What the Dead Men Say

by Ed Gorman

Overview

After his young daughter is killed during a bank robbery, Septemus Ryan is out of his mind with grief. Her voice haunts him from the grave, urging him to seek justice above the law.

In August 1898, James Hogan celebrates his birthday by accompanying his uncle Septemus on a trip to the agricultural fair. But early on in the trip it becomes apparent to young James that his uncle has other plans in mind. This is no regular trip to the fair, but a journey of revenge against the three men who killed Clarice. James witnesses his uncle plunge deeper and deeper into despair and madness while encountering more than his share of gunslingers, executioners, and ladies of the night in this taut, powerful tale of grief and vengeance, and coming of age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590772348
Publisher:	M. Evans & Company
Publication date:	03/30/2014
Series:	Evans Novel of the West
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
File size:	443 KB

About the Author

Ed Gorman is an award winning author known for his mysteries, westerns and crime fiction. He spent 20 years in the advertising field before becoming a full time writer. He lives with his wife in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Editorial Reviews

This slight, sorry western begins in 1901, when Septemus Ryan takes his 15-year-old nephew, James, on a combined coming-of-age and revenge trip. Septemus has tracked down the three men who killed his daughter, James's favorite cousin, during a bungled bank robbery. He has come to the town of Myles to kill the trio and to teach James, whom he considers a mama's boy, ``about manly things.'' Arriving in Myles, Septemus is recognized by the sheriff, who warns him against vigilantism. That evening James is treated to a Penthouse -meets- Boy's Life episode with a prostitute. Septemus kills one of the bank robbers, then kidnaps another whom he ties up in a lonely cabin, telling his young charge to do his duty by his dead cousin. James can't shoot the man, but Septemus, a raving lunatic by this point, can and does. James and the sheriff try to catch him before he kills again and, in a predictable climax, the youth--according to Gorman's ( Death Ground ) muddled sense of maturity--becomes a man. The only positive aspect of this lackluster effort is its brevity. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In August of 1901 16-year-old James Hogan accompanies his Uncle Septemus Ryan, ostensibly to travel to the Iowa State Fair. Along the way, the two stop at a town where Septemus plans to avenge his daughter, killed three years earlier in a bungled bank robbery in Council Bluffs. Septemus drags the fatherless James along to ``start teaching you about manly things,'' including, to Septemus's grief-maddened way of thinking, revenge. Gorman has written a gritty tale of a boy's coming of age. Memorable characters and the author's detailed knowledge of the locale make the story believable. Desperadoes really did roam Iowa (e.g., Jesse James and his gang). Highly recommended to public libraries.-- Robert Jordan, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City

Library Journal

A powerful tale and a gripping coming-of-age story.

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