WESTERN NOVELS—FARGO: HELL ON WHEELS

WESTERN NOVELS

FARGO: HELL ON WHEELS

JOHN BENTEEN

REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST 

This tale has the lowest body count of any Fargo novel I've read so far. Gee-whiz, Neal Fargo only kills three people before the end! Though, to be fair, he does cripple or severely beat up several others.

Despite having less overt violence than most Fargo novels, it's another strong story. Fargo is hired to help a small railroad that is being sabotaged by a larger competitor. He realizes he can't single-handedly guard miles of track, so he instead decides to take the battle to the bad guys, beginning a sabotage campaign against the big company. He takes care to make sure no one innocent is hurt while blowing up water towers, bridges and spurs.

Along the way, he survives a couple of attempts to kill him and eventually faces off against a fast-draw artist who heads up security for the bad guys. The novel concludes with a desperate hand-to-hand fight against the main bad guy while aboard a train that's racing towards a head-on collision with another train. Though the overall body count is unusually low for a Fargo novel, good storytelling and the intensity of that final fight on the train still make this one another winner in the series...