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An Easy Death (1) (Gunnie Rose) - Look May Vary Paperback – May 5, 2020
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In a fractured United States, a new world where magic is acknowledged but mistrusted, a young gunslinger named Lizbeth Rose takes a job offer from a pair of Russian wizards. Lizbeth Rose has a wildly fearsome reputation but these wizards are desperate. Searching the small border towns near Mexico, they’re trying to locate a low-level magic practitioner believed to be a direct descendant of Grigori Rasputin.
As the trio journey through an altered America—shattered into several countries after the assassination of Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression—they’re set on by enemies. It’s clear that a powerful force does not want them to succeed in their mission. Lizbeth Rose has never failed a client, but this job may stretch her to her deadly limits.
“Immersive, involving, suspenseful and intriguing, with a main character you’ll love” (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author), An Easy Death is a fast-paced thriller of the highest order.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherS&S/Saga Press
- Publication dateMay 5, 2020
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.7 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-10198214467X
- ISBN-13978-1982144678
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Editorial Reviews
Review
* “[A] fast-paced thriller fueled by magic and gunslinging.” ― -- Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW
"This looks like another winning series from a sure-bet author." ― -- Booklist
“Immersive, involving, suspenseful and intriguing, with a main character you’ll love. Think you know Charlaine Harris? Think again!” -- – Lee Child, ― #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels
“A gripping, twisty-turny, thrill-ride of a read." -- -- Karin Slaughter, ― New York Times bestselling author of Pieces of Her
"When a master of her craft offers to tell you a story, let her. The results are dazzling." -- – Seanan McGuire, ― New York Times bestselling author of the Alex, Hugo, & Nebula, Award-winning Wayward Children series
“A gritty, action-filled story, An Easy Death is an alternate history Western with a touch of magic. Gunnie Rose, the tough but sympathetic protagonist, gives us a clear-sighted look at her world as she works to complete her contract and keep her clients alive.” -- -- Anne Bishop, ― New York Times bestselling author of Lake Silence and the Black Jewels novels
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
In the morning I got Chrissie to cut off all my hair. Tarken and Martin would be tinkering with the truck, which was our livelihood. Galilee would be watching Martin, because they had started seeing each other before and after work. Or she would be cleaning her little house, or washing her clothes. I never saw Galilee bored or idle.
But I didn’t have to be at Martin’s until late that afternoon, so I was doing whatever I pleased. That morning I was pleased to get rid of my hair.
My neighbor Chrissie was not too bright, but I’d watched her trim her husband’s hair and beard as he sat on a stool outside their cabin. She’d done a good job. She sang as she worked, in her sweet, high voice, and she told me about her youngest one’s adventures with a frog in the creek.
When she was halfway done, she said, “Why you want to cut all this off? It’s so pretty.”
“It gets all sweaty and sticks to my neck,” I said. Which was true. It was only spring now, but it would be the hot season soon.
“You better wear you a hat so your head won’t get all red and tender,” Chrissie said. “You want it so short I think the sun might get your scalp.”
“I’ll take care,” I said, holding up the only little mirror Chrissie had. I could see part of my head at a time. She’d washed it, so my hair was wet. I thought it was about an inch long. Looked like the curl was gone, but I wouldn’t know until it dried.
“You heading out soon? I saw them farmers at Martin’s place, when I was coming back from the store.” Chrissie’s trousers had long tendrils of dark hair all over ’em now. She’d have to brush ’em.
“Yeah, we’re leaving as soon as it’s near dark.”
“Ain’t you scared?”
Sure, I was. “Of course not, the only ones should be scared are anyone who tries to get in our way.” I smiled.
“You’ll kill ’em dead, bang, bang,” Chrissie said in a singsong voice.
“Yep. Bang, bang,” I agreed.
“Why are they going to New America?”
“The farmers? The part of Texas they live in got swallowed up by Mexico a few years ago. You remember?”
Chrissie looked dim. She shook her head.
“Anyway, the government down there has been telling the Texans that they’re not real Mexicans, and their land is forfeit.”
Chrissie looked even dimmer.
“Their land is getting taken. So if they’ve got kin up north or anywhere, even in Dixie, they got to leave Mexico to have a chance.”
Dixie was so poor and so dangerous you’d have to be desperate to flee there.
Chrissie ran her fingers through the short hair on the left side of my head, and shook her head. “Anyone ever go to the HRE?” she asked.
“Chrissie,” I said. She bent around to meet my eyes.
“Oh, sorry, Lizbeth.” She began to work on the right side, following her own whim. I tried to remember if I’d ever seen her cut anyone’s hair besides Norton’s. “I forgot you don’t like them grigoris.”
No. I did not like magicians.
“Tarken know you’re doing this?” she said after a moment. I could tell by the faraway sound of her voice that the question had come from her mouth, not her head.
“No, he doesn’t have a say in my hair. Don’t you go telling.”
“He’ll see it this afternoon.”
“Yeah, it’s a surprise,” I said.
Chrissie gave me one of those looks that reminded me she was older than I was. “He ain’t gonna like it, Lizbeth.”
I raised up my shoulders, very carefully, because I didn’t want to jolt her hand. “Not his head,” I said, and that was the truth. But it was also true that he’d tried to tell me how I should do something one time too many.
When Chrissie had finished, and the little mirror told me it was cut evenly all over—God knows how—I paid her. She gave me a big smile before she carried the chair inside. She came back out to pump some water to wash her hands, and put some in a bucket to toss around, trying to spread out the long, dark hair that lay in a heap where the chair had stood.
I gave her a hand. When the dirt didn’t look like the sky had snowed black ringlets, I went uphill to my place.
Getting ready to leave didn’t take long. We should only be gone maybe three nights, at most. And we might even spring for a room in one of the hotels in Corbin… providing Tarken was speaking to me by then. We’d get the farmers up to their waiting family, then we’d come right home. It was the most common run we made, and Martin and Tarken had cleared a road to there, mostly on an old paved one. They’d moved all the big rocks and trees, scouted out the likely ambush sites, and so on.
Corbin was over the border in New America, which was where almost all our cargo was bound. It was a bustling town with a number of places to stay, a garage for cars, a stable for horses, a post office, a good general store.
I’d worked for Tarken for two years now, maybe a bit over, and he’d been my man for four months. The first time we went to bed, he told me he’d been waiting until I was old enough.
I hadn’t even realized he was looking at me. I’m slow that way. But I’m quick with a gun, that’s what counts.
I would never have known I had a talent if my stepfather, Jackson, hadn’t taken me hunting with him when I was little. Jackson had seen me snatch a fly out of the air, he told me later, and he’d thought I had the quick hands and the instincts you needed to be a gunnie.
Jackson was right. The first time I held a rifle in my hands, I knew I’d found my calling. My mother didn’t like it, of course, but at least I could support myself—and be out in the open—doing something useful. People need protection.
I stuck a pair of pants and a shirt into my small leather bag, a pair of underpants, my toothbrush, and a comb. Packing was done. I’d fill my canteens before I left.
Next I cleaned my old 1873 Winchester, a lever action and a great rifle. It had been my grandfather’s. He’d called it Jackhammer, so I did, too. Jackson had given me matched Colt 1911s for close work, and those were already clean after my last target-shooting session out in the empty land around Segundo Mexia. I could fire twenty-seven bullets with all three, had extra magazines ready for the Colts. If I couldn’t bring our enemies down with that much firepower, our enemies had an army.
Galilee would bring her rifle, a Krag, since she was better at long shooting. I’d use the Winchester for the nearer work. She and Martin and Tarken all had pistols, too, though Tarken’s was less than a great tool.
Our truck and our firepower had worked for two years. We’d made this same run often.
Winchester in its sling over my back, pistols in their holsters and ready to go, two full canteens on one shoulder, my little leather bag with clothes and extra ammo on another; I was ready. I set off down the path to town.
People were coming home from work, and Chrissie was cooking on a grill outside her cabin, the smoke rising up and the smell of meat giving the air a nice tang. “Good shooting!” she called in her soft voice.
I nodded. I passed Rex Santino. “Easy death,” he said in his gruff way.
That’s what people wished gunnies. It made me feel good. I nodded back at him.
I didn’t want to walk down Main Street. There were too many people. One of them was my mother, who lived with Jackson in a real nice house just off Main. She didn’t like to see me leave on a job. That weakened me, too. I took a roundabout way to Martin’s house, which was situated in a bare dirt lot on the last street north in Segundo Mexia.
Martin’s chickens squawked in their pen as I came into the yard. He was strewing feed and smiling, just a little. He sure liked those stupid chickens. His neighbor’s kids would come in to feed them while Martin was gone, in exchange for eggs. We do a lot of barter in Segundo Mexia.
The setting sun struck Martin’s head with a golden glow. For the first time I noticed that his light hair had a lot of gray sprinkled in. I would pick my time to tease him about it.
Galilee wasn’t there yet. Tarken was putting the cans of extra gas on the bed of the truck, and he gave me a sideways smile, which froze when he realized my hair was gone. After a minute he closed his eyes, shook his head, and started back to working.
I’d hear about this later. I smiled. It was going to be fun.
Most of the cargo was sitting on the dirt of the yard or on Martin’s front porch. Two of the children were playing a game of hopscotch on the grid they’d drawn in the dirt. I nodded in their direction. I would talk to them when I couldn’t dodge it.
The sky went lower, the people on the porch shared out food among themselves, and I went into Martin’s kitchen and ate some bread and some dried fruit. I couldn’t handle meat before a job.
Galilee came in to sit with me, her Krag under her arm. She had on a gun belt with one pistol, maybe not as fine as my Colts—but the Colts were courtesy of Jackson, so I didn’t crow about them… much. Her hair stood out from her head like a huge black puff, and she was very skinny and dark. “My friend, you look a sight,” she said when she got a good look at me.
“Yeah. Like it?”
“Hell, no. You had the prettiest white-person hair I ever saw. Why’d you do it?”
“Tarken liked it too much.”
“So you decided you’d show him what was what.”
I shrugged. “More or less.”
“Girl. Sometimes I can tell you are so young.”
I didn’t know what that meant, so I didn’t answer. Only, I’d figured since Tarken spent so long running his fingers through my hair, straightening out each ringlet to watch it bounce back into curl, he’d better pay more attention to the girl whose scalp it grew on.
Galilee talked about other stuff. “Freedom built a chair for his little house,” she told me. Her son Freedom, who’d been born when Galilee was only fourteen, had moved out of his mom’s house when he left school and had gotten a job at the tannery. Now he’d built his own place. (And a chair.)
“He going to find a carpenter to apprentice to?” I couldn’t think of anyone around who’d be ready to hire. Bobby Saw already had a girl working for him.
Galilee lost some smile. “You know Freedom. That boy can’t stick with nothing. At least, not that he’s found yet.”
“That boy” and I were nearly the same age. At least Freedom had stuck with the tannery job. Though he didn’t like the work, it was steady money. He kept looking for something else, but nothing had suited him yet. Last time I’d seen him in a bar, he’d groused about it nonstop. He was lucky his girlfriend was sticking with him. Complaining is not attractive.
Martin came in to get a drink, kissed Galilee on the cheek as he went by. My eyebrows tried to climb into my hair, what was left of it. “Well,” I said when he’d gone back out. “You’re out in the open with it. When did that happen?”
She didn’t meet my eyes, but she was smiling again. “Just seemed like it was time. We’re getting along good, we want to spend more time together than we are. Ain’t no big thing.”
“Yet.”
“Yet,” she agreed.
“Lizbeth,” Tarken called from the yard.
“Time to work,” Galilee said, and we washed our plates and went to the outhouse and then to the truck. It was spring, days lengthening, and the sun didn’t want to give up the sky. There were no clouds, and I stood looking up, seeing the vastness above me, nothing between me and the hereafter. I had my place, standing here on this dirt.
Tarken gave us the nod. He and Martin were taking one last-minute look at the engine.
Galilee and I turned to the cargo. “Time to load up,” I called. “Sit in the center, looking out. Her and me, we got to stand up, her at the right side close to the back, me at the left side, closer to the front.” I pointed. I had to be clear. They were nervous.
Tarken would cover the straight-ahead from the passenger seat in the cab.
Martin had already arranged their bags against the sides, with two gaps left for me and Galilee just where we wanted them. The cargo had brought too much stuff, but they’d tried to pack it all in. They hated to leave things. This was all they had in the world.
The long, flat bed had sides Martin and Tarken had built, wooden uprights and horizontal planks, to hold everyone and everything in. Provided a little protection, too. And that gave Galilee and me a stable frame to lean on. We would go in last.
The families were standing, milling around, putting it off. “Load up,” I called with a little more push to my voice.
They obeyed. One man went in first, to help pull up the wives and the children, while the other remained on the ground to boost ’em up. The younger couple had a baby and a couple of littles, maybe six and four. The older couple had a girl, grown, and another girl about thirteen, and a boy, younger but not a baby. The men were brothers. They’d had farms side by side in south Texas, but when it had become Mexico, they had gradually been pushed out. Their older brother, they’d told Martin, was the one paying for their trip to New America. He was smarter; he’d sold his farm while he still had title to it, and bought land north of Corbin.
It seemed to take a long time, but finally they were all in. Galilee and I scrambled up and took our places. It was Galilee’s turn to talk.
“Hear me,” she said, and they all turned their faces to her. Dixie people wouldn’t have listened to a black woman, but these farmers did. She had the way and voice of someone who knew what she was doing. Her rifle spoke for her, too.
Galilee gave them the usual lecture about staying low and helping us keep watch. They all nodded, even the littles, scared just about shitless. Our prime worry was bandits, who wanted anything they could get: guns, goods, the human cargo. The guns and goods could be used or sold. The humans could be robbed or raped, and then sold to a bordello that wasn’t too choosy.
If the New America patrols stopped us, we’d be fine. People were legal cargo, and respectable people like this were even welcome in New America. But if bandits caught us, well, that was why Galilee and I were on duty. That was why the oldest brother had hired us to get the two families through the lawless land along the border between Texoma and New America.
Martin had climbed into the driver’s seat, and Tarken had taken the shotgun position, as usual. I stretched forward to rap on the cab roof, letting them know she’d made the speech. The engine began to rumble, and we lurched out of the yard.
As we were leaving Segundo Mexia, I spotted Freedom walking by the side of the road and gave him a yell. At the sight of the truck, he took off his hat and waved it at his mother, who raised her hand in farewell.
“See you soon, son!” she called.
I could feel the farm people’s eyes going from the boy to his mother. The two were not exactly the same color. Galilee had gotten pregnant by the son of the landowner her parents worked for. Her parents had sacrificed to help Galilee run away. In Dixie, kids who didn’t look like their black mothers were in for a very hard time.
After many adventures, mostly bad, some good, Galilee had ended up in Segundo Mexia. But along the way, she’d learned to shoot. She had a skill. I trusted her with my life.
We were on a good part of the road, one that hadn’t been broken. There were still stretches around like that. My mother had told me that once almost all the roads were smooth, and that when they cracked, they got repaired. It sounded like a fancy dream. Since we were with the cargo, Galilee caught my eye and raised her rifle just a little. She was asking if I expected trouble.
Kind of to my own surprise, I nodded.
Galilee’s eyebrows went up. She was asking me why.
“Full moon,” I mouthed, with a tiny point upward.
Galilee shook her head, looking exasperated, her puff of hair flying around her face. She held up three fingers. Nothing had happened for the last three trips.
I held one hand palm up. Anybody’s guess, I was telling her. I didn’t want to jinx us.
Most likely, nothing would happen. We’d done this run dozens of times since I’d joined the crew. We’d had firefights, sure. We’d lost one crew member, an older guy named Solly. He’d taken a bullet to the stomach.
His had been the opposite of an easy death.
But we’d always gotten our cargo where they intended to go, except for two souls. One woman’s appendix had ruptured (at least that’s what we thought had happened), and she’d died in the middle of nowhere. One boy had been snakebit, and we couldn’t control snakes. So we had a good record.
I clamped down hard on my bad feeling and stuffed it away to nowhere. I had to be all in this moment.
“You don’t look any older than my seventeen-year-old,” said the older farm wife. Her husband had called her Ruth. Ruth glanced at her daughter with pride and fondness.
“I’m older.” By barely two years.
Ruth wanted to say more. She was trying to look at my shorn head without making a federal case of it. She decided against comment. Good. I didn’t want to talk to them, get to know them. In less than a day, they’d be gone.
I remember running my hand over my short hair. Thinking my skull felt clean and cool as the air whooshed over it. I was pleased with the feeling, though Tarken had given me several more fierce faces while we were loading up.
But Martin had laughed. “You better buy a dress,” he’d said, “so we can remember you’re a girl.”
“You’d never mistake this one for a boy,” Galilee had answered. “Now, me…” And she’d looked down at her slim body. But Martin had looked as though he liked her just like she was. It was nice.
When we set out, there was enough light that we could make out the landscape—scrubby bushes and cactus, the low, rolling bumps we called hills. Same as everywhere around Segundo Mexia. There were rocky outcrops here and there. Lots of bare dirt.
As Martin usually did, he followed the remains of the north road. After an hour he had to go slower. We’d reached a section in much worse shape. Might have been laid sometime in the late twenties, never repaired since.
The little kids had been talking to one another or asking their parents questions that couldn’t be answered. How long it would take, if Uncle Joshua would be in Corbin when they got there, how long it would be before they got to his farm, if he had children they could play with, how many cattle he had…
At first the adults tried to say cheerful things, and act like all was easy and well. But gradually they began to snap a little, and the kids shut up.
Two hours into the run, there was no talking or laughing. The moon was full, but there were some clouds between me and it, and I only caught a peek at it from time to time. I didn’t like my view of the sky being blocked. With my left hand I held on to one of the slats; I felt a nailhead, about my waist level, sticking out. I ran my thumb over it. I told myself I’d see to that when we returned.
Because of the clouds, Martin was running with headlights, had to. So even if the engine noise didn’t announce we were coming, the headlights did. Galilee and I were paying attention, watching for anything on the ground on either side of the dusty road. That was our job. And we were doing it just as well as usual.
Every other time we’d been attacked, we’d seen movement, heard yelling, caught a glint of our headlights reflecting off metal. Some clue, some warning.
Tonight the bullets came out of nowhere.
I yelled “Down!” as I fired back, working the lever immediately to chamber another round. I’d marked the flash pretty accurately. The bandit was close. A scream told me I’d gotten him. But there was someone else a bit farther back from the road, out of my range, and I didn’t kill him in time. He didn’t die before he got a bullet through the cab.
Later I figured the bandit killed Martin with that shot. Because the truck started veering all over and I had to grab the slats to stay in the truck. No way I could fire back. I’d heard the sound of Galilee’s Krag, but she was closer to the open rear of the flatbed than I was. I guess she couldn’t grab hold in time. One second Galilee was there. The next she was gone, without a sound.
Tarken must have reached over to grab the wheel to try to keep us going, because we straightened out for a few seconds. That was long enough for me to get my balance, fire a shot to let the bandits know we were still putting up a fight. I heard the familiar sound of the driver’s door opening, and I glimpsed Martin’s body tumbling out of the cab. Tarken had shoved him out to take the driver’s seat. When Martin’s body hit the road, it kind of bounced and then lay still.
Some excited gunman had shot at the movement of the body, and the bullet ricocheted off the hood of the truck, and I was stung by the tiny fragments that were flung out by the impact.
But I couldn’t think about any of this because the headlights raked a figure scrambling through the scrubby trees along the road to keep up. Even as I fired at the bandit, I saw he’d stopped and aimed. The truck lurched, my gun belt caught on the damn nail, and the world came to an end.
Product details
- Publisher : S&S/Saga Press; Reprint edition (May 5, 2020)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 198214467X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1982144678
- Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.7 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #162,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,427 in Historical Fantasy (Books)
- #1,931 in Historical Thrillers (Books)
- #2,381 in Dark Fantasy
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Charlaine Harris was born in Tunica, Mississippi, and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area in the middle of a cotton field. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and, later, teenage angst, she wrote plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee and started writing novels a few years later.
After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched a light-hearted mystery series 'starring' Georgia librarian Aurora Teagarden. The first of the eight books, Real Murders, was shortlisted for Best Novel in the 1990 Agatha Awards. In 1996, she released the first of the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard, a karate student who makes her living cleaning houses.
Charlaine Harris then wrote the first of her Southern vampire mysteries starring Sookie Stackhouse, the quirky, telepathic waitress who works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. Dead Until Dark won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery. It also won Harris a whole new fan club of devoted readers and pushed her into the bestseller lists. The Sookie Stackhouse series, in which Sookie has to deal with vampires, werecreatures and other supernatural folk - not to mention her own complicated love life - was also instrumental in creating the urban fantasy genre.
Sookie Stackhouse also enchanted Alan Ball, creator of the smash TV show Six Feet Under, who took an option and wrote and directed the pilot episode for True Blood himself. It was an instant hit when it premiered in the US, and that success was repeated when it was first aired in Britain last year. The second season of TRUE BLOOD will start this spring.
Harris's newest series features Harper Connelly, a young woman who, after being struck by lightning, finds herself able to locate the bodies of the dead and to determine the cause of their death. There are four Harper titles (Grave Sight, Grave Surprise, An Ice Cold Grave and Grave Secret).
Charlaine Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League. She is a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, and alternates with Joan Hess as president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance. She is married, the mother of three, and lives in a small town in Southern Arkansas. When she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously!
Here are the Sookie Stackhouse True Blood novels in series order:
Dead Until Dark: Sookie Stackhouse 1
Living Dead In Dallas: Sookie Stackhouse 2
Club Dead: Sookie Stackhouse 3
Dead To The World: Sookie Stackhouse 4
Dead As A Doornail: Sookie Stackhouse 5
Definitely Dead: Sookie Stackhouse 6
All Together Dead: Sookie Stackhouse 7
From Dead To Worse: Sookie Stackhouse 8
Dead And Gone: Sookie Stackhouse 9
Dead In The Family: Sookie Stackhouse 10
A Touch Of Dead (a Sookie Stackhouse short story collection_
Here are the Harper Connelly novels in series order:
Grave Sight: Harper Connelly 1
Grave Surprise: Harper Connelly 2
An Ice Cold Grave: Harper Connelly 3
Grave Secret: Harper Connelly 4
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the story engaging and compelling from the beginning. They appreciate the well-developed characters and likable main character. The world-building is described as amazing and the pacing is described as fast. Readers find the book enjoyable and delightful to read. They praise the writing quality as well-crafted and witty.
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Customers find the story engaging and well-crafted. They appreciate the well-developed characters and the compelling narrative from the start. The intense scenes and fast-paced action make it a fun, fast-paced read with elements of fantasy, mystery, and romance.
"...history (albeit an alternate account), and mystery thriller...." Read more
"...I like how she uses various magic worlds and paranormal concepts and incorporates that into our own world view." Read more
"Wow! Really well written story, cool alternative world building, lots of action. Don't give 5 stars often but this one is worth it." Read more
"...a Weird Western as it lacks monsters and devils, but it’s an alternate history world where there’s gunslingers and magicians roving the land...." Read more
Customers find the characters engaging and realistic. They appreciate the strong main character, Lisbeth Rose, who is a unique voice with standards. They also mention that the villains are easy to dislike.
"...Another of Harris’ strengths is strong, relatable characters that evoke strong emotions in the reader, and I, for one, experienced that...." Read more
"...Very nice pace and the central was totally likable including the ease with which shot people. Her business." Read more
"...Enjoy the works created here and the great narrative voice - although the eventual resolution of the quest had a little something missing for me...." Read more
"...It has interesting characters, and a complex landscape that offers a lot for storytelling but relies on many tired tropes and I just am not a giant..." Read more
Customers find the book's pacing engaging. They appreciate the immersive world-building and intense scenes that keep them hooked. The story has an original plot that keeps readers hooked with excitement, violence, magic, and tension.
"...The setting is the 1930ish, and the wild, wild west mentality is still going strong as the environment dictates a need for that kind of on the spot..." Read more
"...I like how she uses various magic worlds and paranormal concepts and incorporates that into our own world view." Read more
"An enjoyable particularly following a heavy read. Very nice pace and the central was totally likable including the ease with which shot people...." Read more
"...There are no respites. The sex scene comes out of nowhere and I had to wonder who assumed the female role. I doubt I will continue with the series." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find the story engaging, with a well-paced plot and likable characters. The narrative voice is great, and the world-building is stellar. Readers describe the book as an exciting, dramatic read with no dull moments.
"...As a thriller, I found the story to read very fast and delightfully so. I was never slowed up by world-building, even though there is plenty...." Read more
"...I’m glad I did finish it, as it was a fun read. The alternate historical world presented was very well thought out...." Read more
"An enjoyable particularly following a heavy read. Very nice pace and the central was totally likable including the ease with which shot people...." Read more
"...Enjoy the works created here and the great narrative voice - although the eventual resolution of the quest had a little something missing for me...." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find it easy to read, witty, and suspenseful. Readers appreciate the author's straightforward style and well-thought-out world.
"...I think this blend will allow for more mass appeal, and her extraordinary writing deserves to be noticed and read by many...." Read more
"...The alternate historical world presented was very well thought out...." Read more
"Wow! Really well written story, cool alternative world building, lots of action. Don't give 5 stars often but this one is worth it." Read more
"...It reads like a western, kind of space cowboy with cars, guns, and a bit of mad max...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's strong female lead character. They find it gritty and realistic, with a steady pace. The characters are well-developed and the story is described as brave and funny.
"...Another of Harris’ strengths is strong, relatable characters that evoke strong emotions in the reader, and I, for one, experienced that...." Read more
"...She’s young, but tough, and has never failed a client, and she’s determined to keep that oath no matter what it takes...." Read more
"...year old seemed to just have the right instincts that kept her alive in impossible situations...." Read more
"...Gunnie Rose is a heroine both resilient and resourceful. I am looking forward to the next installment." Read more
Customers enjoyed the book's intense and violent story. They found it well-written with a ruthless killer and satisfying ending.
"What a cute read. I love Laundry Rose! She's a smart, wise, ruthless killer with standards. I smiled when I finished the novel," Read more
"...Set in a fractured America in the 1940’s the book is fast passed, bloody and tautly written...." Read more
"...There was a lot of death in the first chapter and it seemed to be a western, but once I got to the second chapter the more fantasy elements started..." Read more
"...There is excitement, violence, magic, tension, a little sex and a kick-ass female main character...." Read more
Customers find the book insightful and well-written. They appreciate the smart, practical, grounded characters and the author's understanding of human nature. The depth of the characters makes them come alive and you feel like you know them. The story is about people who know themselves and are forever changed by the intersection of lives.
"...They each had strength and moxy, loyalty, and skills, and were people you would want beside you in a harsh environment without a doubt...." Read more
"What a cute read. I love Laundry Rose! She's a smart, wise, ruthless killer with standards. I smiled when I finished the novel," Read more
"...Gunnie Rose is a heroine both resilient and resourceful. I am looking forward to the next installment." Read more
"...There are plenty of questions about the world, since it's close to our world but clearly not our history...." Read more
Reviews with images
Exciting dystopian thriller with a strong FMC!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2019Favorite character: Lizbeth Rose
I picked Gunnie Rose because she is fierce, loyal, and follows a strict gunnie code. She loves with her whole heart and fights with an unabashed determination. Life is simple in her eyes. She’s a good shot, and she knows it, so she uses that skill to earn money to live. It’s that simple.
Honorable mention: Eli.
Eli has a quiet strength and is loyal to a fault. He listens intently and loves completely. He doesn’t need apologies, as he understands what drives people and readily accepts that.
What I Loved about An Easy Death
Charlaine Harris is a master of world-building, and this new series is no exception. No detail is too small from the characters’ interaction with their world to a brief history lesson on where and how history changed. I had no problem understanding this alternate reality, and once I let go of facts as I know them, I was able to immerse myself completely in it. The setting is the 1930ish, and the wild, wild west mentality is still going strong as the environment dictates a need for that kind of on the spot law enforcement. And, in walks Gunnie Rose. She transports and protects travelers who hire her gang to do so.
The story is an intriguing mix of fantasy (magic does exist in this world, and it came over with the Russians who now control California and surrounding areas), history (albeit an alternate account), and mystery thriller. No aspect is skimped on in favor of another, so Harris truly manages to marry three prominent literary genres. I think this blend will allow for more mass appeal, and her extraordinary writing deserves to be noticed and read by many.
Another of Harris’ strengths is strong, relatable characters that evoke strong emotions in the reader, and I, for one, experienced that. It was hard to pick a favorite character because they all were my favorite characters, no matter how minor of a part they played. They each had strength and moxy, loyalty, and skills, and were people you would want beside you in a harsh environment without a doubt.
As a thriller, I found the story to read very fast and delightfully so. I was never slowed up by world-building, even though there is plenty. The pages flew as I hopped from one adventure to the next with Gunnie Rose. This world is bold, and Harris does not shy away from bold topics. Instead, she handles them with grace and quiet strength that stays true to the characters. This new America is a harsh world, and bad things happen in harsh worlds, so they have to be tackled head-on.
To Read or Not to Read
I didn’t know what to expect when I started this novel. I was granted book two by NetGalley and jumped at the chance to read the first book in the series when I was alerted to a sale. The truth is, I probably would have gotten it anyway but who doesn’t love a book sale. I wondered if it would be kind of like Firefly, which was a Nathan Fillion show that mixed space travel with a wild west theme. Though Firefly was great, the Gunnie Rose series is vastly different. It’s a new world – a magical world – where gunslingers and wizards work side by side, each comfortable in their wheelhouse.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2021I found this book to be an interesting twist in the alternate history mythos. I did find that the first quarter of the book was a bit of of a slog to get through, but then it picked up. It took 2 to 3 days for me to want to continuing reading through that first part. The remainder I finished all within the same day. I’m glad I did finish it, as it was a fun read.
The alternate historical world presented was very well thought out. It had rules to it and it made sense as to how America might have changed into this varied construct of empires with only small changes occurring in its past.
There is magic in this world, but a believability to it that didn’t stretch the imagination too far either. It was rather obvious from the beginning that the primary character, Gunnie Lizbeth Rose, had access to some magic, though maybe not trained. It was well handled that she knew she had some but not how it worked either, because in her section of the world it wasn’t used or developed. Having many magic users move to the HRE from other areas was an inspired choice. If you didn’t band the magic users together, you’d likely get magical wars, which would change the entire political structure and countries that the author created.
Making the women the sharpshooters for their 4 person team was great. Things had developed to the point that women could be the protectors, and rightly so. Many women have a better visual sense and acuity. Not all of course, but it made sense that in this world, each person does the things they do best, whichever skill that might be. Gunnie Rose not only was an amazing shot, but she had a sixth sense developed as well, likely do to her magical heritage. Having her as one of the teams primary shooters made sense. That the last remaining member of her team knew she’d finish the contract because of their reputation, said something about her and how this world reckoned it’s people. When money is scarce, sometimes reputation is all you have that you can trade on, which could impact a dying person’s family, so you’d want to leave them in a better situation, even if you couldn’t be there to provide anymore.
I liked how the author even went so far as to have both sexes as prostitutes and it was an acceptable job. Maybe not for everyone, and you’d still get some that would look down on it, but at the same time in this sort of life, you did what you could and hopefully what you were good at. I also liked how no one was getting a free ride. If you helped someone out, common decency said you’d do something back for that person. Respect, reputation, honor and one’s word means a lot in this sort of society and it is dealt with well. Once you get into the royalty of the HRE, you begin to see the discrepancies that can occur. Where in their society, magic users are higher up, not to mention money and royalty affords even more power.
I did find it great that Eli felt the need to repay Lizbeth for her actions with a refrigerator and electricity, but made his family think it was decision of piety brought on by his surviving his recent travels. I think the Prince may have found more in common with this other marginalized society then within his own, and in doing so realized he should repay the kindness and help given. Of course Gunnie still earned it in a way, by fulfilling a contract of “If you ever see my father, kill him”, she just got paid before the contract was completed.
I have enjoyed Ms Harris’s books, initially from the Sookie Stackhouse novels and then with the Midnight, Texas series. So I was looking forward to this book, and I was not let down. I plan to read more of this series and her Aurora Teagarden Mysteries in the near future. I like how she uses various magic worlds and paranormal concepts and incorporates that into our own world view.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2025An enjoyable particularly following a heavy read. Very nice pace and the central was totally likable including the ease with which shot people. Her business.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2025Wow! Really well written story, cool alternative world building, lots of action. Don't give 5 stars often but this one is worth it.
Top reviews from other countries
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jaqueline fonseca de sa freireReviewed in Brazil on February 8, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Adorei
Gosto de tudo o que ela escreve, e esse foi mais um livro excelente.
- JDSReviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantasy Western, Damn Fine Read
Well… this a damn fine book. Short, tight sentences with occasionally longer narratives here and there. Straight and to the point. A western with a fantasy twist but not so twisted that it wouldn’t appeal to fantasy newcomers. The main character Gunnie Rose is likeable almost immediately. She’s not perfect but she’s got wit, grit, gumption and a job to do in guarding two Russian wizards.
The story takes place in a past America that isn’t the America we know and it’s an unforgiving Leoniesque landscape that sometimes proves to be as much of a villain as all the cutthroat killers that cross Gunnie Rose’s path.
Supporting characters are as interesting and almost as loveable as our main and the slow reveal of all back stories is enough to keep us wondering what next.
Never read any Charlaine Harris before. Honestly can’t remember why I decided to buy this but sure am glad I did. One down, four more to go and I cannot wait to see what happens to our scrappy little Gunnie Rose next.
- S. LejaReviewed in Germany on September 27, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!
My new favourite!
- seabelle7Reviewed in Canada on February 13, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved It
What haven't I loved that Charlaine Harris has written? (The answer is nothing, btw.) Can't wait for the second installment. I love the characters she creates. I love the supernatural elements. Those are the things that hooked me with the first exposure to her characters and stories via True Blood - I watched the series and then read every book.
One character, in particular, that I would enjoy seeing in the spotlight is Manfred Bernardo. Maybe his own trilogy?
All in all, very entertained! Thanks, Charlaine!
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martine gillesReviewed in France on January 6, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars très bien
Personnage féminin extrêmement intéressant (comme c'est généralement le cas avec Charlaine Harris), très bonne histoire, j'attends la suite avec une certaine impatience.