Lone Star Lawman by Gordon McCall is the first in a series of true crime novels.
If you enjoy short true crime stories then you might just enjoy this book. Mr. McCall seems to have plenty of real life experience and this takes up the writing. However, if you are looking for true crime that is written in a suspenseful narrative you will be disappointed.
When I received the novel, I was expecting a STORY based on true crime experience, but this is not the case and the book isn't written in that way. Mr. McCall lays down the events as they happened from what I can tell and there's n0t much more to it. The dialogue was something that I had a little trouble with, particularly in the beginning when the main character is talking to a new sheriff and relaying his own law enforcement experience to the man. Rather than reading like dialogue between two people, it comes off as a long resume to the reader of the character's or writer's experience...even noting certain laws and practices and why they exist. This seemed an odd thing to be telling another experienced lawman--they would already know. So it seemed like you were taken out of the story to get lectured on police practices as the reader. To make this particular matter worse, the resume of deeds went on and on for page after page, when the character is supposed to be in conversation with another man. I'm sorry, but most people would have to interject at least a little of their own comments during the conversation.
Since I was expecting more of a thriller style, murder mystery I was disappointed, but maybe this sort of simple recounting of a murder he had some involvement with on the investigation end was all the author intended?
Since this book was done with Infinity publishing, a vanity press charging a good chunk of change, I would have also wanted a better cover design for my money as the author. Even a self published book needs to have an engaging cover and this cover almost looks like it was designed in colored pencil to me. I'm not trying to be Simon Cowell here, but the cover is one of the most important aspects of a book, especially a book whose market will solely be the internet.
