A Debt of Blood
A Debt of Blood
In, A Debt of Blood, Jeff Crawford takes
Noah’s journey along a slightly different tack.
As the blurb highlights, there’s much more significance to blood than kinship.
. .
Especially where the Weyland’s are concerned:
*****
Noah and Elise Weyland were proud of
all three of their sons, and their wives. They were proud of their two
grandchildren also. But neither Noah nor his wife had stopped grinning during
the past month. Their youngest son, Caleb, had not only graduated from dental
school and was brought immediately into a medical practice as a partner, he had
also married his sweetheart the day following his graduation. They now lived in
Houston and were enjoying the building of their lives together. Or they had
been.
The telegram arrived at the ranch late one
evening. Caleb’s wife had been shot and killed by a jealous former suitor.
Caleb was asking that Noah come and help by doing what he could do better than
anyone—help find this man so that Caleb could avenge his wife’s senseless
murder. The law hadn’t been told anything, and they wouldn’t be. This was
Weyland business, and Weylands always took care of their own.
Walthum Bridges was the son of the powerful and
affluent Atlas and DonnaLee Bridges of Little Rock. Of course, Walthum went
there first for help, but it was not found there. Walthum refused to tell why
he was on the run, and his family would not support running without knowing why
he felt he had to. He was offered protection, but staying was not on the boy’s
mind.
This was how the manhunt began and moved from
Houston to Little Rock to the sleepy village of Eliddon, Arkansas, the town
where lives for some would eventually change forever and other lives would
simply end. This is how Caleb Weyland learned to understand, but not fully
control the rage that was inside of him, just as it had always been within his
father Noah. The rage that made Noah the most feared Texas Ranger of all was
now going to help Caleb obtain the justice that the young bride lying still in
her grave deserved so very much. This was about a debt of blood, and men of the
Weyland family were going to collect all that was due. Only this would prove to
Caleb Weyland, and others, what he was truly capable of.
*****
I thoroughly
enjoyed this outing with Noah Weyland, as we get to see more of the kinship
that runs through the family. The character; the spirit and grit that simmers
just beneath a barely civilized surface.
And woe betides anyone who scratches too deep, or – as in this story – is plain
stupid enough to cause harm to a Weyland.
This is a story of revenge, pure and simple. But the way Crawford has his characters go about it is oh so appealing. Nothing is straightforward out west. There’s always someone with an agenda; out to get you; out to get one over on you.
And THAT adds nicely to the ever building tension until the story arc is ready to snap back and bite you.
A great story,
and worthy addition to the Weyland legacy.
I look forward to more.
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