Review: Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Everyone raved about this new Western book so I decided to pick it up. I soon realized that everyone hadn’t really specified the plot too much, as I thought it was set in modern day with a Western spin. But it turned out to be an actual Western set in Frontier America in the late 1800s. 

The story revolves around a girl whose father is murdered by a gang. She sets out to hunt them down and take revenge and during the hunt she soon finds out, that the murder was not a random act of violence. The gang was after something her father had been hiding from her since her childhood. I can’t really say too much more without spoiling the plot, so I won’t. 

The writing style tried to imitate an old-timey Western dialect, which is always a gamble. Sometimes it works well, and other times it really doesn’t. For this book I think it was alright. The author would use enough vernacular to make it realistic without overdoing it. I feel like the book was based more on plot than characters, and while I do like plot driven books, I need characters to connect with to care about the story. And in this the characters just seemed a bit shallow. They were only developed as far as was necessary for the plot, and I could have used a bit more insight in their inner lives. 

We have Kate, the main protagonist, and Jesse and Will, two brothers who join her along the way for their own motives. As for Kate I struggled to see why she thought she could handle the gang on her own. This gang was the most well-known, vicious gang in the area, but she sets out in pursuit of them never doubting it’s the right thing to do. The start of this book reminded me a lot of the movie “True Grit” where  Mattie Ross, another young girl, sets out to get revenge for her father’s death. But she at least hires experienced gunmen to help her. I just didn’t really buy the fact that Kate would set out on her own completely inexperienced. And she seems to luck out in her pursuit of them, as she appears to almost randomly follow their trail most of the way. As for the brothers, Jesse was provided with some back story, but still I felt his character lacking, and the same goes for Will. 

I gave this book 3 stars out of 5 on Goodreads. I thought it was okay. Not the best book ever, but certainly not the worst.