Blind Man's Bluff

THE TRAILSMAN #370

By Jon Sharpe

Signet, August 2012

The Chiricahua Mountains are full of dangers – and the most terrifying is Apache warrior Red Dog. So when Skye Fargo comes across him, it’s no surprise he’s in the middle of torturing a prospector. Fargo rescues the man, but earns the hatred of Red Dog in the process. And with a slew of greedy gold hunters aiming to start a bloodbath, the Trailsman is going to have to grow eyes in the back of his head to survive….

Opening with a gruesome scene of torture this Trailsman adventure never lets up with action thereafter. Jon Sharpe brings together a terrific cast of characters who when not trying to kill each other are having doubts about who they can trust and whether they are being told the whole truth about a search for gold. All these questions kept me glued to the pages as I was instantly hooked with the need to find out just what was going on.

Being a Trailsman book there isn’t a shortage of women wanting to bed Fargo, but for me the most memorable woman is the one who wants nothing more but to blow a hole through his skull. In fact she is probably my favourite character that Fargo comes into contact with this time.

There are plenty of cliff-hanger chapter, and scene, endings that make the book difficult to put down before discovering what happens next, and the pacing is superb. Descriptions are brief but offer more than enough detail to give the reader a good idea as to the landscape this story is played out in. Violence erupts regularly and is often quite brutally described.

With Jon Sharpe this time around being David Robbins you can expect some cracking dialogue laced with sarcasm and humour, along with some neat twists-to-the-tale.

Blind Man’s Bluff proved to be a very enjoyable read that left me eager for next months offering California Killers.