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Shoot First
When Abner is accused of murdering his uncle, a prominent lumber baron, Sheriff Reed Matthews, believing his prisoner to be innocent, must find the real killer among Butte City's wealthiest entrepreneurs, all of whom have a deadly secret to hide. Original.
- GenresWesterns
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
2 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Ed Gorman
468 books120 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 28, 2017
Not my favorite western by Gorman but a good solid read. Interesting characters in interesting settings. Definitely a very fine writer.
June 8, 2012
An entertaining western mystery in which prominent citizens of the town are being killed one by one. Sheriff Reed Matthews needs to figure out who is doing all the shooting. I enjoy Ed Gorman's sparse and clear prose.
August 8, 2024
A solid western/mystery,
clean wholesome read.
clean wholesome read.
December 12, 2011
The year is 1888, the place is Butte City, Colorado, and four wealthy businessmen find out in this story that what happens in Denver doesn't stay in Denver.
Avuncular sheriff Reed Matthews is fully realized as a humane lawman. Matthews lives alone, respects his deputies, hates court appearances, believes in continuing education, and finds sunsets depressing. Ed Gorman deserves mad props for writing the characters around him with similar skill, and yet this is a hard book to warm up to, let alone recommend.
I'd have liked the story better if it didn't spend so much of itself in what feels like postmodern malaise projected backward into the late nineteenth century. Some malaise seems appropriate, given the nature of the past and present crimes in the story, but some seems forced, as when Gorman burns a few paragraphs telling us that Reed is spiritual but not religious, and a few more paragraphs describing the local minister as a pompous blowhard.
I don't mind westerns with brooding or quirky characters (Loren Estleman has written a few of those), but "Shoot First" pegs the needle over to the "High Plains Drifter" side of the emotional spectrum without having the iconic presence of an in-on-the-joke Clint Eastwood to relieve the gray, or the steely optimism of quirky little Stella in "Silverado" to cheer for.
Avuncular sheriff Reed Matthews is fully realized as a humane lawman. Matthews lives alone, respects his deputies, hates court appearances, believes in continuing education, and finds sunsets depressing. Ed Gorman deserves mad props for writing the characters around him with similar skill, and yet this is a hard book to warm up to, let alone recommend.
I'd have liked the story better if it didn't spend so much of itself in what feels like postmodern malaise projected backward into the late nineteenth century. Some malaise seems appropriate, given the nature of the past and present crimes in the story, but some seems forced, as when Gorman burns a few paragraphs telling us that Reed is spiritual but not religious, and a few more paragraphs describing the local minister as a pompous blowhard.
I don't mind westerns with brooding or quirky characters (Loren Estleman has written a few of those), but "Shoot First" pegs the needle over to the "High Plains Drifter" side of the emotional spectrum without having the iconic presence of an in-on-the-joke Clint Eastwood to relieve the gray, or the steely optimism of quirky little Stella in "Silverado" to cheer for.
July 31, 2016
Not my speed
I wouldn't say this book was my cup of tea but I will say it had its merits. I wouldn't call it bad but I didn't really enjoy it too much. Probably from personal preference than anything else.
I wouldn't say this book was my cup of tea but I will say it had its merits. I wouldn't call it bad but I didn't really enjoy it too much. Probably from personal preference than anything else.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews