"Who the hell was Owen Fowler?" So begins Guns of the Canyonlands by Joseph A. West. In the first chapter we learn that Owen has already caused our hero Chance Tyree some serious trouble even though the two have never met.

Eventually they do meet and Chance is drawn in to a range war in the canyonlands of Utah. The story is one of the three or four stock western stories. Tales of colorful ranchers, corrupt lawmen and hired guns. Nothing too original, but like jazz, it is fun to watch an author riff on an established pattern.

This is my first Joseph A. West novel and I do like his narrative. He takes care to describe the alien landscape of the canyonlands with its flat-topped buttes and treacherous box canyons, yet he doesn't bog the reader down with extraneous detail. His pacing is brisk and moves the story along quickly. The author liked to end his chapters with a cliffhanger when it worked for the tale (so not every chapter ends that way) and that kept me wanting to read just one more chapter. He does go pretty heavily into western patois in the dialog sometimes. I liked it and thought it added flavor, though occasionally he laid it on pretty thick.

The characters are all pretty flat, stock western archetypes with no real depth, but I can't say it really hurt the story. I would have liked to know a little of Chance Tyree's history. We read that he is a world weary gunslinger, but he doesn't seem to act that way. He seemed like too nice of a guy to have led the rough and tumble life we are lead to believe he lived. Ah well. Since westerns have such a strong tradition of the 'mysterious stranger' I'll let it slide.

What I can't let slide was the awful, awful romance between Chance and the rancher's daughter Lorena. As soon as Chance lays eyes on her he is swooning over her and has asked her to marry him within their first two hours together. This could have been handled well if Chance was shown to be naive or something, but as it is it was artlessly handled and clumsily presented. Chance's history seemed to clash with his puppy-dog crush. I think the book would have read better without that angle, but Mr. West at least tries to clean up his act with the introduction of Sally, a tougher character who seemed more believable a companion for Chance. Even so, the 'romantic' dialog was still pretty cheesy.

Guns of the Canyonlands was a fun read and had some bright moments. I will read more of Joseph A. West's work (Blood and Gold and Rawhide Flat both sound pretty interesting), but this one had a few too many issues for me to recommend it. ( )