Gene Hackman is still finding his voice as a writer, but this is a very good first try. A good story that evokes the atmosphere of the old west very nicely. Nice character development. in this coming of age story. A wide range of characters with distinctive voices. Definitely will keep my eye out for more offerings from Mr Hackman. ( )

Okay, I’ll admit that I picked up this book out of curiosity to see if the former actor can write.

Northern New Mexico and central Colorado provide the setting for this novel. Jubal, a 17 year old boy, is out hunting when he hears shots and sees smoke at his family’s farmstead. He returns to find his family under attack by a gang of lawless rowdies. To his horror, he finds his father gagged, trussed up, and suspended over a roaring bonfire. Seeing the indescribable agony his father is experiencing in being roasted alive, Jubal knows he must reach inside himself and shoot his father. Jubal’s mother is already dead and his sister is dying. Both have been brutally raped.

He needs to decide who he is—a young man bent on revenge or a boy whose upbringing would settle for seeing justice done. The dilemma haunts him through the rest of the book as he encounters unsympathetic and incompetent lawmen who want to treat him as the guilty party. Jubal doesn’t entirely give up on the legal system but knows it is up to him to hunt these men down. In time he becomes frightened by how readily he relies on a gun. But he regains his balance when a spirited girl sees the good in him.
It is in the Cripple Creek goldfields that Jubal becomes a man when he confronts one of the killers. During the encounter Jubal learns that the use of guns sometimes has unintended consequences that are impossible to ever put right again. The outcome makes Jubal decide to resume a normal life at home and put guns aside, but the last of the killers have other ideas. Jubal must act decisively again, this time to save others. But he learns heroic acts are not always neat and clean when operating in the adult world with adult rules. And oh yes, Hackman did a credible job in telling the story.
http://ericheipert.com/2011/11/05/a-young-fictional-hero-from-payback-at-morning... ( )