by Ramsay Thorne (Lou Cameron)
1979 Warner Books
Dick Walker is Captain Gringo, a military officer on death row in 1890s, there for showing mercy to Mexican captives and allowing them to escape. He runs south to Mexico, is captured by Rurales, escapes, links up with and accidentally begins leading a gang of rebels on the run from Federales in a series of stolen trains, before escaping to become a soldier of fortune.
The action is more tactical than blow-by-blow, though there's a decent amount of gunplay, including some machine-gun action. Mostly, he uses his tactical knowledge to outwit and out maneuver the enemy. Gringo is an expert on just about everything, and he threatens to become the Cliff Clavin of the Old West if his knowledge wasn't put to use so often. Walker's got some ideas on taxes and race relations.
It doesn't help that the whole "brilliant and reasonable character surrounded by idiots" theme directly translates to "white guy in charge because everyone else isn't white", but if you don't like that, you'll love him banging a teenage rape victim before abandoning her to her death.
He's not so much a sociopath as practical, with a sense of responsibility to care for his men, which sometimes involves robbing banks and letting innocent people die. Well, maybe he is a sociopath, but what good western hero isn't.
And the sex - this is an Adult Western, after all, so there's plenty of women lining up to get acrobatic with Gringo on his way.
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