Eli and Charlie Sisters are hired guns, working for a dubious character known as the Commodore. The Commodore has put a hit on a man called Hermann Kermit Warm, a prospector, who wronged him in some vague way. Eli and Charlie have to head to California during the gold rush, to complete the job.
This was not what I was expecting. For starters, while the Sisters are tough, Eli, the narrator of the tale, is far more gentle. By the time we meet him, his conscience is pricking. But he is forced to follow his brother, Charlie, on another job, out of loyalty to his brother. But for all his guilty conscience, he could still be completely heartless himself. I am thinking of the part with the young, abandoned boy, who they too, abandoned. But then, he could also be compassionate - even to the point of keeping his dumpy, half-blind horse, Tub, when he had a far better choice walk into his hands for free.
The narrative style was not frilly and littered with scenery. It gives a better idea of the people encountered - albeit a one-sided point of view and only for a limited time. Instead of seeing landscapes littered with, well, whatever one finds in landscapes, we see landscapes littered with people.
While I think Isabel Allende did a better job depicting the gold rush and the affect it had on people in Daughter of Fortune, this was still an enjoyable read, although I can't say it would be for everyone.
If I had to describe this book in only a handful of words, I would go with: an existential crisis in the Wild West. I gave it 4 stars.
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