Susan Kay Law
A Wanted Man (2004)
Author: Susan Kay Law
Genre: Romance (Historical)
Plot Summary:
Susan Kay Law's A Wanted Man is the story of Laura Hamilton, a young lady from an extremely wealthy, East Coast family, who is journeying for the first time away from home without her parents. She is somewhat famous in her own right, a well-known painter who is now headed to the West to paint the vistas. Sam Duncan is the best gun-for-hire in the country, but now his only true friend has gone missing from a ranch he was working on, and Sam is determined to find out the truth of what happened to him. He places himself in Laura's path, planning to use her as a way onto the ranch, but he's surprised by her unassuming kindness and warmth, and he begins to feel guilty for lying to her and for using her. When his lies are discovered by Laura's companions, Sam has to make a choice between leaving Laura safely with her party and making his mission nearly impossible to accomplish, or abducting Laura and forcing her to help him. SPOILER: Sam does abduct Laura, but after he explains his situation, she makes the choice to accompany him and help him in finding his friend. They discover that the ranch in question has been using slave labor, shipped overseas from China, to work the mines on the property, and after the powerful ranch-owner discovers their true intentions, Sam and Laura flee, and during their escape, they become closer than either of them ever intended. They are separated briefly by her father, after he sweeps in and puts a stop to the inhumanity on the ranch, but Sam makes his way across the country to Laura's home, where the two declare their love for each other and end up marrying, with her father's blessing.
Geographical Setting: Wyoming & Arizona
Time Period: 1884
Appeal Characteristics:
There are two main characters--our heroine and hero--and then a cast of relatively flat secondary characters, including two of whom engage in a secondary romance. Laura is from an extremely rich family, and while she's well-aware of her privilege, she remains humble, kind, and giving, and she doesn't treat people as though she's any better than they. She is sassy and has a strong personality, driven by her need for a bit of freedom from her overbearing and overprotective parents. Sam is a strong, stoic, and widely considered dangerous man with no friends or family to speak of, who has chosen a solitary life; he is tormented by his past, and though he allows almost no one to see his true emotions, he is never anything other than respectful, if a bit teasing, toward Laura . The two main characters are developed slowly over the book, with tiny bits of information and new facets of their personalities being revealed in each chapter. This book is slowly paced, with long paragraphs, little dialogue, and a lot of description of settings and attire. There are some moments, as in the beginning of the book and nearer the end, of quick action that seem to move The characters are all introduced at the beginning of the book. The frame is the Old West. There are detailed descriptions of the various towns and no-man's-lands in between the towns that the characters travel through; the heroine of the story is a painter, so we often see the vistas through her eyes as she considers her work. The frame definitely affects the feel of the book; there's a sort of dusty feel throughout the story, and the general sense of lawlessness is definitely contributed to by the setting of a barely-settled area. The tone of the book varies--it is mostly serious throughout and wistful and tense at turns. There are definitely moments of humor, though, particularly in the final chapter and in the interaction between the secondary and tertiary characters. The emphasis of the storyline is definitely on the characters and their thoughts and feelings, though there is a compelling plot that moves the characters through the book, and closer together. This book is written thoughtfully, with care taken to reveal little bits of information about the characters' pasts at just the right moment. There is also a lot of attention paid to the details of the setting and of the characters' physical and emotional states.
Read-alikes: In another of Susan Kay Law's books, The Bad Man's Bride, Anthea Bright is shipped off from her comfortable home in Philadelphia to be a teacher in the frontier town of Haven, Kansas, where she finds out how poorly prepared she was for life there Gabriel Jackson is the town's outcast, who has just taken in the daughter of recently-deceased town prostitute, so everyone assumes that he is the girl's father. Anthea is the only person who treats either Gabriel or his ward with any kindness or respect, and though she and Gabriel often clash over what is best for the child, eventually they become close. As with Laura in A Wanted Man, Anthea is the aggressor in the eventual relationship with Gabriel, pushing for things to move faster when he believes that he ought to move slowly. The characters are similar in more ways than just that; Anthea and Laura are both strong, intelligent, upper-class women, used to the best but not standing on their social class. Gabriel and Sam are both of no class to speak of, and both are honorable and respectful toward the women in their lives. The pace and storyline are also similar; the pace is slow and mostly steady, thoughts, emotions, and settings described in great detail. The storyline focuses on a very slowly developing relationship, the gradual building of the characters, and there is a secondary romance and a conflict that reveals more about the hero than he'd probably appreciate us knowing. Texan's Wager by Jodi Thomas is the story of Bailee, a woman who enters a "Wife Lottery" in a small town in frontier Texas after being abandoned by her wagon train and attacked by a man that she then believes she's killed. Carter McKoy, a man who lives in isolation and has decided that a wife is just what he needs to help him on his ranch, is chosen randomly from a pool to be her husband. The rest of the novel follows the two of them as they get to know each other, and as they deal with the consequences of Bailee's earlier attack. Texan's Wager has a character-focused storyline with an action-based subplot that brings the characters closer together and allows the reader to learn more about the hero, which will appeal to those who enjoyed the same elements in A Wanted Man. Those that liked the character of Sam may also find Carter, who is a seemingly unemotional loner with a tragic past, attractive. Lily by Leigh Greenwood takes place is frontier California; the hero is Zac, a saloon-owner, and the heroine is Lily, a distant cousin of his who has fled from an arranged marriage. Lily is much-desired by the men of the town, and Zac is not immune to her charms, though he believes that he isn't good enough for her; Lily decides that she's destined to be Zac's redemption. This book is lighter in tone throughout the book than A Wanted Man, but that will appeal to those readers who enjoyed the humor in Law's book. The characters--a pure and unselfish woman and a hero who's considerably more rough around the edges--will also appeal to those readers who enjoyed the characters of Laura and Sam. The Angel and the Outlaw by Kathryn Albright is a historical romance between Stuart, a loner who tends a lighthouse for a living and lives with only his young daughter, Hannah. Rachel is a new school teacher who is concerned about Hannah, and she convinces Stuart to allow her to tutor his daughter and encourage her to speak. Rachel knows that Stuart has secrets and a dark past, but she is drawn to him nonetheless. The characters of Rachel and Stuart--the kind woman who wants to reach out and heal Stuart and his daughter and the reluctant man who attempts to resist Rachel's warmth, both of whom we learn about slowly as the story progresses--will appeal to those who enjoyed the main characters in A Wanted Man. The serious and introspective tone of the story will also appeal to those who enjoyed the tone of Law's book. In Lady of the West by Linda Howard, Jake's family was destroyed and his family's ranch stolen when he was a boy by wealthy rancher Frank McLain. Now Frank is married to a beautiful, young lady named Victoria, who is from a upper class Southern family. Jake will stop at nothing to achieve revenge against Frank, and he poses as hired gun in order to kill him and take back his family's ranch; after Frank's death, though, the ranch goes straight to his lovely young widow, and Jake, already half-crazed with lust for her, marries her in order to complete his plans. Though the hero is too blinded by rage to be the gentleman that Sam is in A Wanted Man, he is wounded by past traumas, as Sam is, and it is up to Victoria, an intelligent and genteel lady who is somewhat less strong-willed than Laura, to force her way into his heart. Those who enjoyed those aspects of the characters in Law's book will also enjoy them in this novel. Fans of A Wanted Man who enjoyed the action-based subplot and the secondary romance will also enjoy those elements in Lady of the West.
Red Flags: Explicit depictions of sexual acts, violence.
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