LitPick Review
When I was reading When To Fire, it felt as if I was sitting around a campfire listening to an old Western legend. It follows the story of Matthew Frimm or "The Pistol Kid." He is a young sharpshooter with a rough past and a reputation that is growing faster than he can keep up with. He's constantly out on the Western frontier trying to chase the long lost memories of his parents, but life keeps getting in the way when a bank robbery goes wrong and his best friend Chaske is killed. He then joins up with Chaske's wife Euna and goes on the hunt for missing answers about his parents. He begins to have these visions, which show both past and future things that end up directing him along this adventure, leading him to question if the universe trying to tell him something. He gets hunted by the deputy, and he learns that he can't outrun the guilt of killing his best friend forever. The chase ends in Chaske's hometown, where a mysterious relic could give Matthew the answers he's been looking for.
Opinion:
When to Fire features a world that genuinely sucks you in. It feels like you're sitting shotgun with "The Pistol Kid" through dusty townships, open ranges, and vistas that have you wondering what's real and what's more otherworldly.
My favorite aspect of the story is the character development. Frimm starts pretty much like your standard Western outlaw, but once you're invested in the story, you get a feel for his heart, his guilt, his pain, and his yearning for something more. Euna is an excellent character, too. She's not just there as a supporting character, but as a promotion to a main side character because she has strength and an understated presence of her own that does a tremendous amount of work in building the emotional nature of the story.
The pacing of the plot is great, alternating action and running scenes with quieter, more introspective scenes so you can catch your breath and connect with the characters. Frimm's hallucinations add another level of suspense, so you're never quite sure what's real and what's destiny.
The book isn't a shootout or outlaw story. It's a tale of loss, redemption, and attempting to find meaning in the thick of it all. It surprised me in the best way possible.
