Sunday 18 May 2014

White Wind

By C. J. Sommers
Hale, April 2014

Spuds McCain is convinced the White Wind brings disaster to all those who sense its message, although Hobie Lee is sceptical. But bad things do happen to the Starr-Diamond Ranch and Hobie is hoodwinked and ambushed into trouble when his charge, Ceci Starr, disappears on a trip to town, and he falls foul of a loud-mouthed bully of a silver miner.

The White Wind blows away the rest of his common sense as he determines to restore the reluctant Ceci to her father, and it takes a maelstrom of death and double-cross before the White Wind blows itself out and Hobie can find peace.

C. J. Sommers begins this story with some of the calamities that befall the hands of the Starr-Diamond Ranch as the White Wind blows. In some-ways these add a light-hearted start to the tale, as does the banter between the hands as to whether they believe in the White Wind or not.

Hobie makes for a great hero, and once Ceci goes missing, he is driven by fear for his job but has no idea how to find her. He does have many questions though but answers are also hard to come by.

C. J. Sommers moves his plot forward at ever increasing speed, piling problem upon problem for Hobie, not least as to the identity of who shoots Hobie and puts him out of action for a while, which in itself might have a silver-lining.

There are some great action sequences, an attack on a cabin being particularly well described.

C. J. Sommers is a pseudonym used by Paul Lederer, and once again I enjoyed reading his book and am left looking forward to his next.

White Wind at Amazon.com

Black Horse Westerns are produced for UK libraries, but some do go on sale through various bookstores and Internet sources, which means getting hold of them can be difficult at times if you’re not quick off the mark. For anyone interested in reading C. J. Sommers’ books but have been finding it hard to get hold of a copy, you may be interested to know that the author has begun putting his older titles out as ebooks.

1 comment:

Jo Walpole said...

Thanks for the footnote. Always good to know what's available.