USA Today

“As always, [Parker] is a master…his plot gallops to a perfect, almost mythical ending. Like a great gunfighter, Parker makes it look easy.”—St. Petersburg Times

“If Spenser and Hawk had been around when the West was wild, they’d have talked like Cole and Hitch. Wonderful stuff: notch 51 for Parker.”—Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

Parker wrote 68 mystery and western novels before he died in 2010; now screenwriter Knott continues Parker’s popular Virgil Cole series of gritty westerns featuring Parker’s two signature western characters: lawmen-for-hire Cole and Everett Hitch. Knott, however, cannot match Parker’s sharp style and careful blend of action, suspense, and dialogue, producing instead a melodramatic hayburner with a high body count and low excitement. Following Parker’s Blue-Eyed Devil, Virgil and Everett are now territorial U.S. marshals riding a train through the Indian Territories. When a white outlaw gang holds up a train, bullets fly, bodies drop, and female hostages are taken. The steely-eyed, cold-blooded marshals vow to save everyone and “rid this train of these thieves.” After a drawn-out gun battle, the few surviving robbers escape with the hostages but not what they were really after. Virgil, Everett, a steady town constable, and a deadly Choctaw pursue the gang, leading to a predictable, sappy showdown in an abandoned mining camp. Knott sticks to Parker’s portrayals of Virgil and Everett as hard-boiled, badge-toting gunmen whose simple solution to every problem is to shoot everybody in sight, but the result is a disappointing knockoff of a previously successful western series. Agent: Helen Brann, The Helen Brann Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Not even their creator's death can slow down newly appointed Indian Territory marshal Virgil Cole and his friend and deputy Everett Hitch (Blue-Eyed Devil, 2010, etc.) as they board a train for a routine journey that turns out to be anything but. Virgil and Everett are returning from a trip down south to bring several Mexican prisoners to the Texas border so that they can be summarily executed back home. They don't expect their train to be held up by gunslingers, which are so numerous that the nine they kill barely make a dent in their numbers. What would attract the attention of such a large cadre of lawbreakers? Not just the presence of the governor of Texas and his wife and daughters, but the $500,000 in cash he plans to invest in a business venture, money the robbers have other plans for. Virgil is rarely at a loss, but he's surprised when he realizes that the gunmen include Bloody Bob Brandice, who's just escaped from prison after getting bested by Virgil years before. In addition to being bloody, Brandice is unexpectedly inventive, and the initial robbery turns out to be only the beginning of an increasingly baroque series of maneuvers and countermaneuvers played out first aboard a moving (and eventually a fragmented) train, then in the town of Half Moon Junction, whose leading mercantile establishment is Constable Burton Berkeley's church-turned-whorehouse, and finally, in the back country where only burros and iron men venture. Screenwriter Knott effortlessly handles the nonstop plot complications, doesn't bother to create actual characters and comes a cropper with the laconic dialogue he supplies for Virgil and Everett, who sound like parodies of the strong, silent types Parker created.

Kirkus Reviews