Book Review: Dodge City by Matt Braun

Dodge City by Matt Braun

Copyright 2006, Published by St. Martin’s Press.

Dodge City was the end of the trail. Texas cowhands, coated in trail dust and flush with cash, couldn’t wait to see the elephant. Of course, that sometimes brought them into unwanted contact with lawmen like the Masterson brothers or Wyatt Earp, who had their own ideas about frontier justice. Defense attorney Harry Gryden was often all who stood between the rambunctious cowboy and a noose—deserved or not. Everyone accused of a crime had the right to a defense, regardless of how heinous the crime or guilty the accused. Gryden was good at his job. Maybe he was too good. When one too many guilty men walked due to Gryden’s slick tongue, he becomes a wanted man—by both sides.

Throughout this character study of defense attorney Harry Gryden, Braun weaves historical events and figures into the narrative as he follows Gryden through the year 1878. Western dignitaries Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Luke Short, and Doc Holliday play important roles in the story line, and Braun brings them to life on the page. Courtroom drama, barroom battles, and gun fights in the streets of Dodge all create plenty of conflict and the western action readers of the genre enjoy. However, Braun missed opportunities to create tension, which is lacking from the entire novel. Situational outcomes were predictable, and courtroom arguments bordered on cliché thanks to our nightly doses of television dramas.

Braun has written an enjoyable read full of characters as interesting as a traveling show. The prose, while stylistically somewhat out-of-date, is engaging and smooth. Despite its flaws, this quick read is worth picking up.

Rating: 3.5 Nuggets (out of 5)