Corporate Gunslinger by Doug Engstrom

In this novel debt slavery is legal. In this near future, you secure loans by signing lifetime service contracts. Fall delinquent in payments, your debt goes into default and the company takes possession of you via a literal property recovery team, sending you to locations it determines, for meager earnings, until your debt is paid, which could take a lifetime.

The system in place does offer an alternative, become a corporate gunslinger and receive a payoff signing bonus, make monthly payments on debts through successful duels, within the laws of the United States and the National Association for Dueling. The company calculates how many duels you need for payoff. If successful, if you live, you will be debt free, after having killed several people.

The author really goes into detail about the operation and aiming of a firearm. He also goes into detail of the movements and strategies of the gunfight duels and the kills (there is a violence disclaimer before starting the novel). Gunfighters duel citizens that have claim disputes with the company; if arbitration doesn’t go the citizen’s way, they can reject it and duel the company via the company’s gunfighter. Videos of duels are made, edited and posted for fans as entertainment.

Dueling guns have sensors to ensure fair play – you can only shoot when you are located in the designated kill box. People who act as seconds assist the gunfighter. Wards monitor both the gunfighter and seconds. EMT’s, who verify kills and assist the wounded, are also on site, with a judge.

The novel opens with a seasoned Kira Clark about to engage in a gunfight with another rival gunfighter. The chapters go back and forth between Kira’s initial arrival to the company’s gunfighter dorm, her training, and rise through the ranks as gunfighter and the narrative of the duel between this rival gunfighter – excellent writing, the detail is just great.

The rival gunfighter is Niles LeBlanc, working with a different company. They face off in this high stakes duel that spans the length of eleven chapters, each 2 – 3 pages long. Why they face off is revealed in the other chapters that goes through Kira’s rise as a gunfighter.

Kira, rather that become a debt slave, signed a contract to gunfight, along with her roommate, Chloe Ross, the only women among the gunfighter trainees. Kira and Chloe are being trained by a seasoned gunfighter, now ward, Diana Reynolds, who takes a special interest in them knowing the odds are against the only two women being trained. The novel reveals the pasts of these three women, what brought them to work for this company and how becoming a gunfighter changes their lives.

As she progresses as a gunfighter, Kira is successful in the majority of her duels. However, she learns that when she finishes her contract, her debt will be paid, but she will be left with little money and an unsecure future. She does not want to be in debt again. Emotionally, gunfighting has taken a toll on her – she would rather not ever gunfight again.

Kira has killed many times and is consumed by guilt. She’s killed people not as skilled, young and old, who didn’t stand a chance against a trained gunfighter. She wants out. She has reached the point where she doesn’t care if she lives or dies. While working for the company, she has learned that you can become rich beyond your dreams at the end of your contract if you sign on to an intercompany duel with another gunfighter. Kira, in a desperate move, signs on to fight gunfighter, Niles LeBlanc. She wants to leave the company and her contract debt free and financially comfortable or die trying.

Corporate greed, gun violence and debt slavery work against the average person in this fictional society, created by this talented author, Doug Engstrom. Who wins the gunfight between Kira and LeBlanc? Well, you’ll have to give Corporate Gunslinger a read to find out!