WAYNE EPPERSON - CHASING BAD GUYS

Synopsis/ blurb.......

Bounty hunter Frank Knott and his new sidekick come face to face with death-threatening odds tracking down hardened killers and crooks across three states.

Frank feels somebody is always trying to rid the earth of his shadow, but he doesn't have to go it alone this time. He has a dependable backup that helps keep him alive while dealing with especially bad outlaws.

Chasing bad guys is the sequel to Epperson's first novel, Crime and Corruption in Texas.

I saw a mention of this book on another website – Crime Fiction Lover and briefly scanned through a mainly positive review. After getting in touch with the author he advised that the book was available on Amazon for free for a short period of time. Always interested in something for nothing, unless its good advice, I went across and down-loaded it.  

It took a week or so to read, which would probably indicate that it didn’t set a fire under me and also conversely that it wasn’t akin to swimming in treacle either, so wasn’t the worst book I ever read. Truth be told it fell somewhere in the middle. (Also bearing in mind that I always have two books on the go anyway and the other book at just shy of 500 pages long was eating more of my time.)

The novel was fairly fast-faced and an interesting set-up with a bounty hunter and his trained Doberman companion beside him. The main character, Frank was on the trail of a bail absconder who skipped out on a murder charge. Whilst this scenario was in play; Knott was looking over his shoulder as another bad guy he had previously crossed paths with - Dale Dunsworth was also gunning for him. Dunsworth, after breaking free from court, was swearing vengeance on Knott and the DEA agents who had put him there.

Fearless Frank in the space of the 170-odd pages of novel and sometimes in a slightly two-dimensional fashion put pay to the aforementioned bad guys as well as a few other miscreants who he happened across along the way. If I was to be overly critical, I would have preferred a narrative that trusted the reader to join some of the dots up themselves – a little bit more of “show not tell!” That aside, I was entertained and didn’t feel the time devoted to reading had been wasted.

As a protagonist carrying the book, Frank Knott is a fairly straight thinking, straight acting type of guy. Maybe a bit gung-ho, stemming in part from his background in the Marines, none too nuanced or cultured, but striving to do the right thing which is admirable. His Doberman is probably more in touch with its sensitive side!

This is the author’s second self-published novel to be released and whilst I won’t be breaking down to doors to back-track on the first book, I think there’s sufficient potential there for his subsequent books to possibly interest me. I have read far, far worse in my time from established authors.

Overall a 3 from 5, with scope for improvement next time around.

As mentioned above, acquired as a free download on Amazon-UK a month or two ago.