By Steve Hayes and David Whitehead
Hale, June 2012
Jesse Glover was minding his own business when Ulysses S. Grant summoned him to Washington, asking him to quit the life of a cowboy and keep Arizona safe from the likes of Cochise and Geronimo. So Jesse saddled up and headed for Fort Bowie and its Indian-hating commanding officer, Major Nicholas Calloway.
Along the way he saved a beautiful White Mountain Apache girl named Morning Star from a monstrous fate. And when he tangled with a ruthless gang who was determined to start a whole new Indian uprising, he found help in the shape of two unlikely allies – a Zulu warrior named Sam and a Chiricahua Apache named Goyahkla, who was better known as Geronimo.
Steve Hayes and David Whitehead have written a number of other novels together that have been published by Hale, but this is the first western. Both have had westerns published individually under their own names, and in David Whitehead’s case, under a number of pseudonyms too.
The book is well written, as expected, and moves forwards at a great pace. As well as the three main characters, Jesse, Sam, and Geronimo, there are others that are as equally memorable, Morning Star and Cochise being but two of them.
Jesse Glover’s mission of peace seems doomed to failure from the start as there are people on both sides who would rather go to war, Geronimo being one of them. This difference of opinion leads to a very visually written fight between Geronimo and Jesse. This isn’t the only obstacle they face with each other, for both have strong feelings for Morning Star…
The story portrays a sense of urgency as time runs out towards the latter part of the tale as the Apaches ride down on the fort intent on wiping it out. This provides some exciting reading as the three men of the title race to halt the impending battle. Are the three successful? Does Jesse or Geronimo win the heart of Morning Star? I guess you’ll have to read the book to find out, and I’d suggest you’ll be as entertained in finding out as I was.
Just been reading The American West by Carol Sletten and Eric Kramer and the reviewed book sounds like it was adapted from history with a slight tongue in cheek with the facts. Sounds like a good book!
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