Moment of Vengeance and Other Stories - by Elmore Leonard (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master of suspense deftly displays the other side of his genius, with seven classic western tales of destiny and fatal decision . . . and trust as essential to survival as it is hard-earned.

Trust was rare and precious in the wide-open towns that sprung up like weeds on America's frontier--with hustlers and hucksters arriving in droves by horse, coach, wagon, and rail, and gunmen working both sides of the law, all too eager to end a man's life with a well-placed bullet. In these classic tales that span more than five decades--including the first story he ever published, "The Trail of the Apache"--Elmore Leonard once again demonstrates the superb talent for language and gripping narrative that have made him one of the most acclaimed and influential writers of our time.

From the Back Cover

Before he brilliantly traversed the gritty landscapes of underworld Detroit and Miami, the incomparable Elmore Leonard wrote breathtaking adventures set in America's nineteenth-century western frontier--elevating a popular genre with his now-trademark twisting plots, rich characterizations, and scalpel-sharp dialogue.

There is a moment when obsession, rage, and destiny come together at the end of a shotgun barrel--when wrongs, actual or perceived, are addressed with violence, and the awesome power of life or death rests in a trigger finger. In seven magnificent stories of sins, crimes, conscience, and savage retribution, the New York Times-bestselling master carries us back to an untamed time and place where a simple transgression most often proved fatal . . . and the only true justice lived in the hands of the gunman.

Review Quotes

"Even the earliest of his western yarns show Leonard to be a master storyteller." -- Los Angeles Times

"Leonard has penned some of the best western fiction ever." -- USA Today