This lively series opener reveals why Wild West tales continue to entertain.
A Western adventure explores the danger and excitement of the stagecoach era.
In this latest foray into the Old West from Harris (A Novel Journey, 2019, etc.), readers are introduced to colorful driver Stagecoach Willy and his taciturn shotgun messenger, Ten. The two are dragged down from their mountaintop retirement cabin for a special assignment. They have to carry $250,000 in cash and gold and plans for a new type of sawmill from Portland, Oregon, to Sacramento. There is a wrinkle to which the old partners must agree. The plans are locked in a briefcase held by Kate Warren, a beautiful Pinkerton agent. To put Willy’s and Ten’s minds at ease, Kate lists her credentials, adding: “I can’t pee standing up, but I can do just about everything else you boys can do.” Kate quickly proves herself, even stopping the first attempt to rob the partners of their cargo. The group even adds a passenger, Sydney, a dog that was being mistreated at one stop. The quartet settles into the challenging routine of rolling from stop to stop over often treacherous roads, looking out for trouble. The four also bond as a result of their exhilarating exploits. In this first installment of a series, Harris deftly summons the spirits of the old pulps for a new generation. Long before armored cars, stagecoaches transported important cargo. The author’s intrepid odd couple have a history of success: The two men never lost a load during their time together. The gregarious Willy always has a story to tell, and Ten, too often his friend’s audience of one, longs for the quiet of his cabin. While this pair isn’t terribly nuanced, Kate proves a deeper character, being orphaned and ending up the head of her family at too young an age. The author’s thorough research is apparent in his vivid descriptions of the stagecoach life. What results is an invigorating novella with the feel of a fast-paced movie serial from yesteryear, which will leave readers pondering what will happen next to the heroes.
This lively series opener reveals why Wild West tales continue to entertain.Pub Date: June 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-07-205054-4
Page Count: 196
Publisher: Dusty Saddle Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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
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