cover image Targett

Targett

Robert J. Randisi. M. Evans and Company, $16.95 (170pp) ISBN 978-0-87131-654-7

The eponymous hero of this second-rate western, set in Dodge City, Kans., in the late 1880s, is an ``honest'' gun for hire--he'll bend the law but he won't break it. The town's new marshall institutes a controversial law: no guns on the streets of Dodge City. Dan Clark, keeper of the saloon where Targett whiles away his time with prostitutes and beer, believes that gun control sounds a death-knell for Dodge, the appeal and profitability of which depend on its reputation for wild R & R. Clark hires Greg Valentine to kill the marshall, and asks Targett to help. When rudely refused, Clark instructs Valentine to hit Targett first, forcing the honest but gunless gunman to side with the marshall. Randisi's ( Full Contract ) characters are limp, their actions and motivations solely subservient to his plot. (July)