Skye Fargo came to western Kansas to find that vast sea of grass drenched with blood. Kiowa and Cheyenne were at each other’s throats, enraged by savage killings of their braves. No whites were safe, from the beautiful madam of a legendary house of pleasure to a trader grown too rich for his own good. And looming over the carnage was the king of the buffalo hunters, Duke Manning, a man-mountain whose brain was as awesome as his brawn, and whose ambition was bigger still. Only Fargo could rip apart the veil of mystery, and stand up to a titan of terror…as the roar of guns drowned out the thunder of buffalo hooves….
This is a very fast paced story that revolves around a great set of characters, be they white, Cheyenne or Kiowa. Fargo has to discover why the two tribes have begun killing each other after living peacefully for years. This adds some mystery to the tale, although most readers will probably work this part of the book out easily. It doesn’t take Fargo long either, but then there’s the problem of proving what is happening.
There are many terrific action scenes involving fists and guns. The subplots all combine, such as that of the girl kept behind walls, who eventually escapes to become the bride of the king, Duke Manning. Now Fargo has to save her too, whist trying to stop a mass Indian battle that will also see many whites fall victim during the war.
Being an adult western series there are a few graphic sex scenes, but these don’t take up many pages and can be skipped easily if you don’t like this kind of explicit writing in your westerns. It would be a shame if you passed this book by because of them as it turned out to be an exciting fun read.
I’m not sure who was behind the pseudonym of Jon Sharpe this time, although I have seen it credited to J.B. Keller. There has always been some confusion as to which books she wrote, some naming series originator Jon Messmann as being the author of some of the books credited to her and vice-versa.
One thing I’ve always liked about the Trailsman series is that the cover art depicts actual scenes from the story and Jerome Podwil has illustrated them superbly.
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