Mad River by Donald Hamilton
Mad River (1956/1967) by Donald Hamilton Before he solidified his reputation as the author of the Matt Helm espionage series, Donald Hamilton wrote several westerns, some of which started life as serialized stories for Collier Magazine . Such is the case with Mad Rive r originally printed by Collier in 1956 and then lengthened into a novel and republished by Gold Medal in 1967. While Mad River is well-written (I’ve yet to read anything by Hamilton that wasn’t) and features a few standout action sequences, it bears the tell-tale signs of a shorter work that was padded to hit a required word count rather than a justifiable plot expansion. Boyd Cohoon is released from Yuma prison following a 5-year stint for a crime he didn’t commit; he agreed to serve in order to protect the brother of the woman he loves, who has pledged to wait for him. However, nothing goes...