Robert B. Parker's Revelation (A Cole and Hitch Novel)

Couldn't put it down. Love that these characters continue to live.

It almost doesn't matter what the story is as long as these two keep their clipped conversations going.

Cole and Hitch still live and so does Robert Parker, thanks to Robert Knott.

I doubt Robert B Parker would applaud this book. I counted at least 27 murders, some of them quite graphic . . . along with other violence such as castration, sodomy, and vivisection. The basic story is quite good, but it feels like the violence was added gratuitously. Bottom of my list for the Cole and Hitch novels.

When Robert B Parker died in 2010, I thought that that was the end of his characters. Fortunately, other authors have stepped up to keep his various series going, and that is a great thing for Parker’s dedicated readers. Spenser is, of course, the most famous and iconic of his characters, but I have a great affection for Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. These westerns are just plain fun, even this book, which is very dark indeed.

Robert Knott does a great job in capturing Parker’s style of writing, it never feels forced or stilted. Are these books exactly what Parker would have written? No, how can they be. But the books feel familiar, and that is all any can reasonably ask.

I don’t like spoilers so I am not going to give away the plot but suffice it to say that it is action-filled and exciting, albeit even darker than usual. Virgil and Everett are their usual heroic selves, and Allie is just as irritating as ever. The secondary characters are finely drawn, and the villains even more dastardly in this book than in some of the earlier ones.

This book is an excellent addition to the series, and worth reading.

I received an ARC through the publisher and NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Based In The Wild West of guns, horses, marshalls, and lawlessness, this is the story of two US Marshalls who go after a group of outlaws who broke out of prison. This is a time in America's past when there weren't enough lawmen, travel was slow getting from here to there and messages were sent my 'soundboards' which is like telegraph. Still, the human brain is clever and these two marshalls out-think and out-fight their adversary, though not without problems.

In a parallel plot, we see the jailbreak and what comes next through the eyes of one of the convicts. He's smart, patient, driven, and definitely has a goal that's rooted far in the past. He didn't just break out of jail; he has a plan. that he's out of his prison cell. The setting is authentic with plenty of period details that make readers feel at one with he story.

The setting is authentic with plenty of period details that make readers feel at one with he story. I wouldn't call myself a fan of Westerns, but had I known how good this book was, I would have picked it.

--received this book for free in return for an honest review

Robert Knott’s take on the late Robert B. Parker’s Cole and Hitch characters has quickly and steadily drilled its way onto my “most anticipated” book list. There has been a revival of the Western genre in popular fiction recently, and this fine historical series, which features the pairing of the laconic and taciturn US Territorial Marshals, has been first rate since its conception right through to Knott’s takeover. REVELATION, Knott’s fifth volume in the series, finds him stepping out of Parker’s stylistic shadow and giving at least partial rein to his own vision, while remaining true to Parker’s unique Cole and Hitch partnership and the post-Civil War setting of the series. The result is a tale that you will want to linger over even as you’re compelled to read the paragraphs and turn the pages. What a wonderful problem to have.

Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are short on words and long on action. REVELATION, as is the series’ practice, is (primarily) narrated by Deputy Marshall Hitch, as the extremely competent team is removed from the familiar environs of their base in Appaloosa. A group of prisoners have escaped from a stateside penitentiary just across the border from Mexico. While none will be mistaken for Girl Scouts, the apparent leader is particularly heinous and is no stranger to Cole and Hitch.

A good deal of the book is devoted to rounding up and, where appropriate, dispatching the escapees to their final reward. The pursuit takes a number of days, during which Cole and Hitch are given to remark on the changes taking place not only in what was once the wilderness but also in Appaloosa. And there is danger --- perhaps the greatest menace of all --- back home, unbeknownst to Cole and Hitch. Yet another escapee, who has a history with Hitch, has made his way back to Appaloosa with some very unexpected company. He has unfinished business in the form of vengeance in mind, even as the once small cattle town prepares to celebrate the bounty of a wealthy benefactor who is investing heavily in the development of real estate in the city and is prepared to provide it with retail goods to buy and sell.

Meanwhile, yet another force quietly gathers, waiting to be unleashed against one of the players of the piece. Everything comes together in a cataclysmic and surprising ending, most of which you will never see coming.

There is plenty of violence in REVELATION and a bit of sex as well. Oh, and there is a mystery here, one that is very nicely done, along with tragedy, revenge and...well, you just have to read the book. For those of you who love westerns, you will feel as if you have arrived in heaven. If you are not a fan of the horse operas, but feel the need to broaden your literary horizons, this is the book you should read. It will make you a fan of the genre.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Robert Parker's Revelation by Robert Knott

That's a mouthful, isn't it? And is it really Robert Parker's Revelation or Robert Knott's?

This was my first taste of the Robert Knott "fan fiction" continuance of Robert Parker's characters Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. As with any review, this is simply my opinion.

I thought it was decent, and I can understand why someone wants to continue the series.

When Robert Parker first published Appaloosa more than a decade ago, I felt like he'd captured something magical and revitalized the Western. It was different from the Spenser series, and yet, familiar enough to make it feel like I was coming home. I thought those four novels were truly something great. And timeless. He wasn't chasing what's en vogue; he was writing something special.

While Knott's interpretation of the characters and setting is okay, I think it falls flat when compared to how this series began. Some of the dialogue felt a little forced. The plot involved a few situations that were somewhat outside the odds of probability, enough to leave me wondering versus being engrossed.

If you're a fan of Western novels, I think you'll find enough to keep yourself entertained. But if you are expecting the magic that Parker created, this isn't it. I'm debating whether I should read the others by Knott--this wasn't bad--but I suppose I am disappointed because it's not great, either. I think the author should create his own characters and series (if he hasn't) and see what happens versus living in Parker's significant shadow.

Robert B. Parker was a prolific writer of both detective fiction, who ventured into Westerns with four novels about territorial marshals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. Parker is deceased but three of his series are not, each now written by a different author. Knott handles the Wild West stories. From the start, Virgil and Hitch have been appealing characters. In their speech, they’re laconic beyond laconic, especially Virgil, who never uses a sentence when a word or phrase will do and prefers one-word answers to two. (Hitch is ex-West Point. He talks out a little more.) There’s a good deal of gentle humor in the series and the violent moments are handled efficiently and effectively. But …. but … the series is getting old. Knott is a good writer but this series is a trap for him. He’s locked into the concepts and characters of a dead man, and it shows. This book was diverting –Virgil and Hitch are pursuing a group of prison runaways; one is an old nemesis of Hitch’s; Virgil’s love, Allie, inadvertently is put in danger. It feels flabby and predictable and the plotting is not all that great.

Robert Knott captures the writing style of the great Robert B. Parker perfectly. More importantly, he tells a very good, suspenseful, easy reading, gripping story. Marshal Virgil Cole, the heroic, inarticulate man who cannot read and who needs his friend Everett Hitch to explain somewhat large words to him, is depicted perfectly. So too is Deputy Marshal Everett Hitch and the woman who loves Cole, Allie French.
The plot has several layer. Nine convicts escape a prison in what appears to be an impossible manner. The warden of the prison, apparently knowing something or bothered by something, stays away and drinks himself into oblivion. A fabulously rich man comes to the city where the two marshals live and spends a huge amount of money improving the city. We do not know who he is and why he came here. One of the people who share his largess is Allie.
One of the escaped convicts also comes to the city with a plan to do something. We do not know what. He is accompanied by a very beautiful woman who he calls “princess.”
Another escaped convict goes on a horrific butchering spree, killing dozens.
Cole and Hitch go after the nine men.

Hitch and Cole were characters of the old west under Robert B.Parker..in the hands of this person they become like every tawdry character in today's maelstrom of murder and mayhem..foul mouthed mules that clean up after the vicious killers destructive path through this entire book..in essence they become small and insignificant behind the psychos they clean up after..I really don't know who the heck the audience of today is..according to the writers you think we are all blood thirsty sex crazed GOD hating maniacs..Louis 'Lamour had it all over you hacks today..you can't hold a candlestick to him..Robert Parker probably turned over in his grave..you made a mockery of these characters..I'm ashamed I read it..

Robert Knott should not be writing under Robert B. Parker's name. He hasn't the style or the form of Parker. That having been said, he's picked one of the hardest writers to imitate...you can't imitate Parker. Knott has the characters failing to use contractions and the constant use of one word "Is" ":Do" etc. not well done. The whole thing is stilted. Story line over took the characters. Please no more Knott novels under Parker's name. It's not fair to us as readers. I won't read anymore by him.

Pure literary garbage -- the Parker estate should be nauseated. The book is so awful in its totally unnecessary violence, especially the sexual maiming and torture, that instead of donating the book to the public library as I always do after reading a novel, I tossed it in the garbage can. I've been a loyal Parker fan for decades, but this is a complete disgrace to his memory.

...worthy of being an actual Robert B. Parker successor. Well-written, well-plotted, "Revelation" is a good yarn, borrowing a bit of Elmore Leonard with multiple antagonists, and at the same time tossing in some of Mickey Spillane's trademark sadism.
Only one complaint, that being the uncommon sloppiness of the Kindle production. Poor quality control!

Really bad guys escape from prison. Story plods along always wondering how one of the bad guys appears in town as lady's man with little things like money and nice clothes. Hitch and Cole have very little to do with the story. Plot reveals only what was obvious and concludes with the most abrupt ending I have ever seen in a novel. Bang, bang, bang you deat. END!

Fantastic read and a great continuation of a really good series that gets better and better. I agree with the other reviewer that another movie should get made. Appaloosa the film was so good and I'd like to see another with the very compelling characters of Hitch and Cole.

A decent mystery novel. It is nothing like Robert B. Parker. Parker's books have a ruthless, simple plot, which centers on the characters of Virgil and Everett. This book is about surprise plot twists and sadistic violence. Virgil and Everett are incidental to the main story.

The characters are fine, the clipped one word discussion is tedious at times, I bought this on Kindle and there is something seriously missing... Like pages , all through the book you find examples of half ended sentences and cropped ones half finished. It's like you turn a page and skip one because they are stuck together.
It wouldn't be that bad, but it's all through this book. Here is an example.
" So he had no comparison, he considered time was always on the side of the living. cent free daytime beginning he'd spent, with refreshing tip or two of fine Whiskey and a cigarette."
Try to make sense of that.
I love the series, do a better job before you wreck it.

I thought this book was very poorly written and he used God's name in vain, not once but all through the book. I did not finish the book for this reason and would not buy any of his books again. I am an avid reader of western style books. I have read lots of books written by Louis L'Amour, Willaim Johnstone, and others and they don't have to use this style of writing.

I have read every Robert Parker novel written, and have continued with other authors writing under his name, however the quality of those writers is deteriorating. The language is fouler than Parker would have used, there is graphic sexual violence and enough of the "he said", "she said" at the end of every sentence! When you hear it on audiobook it is very annoying!

Thank you so much Robert Knott for continuing the Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch series and keeping westerns so nostalgic.. I loved the characters and loved the suspense. What a page turner. Keep up the great writing!