Ride, Slocum, Ride

Slocum #2

by Jake Logan

paperback western

Genres: Westerns

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Jake Logan is a pen name of a number of authors of "Slocum Western" series.

Reviews

[Georgette Kaplan · Rating 1 out of 5]

After the disappointment of Hanging Justice, this is another no-hitter. After being rolled by outlaws, Slocum is saved by prospectors, who partner up with him to mine gold. After they've built up a five thousand dollar treasure trove of golddust, the partners are besieged by outlaws. Slocum goes for help, but ends up entangled with Greta. At first he takes her for a widow, then she turns out to be the treasured wife of one of the prospectors.

At any rate, Slocum is quite slow to get help and surprisingly predisposed to just abandon his partners and take all the shares of the gold for himself. So he's hardly likeable, but then, no one in this book really is. They're all greedy monsters and pretty interchangeable.

In short order, Greta rides into town to accuse Slocum of rape and raise a lynch mob against him, all out of her greed for gold. Greta is both the female lead and pretty much the villain, since she's the one making trouble for Slocum almost all the time despite his continuous attempts to do right by her. She's greedy, unfaithful, makes false rape accusations at the drop of a hat, and is even a bit Sueish in how she kicks Slocum's ass in multiple confrontations despite her just being a former prostitute and him being a fit military veteran and gunslinger. Pretty much her only redeeming quality is that she's hot, and this has Slocum overlooking betrayal after betrayal to trust in her again. Which I guess is the joke, but it wears pretty thin over two hundred pages.

It feels like 90% of this story is the double-dealing characters coming up with various excuses and cover stories they're going to use to deceive each other. No action, no adventure, just "You tell Suds that it was the Marshall that tried to rape me and that it was you who defended me and the gold is in the cabin blah blah blah." Which could be entertaining if this dialogue were witty, but it's just a long stream of verbiage going in all directions. By the end, I just wanted someone to scream "shut up!" and tell the truth instead of constantly trying to manipulate everyone around them. There's only one character who flirts with likeability and it's the guy who stops and says "Hold on, that doesn't sound very believable. Let's slow down and try to verify some of this before rushing to judgment."

What's worse, despite possibly being the worst human that ever lived, Greta barely gets a comeuppance. The story ends with her going after Slocum in yet another fit of greed and spite, which is probably meant in an amusing "here we go again!" sort of way, but you can't help but hope that the moment he sees her, Slocum just guns her in the head. I doubt any of the other 300 Slocum books feature her again, so I'm just going to assume that's what happens.

I should reiterate that with his simping, propensity for getting beat by a girl, and generally dishonorable behavior, Slocum is hardly a suitable Western protagonist at this time. The guy on the cover looks like he could be a respectable Charles Bronson character, but the guy on the pages would barely merit a Bob Hope.

[David B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A glance at the cover of any Slocum book is bound to leave the impression that he is a violent ultra-competent force of nature blasting through the old West, leaving a trail of bleeding outlaws and satisfied ladies in his wake. And perhaps that’s what he becomes by the time he has his four-hundred-somethingth adventure. In these early books, however, he has his share of limitations and can even be helpful to a fault. He agrees to help out a pair of prospectors who are trying to defend their claim against bushwhackers. Despite realizing that he stands to make a considerable profit by betraying them, he follows through on his obligation and ends up hunted by a sadistic sheriff and entangled with the sexy Greta. Bound together by circumstances, they spend much of the book trying to get the upper hand on each other. It’s hard to find much critical opinion on these books, but this installment seems to be pretty poorly regarded. I think that may be because while it sells itself as a violent adult Western, it reads more like a comedy much of the time. Slocum’s charitable impulses keep getting the better of him and, as treacherous as Greta is, he just can’t resist giving one more chance to a beautiful woman. However, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, she inevitably does him dirty yet one more time. Don’t worry, Slocum gets in a few licks of his own by the end. This book has an inconclusive ending that looks as if it will lead into the next book although my impression is that these are all standalones. An enjoyable read.

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[Malum · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cover shows a vicious gunfighter, covered in scars and shooting a pistol while throwing a knife. The actual story, however, is the exact opposite of this image. Instead of "Ride, Slocum, Ride" this book should be called "The Most Gullible Weakling in the West".
Let me break down the entire book for you: Slocum's love interest double-crosses Slocum, then says she won't do it again and he believes her wholeheartedly. Then, Slocum's love interest double-crosses Slocum, then says she won't do it again and he believes her wholeheartedly. Then, Slocum's love interest double-crosses Slocum, then says she won't do it again and he believes her wholeheartedly. Then, Slocum's love interest double-crosses Slocum....etc., etc., etc., until the end of the story.
The other problem with the book is that Slocum-who is supposed to be a badass-gets beat left right and center throughout the entire book. Most of the time, he is getting thrashed by a housewife that, for some reason, can fight like Hulk Hogan and lasso like Will Rogers. Slocum doesn't just let her win, either. He fights back with all he has and simply can't beat this woman in a fistfight.
The book seems to be painfully aware of these flaws, as it even mentions something about Slocum getting used to being knocked out, and how he curses himself for always making the dumbest decision at any particular time.
This is the first Slocum novel that I have ever read and it will be the last-for a while at least. If you want good Western trash, stick with Longarm.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a nice book, but there really isn't enough plot for an almost 200 page story. Maybe not even 150. Still, I liked it and I would read another if I came upon one.

[John Kilgallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor John Slocum, needs to stay away from ladies with rope skills...