Wild Men by Alan David

He's a young man who loves his father and their ranch.  They have a nice piece of land with good grass and good water and they are starting to build new lives here.  But the past comes calling...

Pioneering Press allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It has been published so you can grab a copy now.

This is a story of hard men of the west who are used to taking what they want.  When three riders show up at the ranch and his dad doesn't seem very happy about, Steve comes to see what's going on.  It seems his father knows these men and doesn't want anything to do with them.  He sends them on their way.  Then the owner of the abutting ranch shows up and accuses of them of stealing horses from them.  It seems those men arguing with his father were riding them.  They tell them of the visit and the direction the riders took on leaving and things settle down a bit.

It turns out that his father was the leader of that gang twenty years ago.  He never told Steve about it, but now he has to come clean.  He also knows he's probably going to have to leave the ranch.  Steve doesn't want to hear that.

The big rancher wants that grassland and water back and he offers to buy them out.  They won't sell so he decides to run them off.

There's bushwacking, murder, double crossing and more in this tale.  It's about men who likes guns too much.  There's no sweetness and light in this story.  It's a hard cruel world in the west and so are the men that walk it.