Apache No2 Knife in the Night by William M James)
Apache Book 2 Knife in the Night 1973
I was fortunate to pick up a large collection of the Apache books at one of my many bookshops and market visits. Apache is one of the many gritty and brutal Adult Western series, 27 in all, that came out in the 1970s-1980s from the infamous Piccadilly Cowboy Authors. The Piccadilly Cowboys were a group of British writers who gathered in a pub in Piccadilly in London and wrote a series of violent, brutal Western paperbacks in the 1970s and 80s. Writing under various house names, Terry Harknett, Laurence James, Mike Linaker, Angus Wells, Ken Bulmer, John Harvey, and Fred Nolan. The genre spun off after the success of Terry Harknett’s Edge series, written under the moniker of George Gillman.
These are far removed from the Louis Lamour style westerns popular in the 50s and 60s. They do not take any reference from the Hollywood John Wayne movies but lean into Sam Peckinpah’s Wild Bunch territory. The style and tone are more Spaghetti Western, but with the brutal violence and gore dialled up to 200 %! Each bullet wound could take at least a whole page with its description of the damage inflicted on the human body. The authors were having a great time trying to outdo each other with these!
Although they claim to be written by William James, this was a house publisher’s name and could have been written by either Terry Harknett, John Harvey, or Laurence James. The Apache story is as cliched as the rest of the genre titles, so I pretty much knew the story basics of all these Westerns ( revenge!), I read volume 2 as I have yet to get hold of the first one at a decent price. Currently £45.00 on eBay. You get the basic catch-up of the story so far in the first few pages, so I didn’t miss out on much. I’ll probably download an eBook version. In this one, Cuchillo has recovered from his injuries in a brief couple of weeks ( this guy is tough!) and is out for revenge on the nasty bastard that is this series’ nemesis, the ruthless and sadistic Captain Pinner. the man who killed his wife and child and chopped his fingers off !!! He is going to kill him with the dagger he was accused of originally stealing from Pinner. Pinner originally tortures Chuchillo with said knife ( the finger removal!)
The story starts as Cuchillo tends to his wounds and hides in a cave. With the fingers missing on his right hand, he now needs to learn how to kill with his left hand. This is so he can exact his revenge on Captain Pinner for the rape and murder of his wife and small child. Meanwhile, a bunch of Mexican bandits go on a killing spree and try to leave the blame on the native Americans. When Cuchillo learns of this and comes across the gang as they are about to wipe another village out, he exacts his revenge using arrows to severe vertebrates, his knife to slit throats, and rocks to shatter skulls. He wipes out the whole gang and sharpens his killing skills. He meets up with another tribe and they decide to attack the depleted Fort Davidson, the place where his wife and child were killed and Pinner is holed up. What ensues is an orgy of violence as they defeat the Fort, soldiers scalped, limbs hacked, eyeballs gouged, and genitals hacked off and thrown around by the Native Americans as they laugh. Pinner manages to escape so Cuchillo will have to continue his bloodthirsty rampage of revenge.
No surprises, this is a brutal, gory, and violent book. It’s a literary equivalent of a Quentin Tarantino/ Sam Peckinpah/Italian Giallo movie, and maybe a touch of Saw-style horror! When the hero takes down a Mexican raiding party, the bloodshed is worthy of any horror movie! The author does not hold back on the red stuff. From scalping's to eyeball slicing and brain-exploding bullet exit wounds!
It’s a brief read, and all the volumes follow the same theme, but a roller coaster of gritty violet action novels, well written, well-paced, and knows its audience, giving them ( me?) exactly what it wants.
I recommend any of the Piccadilly Western titles, the full, list of series titles can be found on the website, and they are still putting stuff out, albeit digitally now. There is also a great article on the Six Gun Justice website
Enjoy and thanks for stopping!
Dan
