Horsethief Crossing

THE TRAILSMAN 

#62 of 398

By Jon Sharpe

Signet, February 1987

Cover art by Jerry Podwil

There were six of them. They rode into town, looted the bank, and gunned down the innocents who got in their way. That was bad enough, but even worse, they took off with Skye Fargo’s Ovaro steed, with its saddlebag loaded with all his cash.

Skye was left with the clothes on his back, the gun in his belt, and the rage in his heart. He was going to get those horsethieves…even if he had to chase them clear across Texas…on a bucking mare that liked to throw any rider…with a luscious girl who could drain any man of energy…and with a Colt .45 loaded with just the right number of bullets to cut down the odds of six against one….

Most of the Trailsman books I’ve read have been from number 100 onwards and it’s always fun to see how differently Skye Fargo is presented in his earlier adventures, if at all. The author behind the pseudonym of Jon Sharpe this time around is, I believe, Frank Roderus, and he gives us a Fargo who isn’t that much different to how he is portrayed in the later books. The only real difference being that it was never mentioned that Fargo carried an Arkansas toothpick.

The story contains plenty of action, both gunplay and explicit sex. The violence is hard-hitting and at times graphic. As well as tracking down the horsethieves, Fargo finds time to get involved with a troop of Texas Rangers fighting a superior in numbers band of Comanches which results in some very exciting, and bloody, battles.

I think Frank Roderus only wrote three books in this series, one of which I’ve already read, #64: Fargo’s Woman, and on the strength of these two I look forward to reading his other, #60: The Wayward Lassie, very soon. I have read many other books by Roderus too, and have yet to be disappointed in any of his work.