Riders of Judgment (Danny Duggin #3) by Ralph Compton

Unique twist on the traditional Western but fails to deliver

Originally published in 2001.

Riders of Judgment is the third in the "Danny Duggin" series. The first two book are Death Rides a Chestnut Mare and the second is The Shadow of a Noose. The trilogy is about Danielle Duggin, the crack shot daughter of a master gunsmith who was gunned down by a ruthless gang led by Saul Delmano, the rich and spoiled son of a man who has led his own gang for decades.

Danielle transforms into "Danny" and starts to hunt down the 10 men in the gang that killed her father. She has a list of names and is slowly working her way through it, marking them off as she kills them. She is joined by her twin brothers in her second book. In the third book they are down to one last name: Saul Delmano.

Saul Delmano is hiding in Mexico, protected by the government of Mexico because Delmano's father rules the valley he lives in and polices it and shares some of the spoils with corrupt officials. Delmano's father has put a $2,000 bounty on Danny Duggins head and every crooked bounty hunter and gang leader between Duggin and Mexico is looking to collect.

While I do give Compton credit for a unique twist on the traditional western, I found this book to be rather scattered with lots of random plot changes and new characters  that did little to move the story along and just padded the book. The romance that blossoms is very forced but the look at what this long crusade to avenge her father has done to "Danny" was interesting but, sadly, under-explored.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Riders of Judgment

Reviewed on April 1, 2013.