GOLD OF CORTES by Tim McGuire - Leisure, June
2000
This is the third book to feature McGuire’s
character Clay Cole: The Rainmaker.
Amid the dust and desolation of southwest Texas
lies a secret that has lasted for centuries -
the hidden treasure of Aztec artifacts hoarded
by Hernan Cortez. When Clay Cole finds English
Lord Nigel Apperson and Dr. Jane Reeves
wandering the Texas desert, searching for the
mythical prize, he agrees to sign on as their
scout.
Together they confront Texas Rangers,
desperadoes, and the relentless Major Miles
Perry, whose driving desire is to court-martial
Cole for treason at Little Big Horn - treason
Cole never commited. That’s just for starters...
Tim McGuire’s mix of very different people make
for a journey of gripping reading. There’s a
battle of wills between those driven by gold
lust and those who’d rather not lose their lives
to renegade Comanches, there’s the struggle of
who to believe about the events that have lead
Cole to be wanted for treason. There’s
double-cross and soul searching. All told in a
fast paced story of believable characters.
One of the admirable qualities of McGuire’s
presentation of Clay Cole is that The Rainmaker
isn’t the most intelligent of people, he doesn’t
read, struggles with lifestyles outside of his
own, which combine to make him more real as
opposed to some superhuman western heroes.
The action is first rate as the story races
along to its spectacular finish. An ending that
purposely leaves a few threads dangling, making
it impossible not to want to read the next book
in the series as soon as it's published!
OUTCASTS by Tim McGuire - Leisure, November 2001
The fourth book featuring Clay Cole: The
Rainmaker.
The Indian Territory was a wild, lawless place,
a place not many white men dared enter - unless
they had a reason. Clay Cole had a very good
reason. He wanted to avoid the law. Cole had a
price on his head and bounty hunters on his
trail, so he thought it best to keep out of
sight. But his plans all changed when he tries
to save someone’s life. When the smoke clears he
had a Nez Perce baby on his hands, and an
obligation born of guilt and honour to find the
infant’s people. That meant travel and lots of
it - travel through some very dangerous
territory...
This is a story that will lift and tear at your
emotions as you read the engaging bonding
between Cole and the Nez Perce infant, share the
ups and downs of Cole’s guilt at how he came to
be saddled with the child. Share his sense of
loss when the youngster goes missing and his
elation at finding her again.
All the above mixed in with the threat of death
as the bounty hunters close in, as the truth
about who, and what Cole has done, becomes known
to the vividly drawn characters that fill this
book.
If the ending of this beautifully written book
doesn’t bring a lump to your throat, for more
than one reason, then you just aint human!
Definately Tim McGuire’s best work to date.
Very highly recommended!
MANHUNT by Tim McGuire - Leisure, March 2005
Book five in the series about The Rainmaker:
Clay Cole.
Living as a wanted man has been mighty tough for
Clay Cole. Now he’s stopped running. The
Rainmaker is turning himself in to finally face
the charges of treason, a crime he didn’t
commit, to try to clear his name once and for
all. But circumstances means the law has
something far more dangerous than a trial in
mind for Cole. A brutal killer has escaped from
prison with the aid of his gang and a Gatling
gun - and he’s taken Cole’s friend as a hostage.
The Rainmaker will now do anything to rescue
his friend...even if it’s the last thing he does
as a free man.
The tough writing style of this episode in the
life of Clay Cole presents the reader with
savage outlaws and brutal treatment of their
victims, that, perhaps, makes this the most
violent work to come from Tim McGuire yet.
The Rainmaker’s character is still as compelling
as ever as he finds himself forced into the
manhunt of the title. Cole also finds himself
with an unwanted companion, that of wanna-be
writer Richard Johnson.
McGuire knows how to create unforgettable
characters and how to pace his book to a rousing
conclusion - and once more leaves the reader
wanting more as he leaves The Rainmaker needing
answers a question and to feelings he hasn’t
known for a long time.
And leaves me counting down the days to the next
book in the series.
THE LAW OF THE BARBARY COAST by Tim McGuire -
Leisure, July 2006
The sixth book in the series about Clay Cole,
The Rainmaker.
Clay Cole came to San Francisco looking for one
thing - a certain beautiful red-haired singer.
But the man known as the Rainmaker found
something else altogether - trouble. He hasn’t
been in the city for more than a few hours
before he’s tossed in a cell, then with no
explanation taken to meet some strangers with an
unexpected propostion.
This time Tim McGuire involves his hero in a
battle for land that allows for some gripping
action sequences. The gunfights are first rate
and the plot moves along rapidly to it’s
conclusion.
But it’s not the the struggle for land and the
mystery surrounding it that I found most
entertaining. It was Clay Cole’s wide-eyed
wonder at the modern technologies San Francisco
had to offer, for instance the cable car and the
lift.
And does Clay ever catch up with the red-haired
singer? Well that’s an answer you’ll just have
to find out for yourself.
Recommended. |
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