Booklist Review

We've described John Henry Cole, hero of Brooks' western series, as a hard-bitten man who keeps his emotions close to his vest. Perhaps it was the author's need to bare some emotion that prompted this tenderhearted stand-alone about three hard-bitten Texans who, remarkably, wear their feelings pretty damn close to their sleeves. Former outlaw Einer is an old man living alone in the desert when a kid tries to steal his horse. The incident somehow prompts a rekindling of Einar's desire to search out the love of his life, but first he'll need the kid's help to steal a mess of other horses to finance this fool's errand. Meanwhile, a Texas Ranger is tracking the kid, who may have killed two people before burning their house. Throw in the kid's infatuation with a whore, and the Ranger's for a woman who heals him on the trail, and you have three rugged individualists in love. We know this perilous journey won't end well, but we can't turn away, and we applaud Brooks for upending genre conventions and looking for love in the craziest of places.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2016 Booklist