PLATTE RIVER GAUNTLET
By Jon Sharpe
Signet, September 2011
When a frontier army fort is ordered to pull up stakes and
move, Fargo’s scouting skills may not be enough to protect the massive military
manoeuvre. Even though there are wanton women, blind-drunk buffalo hunters, and
highfalutin officers on the march, the real danger is the pack of perilous
predators waiting for the Trailsman to let down his guard….
The above blurb is taken from the back of the book and it
doesn’t really tell you much about the true contents of this story. True, all
the elements mentioned do play some part in the tale but are mainly just the
background to the main theme of the story.
Fargo receives a message from long time friend, Texas Jack,
asking for his help. How can the Trailsman turn down a request from someone who
once saved his life? So Fargo finds himself involved in a crazy scheme to
capture some of the Wests’ most dangerous wildlife so they can be put on show
in a Wild West Extravaganza.
The story is superbly written, full of very visual prose
describing tense confrontations between man and beast, some of which result in
very bloody scenes. The author, in this case David Robbins writing as Jon
Sharpe, also includes a large amount of laugh out-loud dialogue and situations.
With memorable characters and exciting action driving
this more unusual storyline for a Trailsman book, I can only close my comments
by saying that if you are a fan of this series then make sure you don’t miss
this one. To those who don’t read this series but enjoy westerns about man
verses beast then maybe it’s time to consider getting to know the Trailsman.
2 comments:
Laugh out loud, eh? May need to pick this one up sooner rather than later.
Craig, It's starts off grim and gritty and seques into humorous with dark undertones. I wrote it to provoke a few grins and it sounds like Steve and some others did get some chuckles. :) David
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