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"Noose"
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“No pest fixin’ to stir up a shitstorm ever travels alone.”
Rory Daggett has been waiting fifteen years to get his revenge on the man who killed his parents. When a gruesome bank robbery goes down in his town of Buzzard’s Edge, Rory catches a lead that brings him one step closer to the man who goes by the nickname “Noose”, but Rory will have to go through a band of eccentric outlaws to get his man. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. For I belong to somebody.
Rory Daggett has been waiting fifteen years to get his revenge on the man who killed his parents. When a gruesome bank robbery goes down in his town of Buzzard’s Edge, Rory catches a lead that brings him one step closer to the man who goes by the nickname “Noose”, but Rory will have to go through a band of eccentric outlaws to get his man. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. Shoo fly, don’t bother me. For I belong to somebody.
Readability
The book is advertised on Amazon as approximately one hundred sixty pages, but that does not accurately reflect the actual length of the story itself, which turned out to be a novella slightly over a hundred pages. Sometimes authors will pad their books with a bunch of extra content in the form an introduction, an afterword, excerpts and sneak peeks from other books, etc. If none of the extra content is advertised in the product description, then the only possible way to know about it would be to read the sample and check the table of contents (if it’s available).
Despite the title, “Noose” is not a story about the villain it’s named after, but is narrated by a victim from one of his most heinous crimes - this is Rory Daggett’s story told from his perspective. In the Afterword, LaFaro claims to have done research while writing this novella, but there really wasn’t much in this story that warranted any extensive research beyond understanding the difference between a bullet and a cartridge. It’s a common mistake, but only if you’ve never learned anything about firearms, and if you were planning on writing a western then I would imagine that would probably take precedence alongside info about horses. When Rory’s character was a child I could let it slide, but after fifteen years of being taken care of by a rancher who owns a gun, then I could only assume that Rory would have learned a thing or two (but apparently not). Rory is a special character (to say the least). Fifteen years go by with little to no evidence of a character arc having taken place. He’s still the same little bugger from that tragic day on the train, just a little bit taller perhaps.
There’s really no character development throughout the whole story, and the plot just doesn’t make sense. There’s janky lines of simile throughout the prose that were grammatically odd to read (as if the author was attempting to write purple), and I had to stop on several occasions to figure out wtf LaFaro was trying to convey. The narrative is tone deaf, which made for some very awkward and sometimes unintentionally funny moments. Was the story supposed to be taken seriously or was it meant to be campy? The format is clean and the chapters were focused – even though it’s obvious that the overall story wasn’t well thought out. It is so contrived. The author had a cool premise and some interesting character ideas, but failed to deliver the goods in a compelling way. I think “Noose” needed more developmental work (not to mention general proofreading).
Creativity
I have to talk about these villains featured in “Noose”. Of course there’s George Holcomb (a.k.a. “Noose”) who is technically the star antagonist, but aside from his dastardly deed during the Buzzard’s Edge train robbery of 1872, there’s not much to say about the guy. The real stars of this shitshow are Holcomb’s henchmen.
Crane – the science guy
Dorrance – “That’s the big motherfucker you want to watch out for.”
Merella – She’s a witch!
Edwards – allegedly Holcomb’s right-hand man, who’s good with a knife (but not really)
I was picturing like an "X-Men" crew of outlaws. How fucking cool would that be? A couple of the characters seem legitimately super human. Dorrance is a Hulk kind of character that shrugs off a bullet wound to the foot, but keels over after receiving a kick to the balls. Crane is this nerd science guy who, instead of using a knife or gun or even whip like Indiana Jones, he chooses to use chemical warfare against his opposition. He carries around these little vials you’d see in a chemistry lab and he fucking chucks ‘em at people and it releases a vapor into the air that will either make their skin melt off or cause them to deteriorate psychologically. That is not only eccentric, but also extremely impractical and not to mention an economically unsustainable way of engaging in combat. How is this dude getting the materials to manufacture all these little vials filled with his SciFi fuckery?
Merella’s character takes the most creative liberty of all. She can appear out of thin air, she’s a shapeshifter, and she can create lifelike mirages. None of these characters are really explained at all, but regardless I was along for the ride. I think the author should have just leaned hard into the campiness of these characters. They’re like comic book villains. It’s clear they weren’t meant to be taken seriously. They’re one-dimensional, they’re over the top, and honestly they were the most compelling element of this story.
Delivery
I was expecting some “Kill Bill” (2003) type of shit, based on the book’s blurb, but just set in the Wild West. We have this kid who’s thirsty for revenge against this outlaw killer who murdered his loved ones, and over the course of fifteen years Rory could have been training to become a badass gunslinger. Then, as an adult, he’d be ready to go through all these pseudo super villains to reach the “Noose”, which could have served as a clever double entendre because Rory could end up being hung for murder. Needless to say “Noose” subverted my expectations, but not in a good way.
First off, Crane is the only character that Rory is seen “hunting” in this story. The rest of the encounters happen when the villains present themselves to Rory, but it’s never explained why they give a fuck about this young man. In the end it’s kind of glossed over and given generic excuse when Holcomb is talking to Rory in the Tavern, where “Noose” and his gang had been hiding the whole time. WTF?!
The story suffers from the dreaded “meandering middle” syndrome that plagues many indie books, but I won’t dwell on it too much. Rory finds this random little girl who he calls “Pip”, and even after he learns her name is Alice, he continues to “unintentionally” refer to her as Pip (even though he’s known her for less than 24hrs). Do you meet someone in real life and say, “You know you look like a Hilda, to me,” and they correct you by saying their name is Betty, but you continue to call them Hilda? That’s when I started to suspect that Rory might be a little bit “special”. Rory attempts to hide Alice from the Sheriff, and even after the Sheriff finds out that there’s a strange prepubescent child in Rory’s care he does nothing about it. Rory then proceeds to give the child a gun and include her in his plan to kill the remaining members of the eccentric gang. Rory considers this unknown child, that’s no more than seven or eight years in age, his “friend”. Yeah, that’s not creepy at all (“Horror” indeed).
The story begins with the line:
“The first time I ever met George “Noose” Holcomb, I knew that someday I’d kill him.”
Imagine my surprise when Rory finally gets to sit face to face with the man who had everyone Rory cared about killed, and Rory chooses to engage in a Freudian chit chat as if the dude was his estranged father or something. Rory shows him the “bullet” (cartridge) that Holcomb gave him when he was just a child on the train that Holcomb robbed. Rory kept the damn thing as a memento for fifteen years. I was thinking Rory is going to send that bullet on a one-way ticket straight to Holcomb’s skull.
Like a total “neuro divergent”, Rory decides to subvert my expectations and load that sentimental round into the revolver that belonged to his late foster father, and then slide that sumbitch across the table for Holcomb to do whatever he will with it. “I BET YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING!” No sir. No I did not see that coming, because I don’t even think a person clinically diagnosed with mental retardation would have done something that fucking retarded. Imagine holding onto a grudge for over fifteen years just to fold like a bitch when the tables are turned. Was that supposed to be a deep meaningful moment? A symbolic gesture? It made no fucking sense! Of all the characters that Rory had no problem murdering throughout the novella, Holcomb should have been the only one that Rory actually wanted to kill. At least that’s the impression I was under from the very first line of Chapter One.
The book is advertised on Amazon as approximately one hundred sixty pages, but that does not accurately reflect the actual length of the story itself, which turned out to be a novella slightly over a hundred pages. Sometimes authors will pad their books with a bunch of extra content in the form an introduction, an afterword, excerpts and sneak peeks from other books, etc. If none of the extra content is advertised in the product description, then the only possible way to know about it would be to read the sample and check the table of contents (if it’s available).
Despite the title, “Noose” is not a story about the villain it’s named after, but is narrated by a victim from one of his most heinous crimes - this is Rory Daggett’s story told from his perspective. In the Afterword, LaFaro claims to have done research while writing this novella, but there really wasn’t much in this story that warranted any extensive research beyond understanding the difference between a bullet and a cartridge. It’s a common mistake, but only if you’ve never learned anything about firearms, and if you were planning on writing a western then I would imagine that would probably take precedence alongside info about horses. When Rory’s character was a child I could let it slide, but after fifteen years of being taken care of by a rancher who owns a gun, then I could only assume that Rory would have learned a thing or two (but apparently not). Rory is a special character (to say the least). Fifteen years go by with little to no evidence of a character arc having taken place. He’s still the same little bugger from that tragic day on the train, just a little bit taller perhaps.
There’s really no character development throughout the whole story, and the plot just doesn’t make sense. There’s janky lines of simile throughout the prose that were grammatically odd to read (as if the author was attempting to write purple), and I had to stop on several occasions to figure out wtf LaFaro was trying to convey. The narrative is tone deaf, which made for some very awkward and sometimes unintentionally funny moments. Was the story supposed to be taken seriously or was it meant to be campy? The format is clean and the chapters were focused – even though it’s obvious that the overall story wasn’t well thought out. It is so contrived. The author had a cool premise and some interesting character ideas, but failed to deliver the goods in a compelling way. I think “Noose” needed more developmental work (not to mention general proofreading).
Creativity
I have to talk about these villains featured in “Noose”. Of course there’s George Holcomb (a.k.a. “Noose”) who is technically the star antagonist, but aside from his dastardly deed during the Buzzard’s Edge train robbery of 1872, there’s not much to say about the guy. The real stars of this shitshow are Holcomb’s henchmen.
Crane – the science guy
Dorrance – “That’s the big motherfucker you want to watch out for.”
Merella – She’s a witch!
Edwards – allegedly Holcomb’s right-hand man, who’s good with a knife (but not really)
I was picturing like an "X-Men" crew of outlaws. How fucking cool would that be? A couple of the characters seem legitimately super human. Dorrance is a Hulk kind of character that shrugs off a bullet wound to the foot, but keels over after receiving a kick to the balls. Crane is this nerd science guy who, instead of using a knife or gun or even whip like Indiana Jones, he chooses to use chemical warfare against his opposition. He carries around these little vials you’d see in a chemistry lab and he fucking chucks ‘em at people and it releases a vapor into the air that will either make their skin melt off or cause them to deteriorate psychologically. That is not only eccentric, but also extremely impractical and not to mention an economically unsustainable way of engaging in combat. How is this dude getting the materials to manufacture all these little vials filled with his SciFi fuckery?
Merella’s character takes the most creative liberty of all. She can appear out of thin air, she’s a shapeshifter, and she can create lifelike mirages. None of these characters are really explained at all, but regardless I was along for the ride. I think the author should have just leaned hard into the campiness of these characters. They’re like comic book villains. It’s clear they weren’t meant to be taken seriously. They’re one-dimensional, they’re over the top, and honestly they were the most compelling element of this story.
Delivery
I was expecting some “Kill Bill” (2003) type of shit, based on the book’s blurb, but just set in the Wild West. We have this kid who’s thirsty for revenge against this outlaw killer who murdered his loved ones, and over the course of fifteen years Rory could have been training to become a badass gunslinger. Then, as an adult, he’d be ready to go through all these pseudo super villains to reach the “Noose”, which could have served as a clever double entendre because Rory could end up being hung for murder. Needless to say “Noose” subverted my expectations, but not in a good way.
First off, Crane is the only character that Rory is seen “hunting” in this story. The rest of the encounters happen when the villains present themselves to Rory, but it’s never explained why they give a fuck about this young man. In the end it’s kind of glossed over and given generic excuse when Holcomb is talking to Rory in the Tavern, where “Noose” and his gang had been hiding the whole time. WTF?!
The story suffers from the dreaded “meandering middle” syndrome that plagues many indie books, but I won’t dwell on it too much. Rory finds this random little girl who he calls “Pip”, and even after he learns her name is Alice, he continues to “unintentionally” refer to her as Pip (even though he’s known her for less than 24hrs). Do you meet someone in real life and say, “You know you look like a Hilda, to me,” and they correct you by saying their name is Betty, but you continue to call them Hilda? That’s when I started to suspect that Rory might be a little bit “special”. Rory attempts to hide Alice from the Sheriff, and even after the Sheriff finds out that there’s a strange prepubescent child in Rory’s care he does nothing about it. Rory then proceeds to give the child a gun and include her in his plan to kill the remaining members of the eccentric gang. Rory considers this unknown child, that’s no more than seven or eight years in age, his “friend”. Yeah, that’s not creepy at all (“Horror” indeed).
The story begins with the line:
“The first time I ever met George “Noose” Holcomb, I knew that someday I’d kill him.”
Imagine my surprise when Rory finally gets to sit face to face with the man who had everyone Rory cared about killed, and Rory chooses to engage in a Freudian chit chat as if the dude was his estranged father or something. Rory shows him the “bullet” (cartridge) that Holcomb gave him when he was just a child on the train that Holcomb robbed. Rory kept the damn thing as a memento for fifteen years. I was thinking Rory is going to send that bullet on a one-way ticket straight to Holcomb’s skull.
Like a total “neuro divergent”, Rory decides to subvert my expectations and load that sentimental round into the revolver that belonged to his late foster father, and then slide that sumbitch across the table for Holcomb to do whatever he will with it. “I BET YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING!” No sir. No I did not see that coming, because I don’t even think a person clinically diagnosed with mental retardation would have done something that fucking retarded. Imagine holding onto a grudge for over fifteen years just to fold like a bitch when the tables are turned. Was that supposed to be a deep meaningful moment? A symbolic gesture? It made no fucking sense! Of all the characters that Rory had no problem murdering throughout the novella, Holcomb should have been the only one that Rory actually wanted to kill. At least that’s the impression I was under from the very first line of Chapter One.
#LFLR Indie Rating: 3.5/10
This was a gruesome read, and I’m not even referring to the gratuitous gore that’s described in graphic detail during several unmentioned scenes, because that was mostly just comical to me. I think I liked the idea of what this story could have been more than what it turned out to be. That’s what “Noose” was for me. Turns out, this was Brennan LaFaro’s first attempt at writing a Western, and he is typically a writer of horror stories with his most popular being “Slattery Falls” – about a group of college students who are part-time ghost hunters.
This was a gruesome read, and I’m not even referring to the gratuitous gore that’s described in graphic detail during several unmentioned scenes, because that was mostly just comical to me. I think I liked the idea of what this story could have been more than what it turned out to be. That’s what “Noose” was for me. Turns out, this was Brennan LaFaro’s first attempt at writing a Western, and he is typically a writer of horror stories with his most popular being “Slattery Falls” – about a group of college students who are part-time ghost hunters.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
