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Abilene Gun Down
On the run after being accused of killing a lawman in Abilene, Kansas, young Jed Brand flees bounty hunters and a vengeful U.S. marshal as he pursues the real killer, Silas Colter, a ruthless outlaw who has assumed Jed's identity and is wreaking havoc across the West. Original.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 29, 2004
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About the author
Jory Sherman
170 books14 followersJory Sherman was born in Minnesota and grew up in West Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado. He was a magazine editor for a time and had some of his work published, including some poetry, short stories and articles. Sherman had a friend who owned a publishing company and asked him to write a novel for the company. From that offer came five more novels, all written in one year. He wrote the supernatural mystery series, "Chill," which was somewhat revolutionary for the times, but which earned him an eight book contract. He then came up with the idea for "Rivers West," a series which had each book written by a different western author. Then came the "Baron Saga," the first of which was "Grass Kingdom" which earned Sherman a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Letters. Sherman has also won the Spur Award for his contribution to Western Literature.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 9, 2023
It was Bill Crider's 'Outrage at Blanco' that made me love revenge stories so much and guess I need to thank him for that. This one's for Bill.
Abilene gun Down, is the first in a series called the Owlhoot Trail, it's a revenge story, but due to Pocket Star canceling their Western line sadly it's a standalone now and the sequel to this one Journey of Death was never published. So in no way will I hold this against one of my favorite authors, just bummed that none of the really good plot lines will be continued or read how Jed Brand avenges his brothers death.
Jed and Dan Brand, are down on their luck, when they take a trail drive job. The brothers have mixed feelings on taking the job but since they are trying to make some money for their mom, they take it and unaware of the trouble that will await them in Abilene.
Silas Colter made a career out of being a slipper outlaw, he thinks of nothing of setting up his gang members to take the fall and left a trail of graves behind him.
He steals a herd, kills the three Cowboys originally trailing the herd to Abilene, Kansas, then gets the Brand brothers to help him and sell the herd for him. Ultimately it leads to one brother being dead, the other ends up being an outlaw on the Owlhoot trail and to know more, you'll have to read it.
Jory Sherman's one of my favorite Western authors, could he ever put you into the wild and Wooly old west with his writing. Never read anything by him, were he didn't have it masterfully paced, you were never bored, typically themed good verse evil and the good guys/gals always won.
Probably the most interesting thing about his writing is that he, never fully described his characters details, but he portrayed his Western settings in great detail and yet it never tarnished his stories.
Definitely if you ever want to try a Western, then Jory Sherman's one of the best ones to hook you into liking Westerns and if you already a fan, then you know what a legend he is in the genre already.
Abilene gun Down, is the first in a series called the Owlhoot Trail, it's a revenge story, but due to Pocket Star canceling their Western line sadly it's a standalone now and the sequel to this one Journey of Death was never published. So in no way will I hold this against one of my favorite authors, just bummed that none of the really good plot lines will be continued or read how Jed Brand avenges his brothers death.
Jed and Dan Brand, are down on their luck, when they take a trail drive job. The brothers have mixed feelings on taking the job but since they are trying to make some money for their mom, they take it and unaware of the trouble that will await them in Abilene.
Silas Colter made a career out of being a slipper outlaw, he thinks of nothing of setting up his gang members to take the fall and left a trail of graves behind him.
He steals a herd, kills the three Cowboys originally trailing the herd to Abilene, Kansas, then gets the Brand brothers to help him and sell the herd for him. Ultimately it leads to one brother being dead, the other ends up being an outlaw on the Owlhoot trail and to know more, you'll have to read it.
Jory Sherman's one of my favorite Western authors, could he ever put you into the wild and Wooly old west with his writing. Never read anything by him, were he didn't have it masterfully paced, you were never bored, typically themed good verse evil and the good guys/gals always won.
Probably the most interesting thing about his writing is that he, never fully described his characters details, but he portrayed his Western settings in great detail and yet it never tarnished his stories.
Definitely if you ever want to try a Western, then Jory Sherman's one of the best ones to hook you into liking Westerns and if you already a fan, then you know what a legend he is in the genre already.
July 17, 2025
NOTE: This is the first and only book of an incomplete series.
——————
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The dialogue between characters was both genuine and sometimes funny, I really liked their banter. Other times, however, the dialogue becomes preachy when characters eschew the author’s wisdom which is intelligent, albeit a bit rambling for the flow of the story.
The author introduces a handful of side characters that are each interesting, but are left behind without resolution and are replaced by a new, similar character.
The story begins with a captivating set up, but then not a lot happens afterward. Most of the time, Jed waits around for things to happen TO him rather than BECAUSE of him. He has a lot of convenient help from the supporting cast, which was a little annoying but I liked the story world and characters enough that I was willing to overlook it.
The author spends all this time building up Jed, the story world, and some big questions, then the story just ends. I googled to see if there was a sequel I missed but, since 2004, this is the one and only book in the discontinued OwlHoot Trail series, which was a bit of a letdown.
However, the story ends well enough that I’m open to rationalize an ambiguous “this is the beginning of his journey” conclusion, but I wish I had known before I started.
I still think it’s a decent read if you like westerns and go in with the perspective that this is a standalone book and NOT part of a series (as it was supposed to be).
——————
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The dialogue between characters was both genuine and sometimes funny, I really liked their banter. Other times, however, the dialogue becomes preachy when characters eschew the author’s wisdom which is intelligent, albeit a bit rambling for the flow of the story.
The author introduces a handful of side characters that are each interesting, but are left behind without resolution and are replaced by a new, similar character.
The story begins with a captivating set up, but then not a lot happens afterward. Most of the time, Jed waits around for things to happen TO him rather than BECAUSE of him. He has a lot of convenient help from the supporting cast, which was a little annoying but I liked the story world and characters enough that I was willing to overlook it.
The author spends all this time building up Jed, the story world, and some big questions, then the story just ends. I googled to see if there was a sequel I missed but, since 2004, this is the one and only book in the discontinued OwlHoot Trail series, which was a bit of a letdown.
However, the story ends well enough that I’m open to rationalize an ambiguous “this is the beginning of his journey” conclusion, but I wish I had known before I started.
I still think it’s a decent read if you like westerns and go in with the perspective that this is a standalone book and NOT part of a series (as it was supposed to be).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews