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Cavalry Man #1
The Killing Machine
The first book in the new Noah Ford Western series by Spur Award winner Ed Gorman. A blend of the classic television series The Wild, Wild West and the USA show Peacemakers. Noah Ford made a serious mistake in the eyes of his family when he joined the Union forces—and his Rebel brother David took it the worst of all. And to make matters worse, now that the war was over, Noah had taken up as a federal agent, working for the very government that his southern family fought tooth and nail. Now a powerful new weapon, a souped-up Gatling gun—a prototype being developed by the U.S. Army—is missing, and all signs point to David Ford, a notorious black market weapons dealer. And even with the bad blood between them, the last thing Noah wants is for his brother to be killed by federal agents, so he volunteers to track him down and return the weapon to its rightful owner, and let his brother live to die another day. But when Noah attempts to ambush his brother and reclaim the gun, things quickly spiral out of control. Bullets fly and now his partners AND his brother end up dead, and Noah narrowly escapes with a near-fatal gunshot wound. It turns out the gun means more to someone else than it did even to his brother, and when new bodies turn up around every corner, Noah must think fast and act even faster if he wants to come back from this assignment alive.
- GenresWesternsHistorical
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 30, 2005
11 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Ed Gorman
469 books122 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 8, 2022
Good story
Good story. Not your typical western but worth the read. Keeps you guessing until the end. A lot of different types of characters.
Good story. Not your typical western but worth the read. Keeps you guessing until the end. A lot of different types of characters.
November 8, 2022
Good story with lots of twists and turns on who did what.
July 23, 2009
a western/mystery.
Noah Ford is a Federal investigator sent to retrieve a gun that improved on the Gatling. His own brother, an arms dealer, is peddling it.
When he moves in for the arrest, a gun opens fire, killing two deputies he'd hired and wounding him.
But it wasn't his brother, who is found with his throat cut and the gun missing.
Four bidders in town are the suspects.
Noah Ford is a Federal investigator sent to retrieve a gun that improved on the Gatling. His own brother, an arms dealer, is peddling it.
When he moves in for the arrest, a gun opens fire, killing two deputies he'd hired and wounding him.
But it wasn't his brother, who is found with his throat cut and the gun missing.
Four bidders in town are the suspects.
October 20, 2022
I am a fan of Ed Gorman both his horror as wells as his westerns. This was probably the worst book by him I have read which is a shame because his prose is excellent as always. The book was overlong and the plot was all over the place with unnecessary side secondary plots and tertiary plots that made no sense.
December 25, 2008
Pretty good. I think this is one in a series, and not the first one. I prefer his Guild westerns but this one was enjoyable.
Read
August 2, 2011Sucked as a western, not much better as a mystery since even I figured out who did it. But I had to finish it just to make sure that I was right.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews