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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780399155048
ISBN number: 039915504X
Label: Putnam Adult
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 292
Printing Date: June 03, 2008
Publishing house: Putnam Adult
Sale Popularity Level: 3468
Studio: Putnam Adult
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The New York Times–bestselling author’s richly imagined work of historical fiction: a powerful tale of the Old West from the acknowledged master of crime fiction.
I had an eight-gauge shotgun that I’d taken with me when I left Wells Fargo. It didn’t take too long for things to develop. I sat in the tall lookout chair in the back of the saloon with the shotgun in my lap for two peaceful nights. On my third night it was different. I could almost smell trouble beginning to cook . . . .”
After the bloody confrontation in Appaloosa, Everett Hitch heads into the afternoon sun and ends up in Resolution, an Old West town so new the dust has yet to settle. It’s the kind of town that doesn’t have much in the way of commerce, except for a handful of saloons and some houses of ill repute. Hitch takes a job as lookout at Amos Wolfson’s Blackfoot Saloon and quickly establishes his position as protector of the ladies who work the backrooms—as well as a man unafraid to stand up to the enforcer sent down from the O’Malley copper mine.
Though Hitch makes short work of hired gun Koy Wickman, tensions continue to mount, so that even the self-assured Hitch is relieved by the arrival in town of his friend Virgil Cole. When greedy mine owner Eamon O’Malley threatens the loose coalition of local ranchers and starts buying up Resolution’s few businesses, Hitch and Cole find themselves in the middle of a makeshift war between O’Malley’s men and the ranchers. In a place where law and order don’t exist, Hitch and Cole must make their own, guided by their sense of duty, honor, and friendship.
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Rated by buyers 
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"Resolution" follows "Appaloosa". Hitch leaves the town of Appaloosa to go his own way. Hitch comes to the town of Resolution and takes a job in a tavern to assure there is no trouble, working for Amos Wolfson. There is no law in Resolution. Hitch finds himself in a role of peacemaker because he is good with a gun and people trust him.
Conflicts develop between the town's businessmen for control. As a result Hitch is useful to Wolfson since he owns the town's tavern, hotel,store, and bank.
Cole eventually arrives in town to visit Hitch. Hitch and Cole resume their friendship and Wolfson is the beneficary, at least, he thinks he is the boss. But Cole and Hitch take on the role of self appointed peacemakers. Their gun fighting skills put them in a role to stop Wolfson's greedy intentions with homesteaders and other town folks.
Rated by buyers -
After having read Appaloosa and then seeing the movie version of it with Ed Harris as Virgil Cole and Viggo Mortensen as Everett Hitch, I found myself visualizing those two great actors when reading Robert B. Parker's newest western novel, Resolution. Harris and Mortensen captured the two lead characters perfectly, bringing them to life in ways that are still clearly etched in my mind; and, like with Tom Selleck in the TV movies based on the "Jesse Stone" series, Resolution simply reads better when I have familiar faces to put on the main characters.
Resolution begins basically where Appaloosa left off. Everett Hitch has left town after killing Randall Bragg in a gunfight, saving Virgil Cole from having to do it and thereby breaking his own rules for justice. Hitch rides into the small town of Resolution and quickly discovers an opening in Amos Wolfson's saloon for keeping the peace in a rather lawless town. Using his infamous eight-gauge shotgun, Hitch shoots the local gunslinger and bully, who just so happens to work for Eamon O'Malley, the owner of Resolution's one and only gold mine. To make matters worse, it seems that Wolfson and O'Malley are each vying for control of the town. O'Malley then hires two gunslingers (Cate and Rose) to take on Hitch, but they all know of each other's reputations as a gunfighter and wisely decide to allow things to take their own course. That's when Virgil Cole rides into town. He's come to visit Hitch and to tell him about Ms. Ellie taking off with another man and heading to Texas. He wants Hitch to go with him as he tracks her down. Hitch, however, isn't ready to leave Resolution. There's a showdown approaching as O'Malley brings in a small army of killers to take on Cole & Hitch. That's when Cato & Rose decide to change sides in order to make the odds a little better for the two ex-lawmen, and that's just the tip of the iceberg of what happens in this utterly entertaining western.
Like with the "Spenser" and "Jesse Stone" series, Robert B. Parker knows how to create believable characters that seem to come to life on the written page. All of the characters in the book, both good and bad, have their own unique personalities and the dialoque between them crackles with wit, intelligence, and emotion. After over thirty years as an author, Parker knows how to write great dialogue. There's also enough historical information included to satisfy those looking for factual westerns. What really makes the novel work, however, is the strong personal relationship between Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. They know each other as human beings and love each other as brothers, and they certainly have the best dialogue of anyone in the book. Cole is also forced to take hard, cold look at his own belief system regarding his views on justice and killing, and what actually makes him a man. Parker includes several shootouts in the novel, making them as realistic as possible, an uprising that's short lived by the Indians living on the nearby reservation, the unification of the local ranchers to fight Wolfson and his own greed for controlling everything in sight, and the unusual duo of Cato and Rose, who are similar to Cole and Hitch in that they have their own set of rules to live by and try to do what's right when killing people.
All in all, Resolution is the perfect sequel to Appaloosa, bringing back to the two lawmen who could've given Wyatt Earp a run for his money. Never fear, because Cole and Hitch will definitely return in a third novel as they travel to Texas in search of Ms. Ellie.
Rated by buyers -
One joy of Robert Parker's books is that they all inhabit the same universe. There are good guys (male, female, straight, gay), who are strong, loyal, resourceful, protective of the weak, and usually laconic. They are often violent but never gratuitously so. If they break laws, it is only when necessary to do what is necessary to be a good guy. Good, in Parker's universe, is not defined as a willingness to obey society's laws. Good people keep their word. Bad people don't. Good people might kill, but never for fun. If they shoot someone, it's always face-to-face in a fair fight. Good people even occasionally break some of their own codes when defending a friend or loved one. Good guys recognize acceptable qualities in others, and don't fret the small stuff.
These "Parker's Laws" often result in his heroes partnering up with cold-blooded killers, if their missions coincide.
Everett Hitch, one of the good guys in Resolution, was very first seen in Appaloosa. This book opens with Hitch arriving in town in search of a job. An oily saloon owner hires him as a kind of 19th century bouncer. The story is standard Western fare - the good guys eventually help clean up the town and help the little guys - but told with Parker's many shades of gray, you experience shades of gray you won't normally find in a Western. Two characters, Cato and Rose, hired midway through the book to fight for the other side, are known guns-for-hire. Killing, for them, is a job. They get no particular joy out of killing, but are good at it, and don't mind the work.
Will Hitch have to go up against the pair? Not in this book, not in Parker's Universe. When Virgil Cole, Hitch's friend and partner from Appaloosa, shows up, they end up working with Cato and Rose because the four of them discover that the saloon's owner, does not adhere to their unspoken moral code - he is dishonest, preys on the weak and greedy. Cole and Hitch might not always end up siding with Cato and Rose, but in this town, in this story, they do. And you know that if they do end up fighting against one another in the future, it will be in a fair fight. Cato and Rose might be cold-blooded, but they will never back shoot a foe.
Resolution has the snappy whit and dialog you find in all Parker books. It reads quickly and leaves you wishing for me. If you didn't read the very first book in this series (there will reportedly be a third), you can enjoy this book on the own. But since you are surely to love this book, you might as well read Appaloosa first.
Rated by buyers -
I have already listened to it twice. The reader understands the lingo! He portrays the western personalities as the movies have painted them for me. I enjoyed it as much as any Parker I have read... and so far I have worked my way through all but 2 of his books. I love the characters, the language, the story. I hope there are more to come.
Rated by buyers -
Robert Parker can tell more story in fewer words than any author out there. Resolution is the second Parker western featuring Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole, two gunslingers who walk the gray area between lawfulness and lawlessness. But it's always pretty clear these two are the good guys in the bullet ridden old west. With their own sense of morals and ethics, which sometimes includes a little killin', Everett and Hitch bring a bit a peace, after a spate of violence, to the town of Resolution.
This novel is really a pretty typical Western plot. Hitch is a hired gunman for a saloon owner. Before long, the entrepreneurial saloon owner is setting up for a showdown with an equally thuggish rancher outside of town, both of whom want to control the town and whatever money flows through it. But given their penchant for going their own way Hitch and Virgil throw a little curve ball into the mix and the fight is on.
This is a very entertaining western and a quick but rich read. I can't wait to see more of Hitch and Virgil.
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