A vivid, messy portrait of the Wild West, with a satisfying high-energy conclusion that celebrates the triumph of the human...
A large, disparate cast of characters populates Ross’ historical fiction, a sprawling tale about the westward migration that marked America’s expansion during the 19th century.
In his gritty debut novel, Ross, a career writer and editor for newspapers and magazines in Ohio, embraces the ambitious task of depicting American history during the tumultuous period between 1830 and 1870. This involves covering the horrors of slavery, Andrew Jackson’s program to relocate all Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi, the Indian Wars and the Civil War, and the rampant cruelty inflicted upon those seeking a better future on the Western frontier. All “trails” in this sweeping narrative lead to Abilene, Kansas, what has been called the first “cow-town” of America. To get there, however, readers must travel with and become invested in a plethora of unconnected protagonists from Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, even New York, and Vermont. Initially, it’s difficult to keep track of them all. They include displaced Native Americans, Texas Rangers hardened during the wars with the Comanche, escaped and freed slaves looking for a new life, and a soulful musician whose tragic loss leads him to leave the Louisiana bayou. Some grew up with—and lost—wealth and privilege: Eli Whitney “Whit” Brody from Natchez, whose family was wiped out by a tornado, and the Chase brothers from Vermont, who witnessed and suffered from the carnage of the Civil War. Everyone is damaged in some way by cataclysmic events, be they personal and/or social. Heartbreak, physical torture, and despair are never more than a few pages away. But there are also many moments of gentle kindness and great bravery. Cameo appearances by George Armstrong Custer and Mark Twain, as well as encounters with more than a few recognizable outlaws, add historical flavor. Ross even includes a good old street shootout. Amid the episodes of extraordinary violence perpetrated by all manner of miscreants, he manages to carve out a multitude of poignant, essentially short stories that coalesce into a coherent, positive reading experience.
A vivid, messy portrait of the Wild West, with a satisfying high-energy conclusion that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit.Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-939828-06-4
Page Count: 406
Publisher: Light Switch Press
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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