FRONTIER AMERICA

 

PREACHER & MACCALLISTER 1:
FRONTIER AMERICA
By William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone
Pinnacle Books, August 2019

As the father of a young Crow tribesman, Preacher would like nothing more than to see the long-time natives and newly arrived settlers live together in peace. Then the killing starts . . . 

As a family man and frontiersman, Jamie Ian MacCallister is more than happy to help the officers at Fort Kearny negotiate a peace treaty with the Crow nation. Until it all goes to hell . . . 

This is not the American dream they were looking for. This is a nightmare. A brutal, blood-drenched frontier war that two heroic men must fight and win – or one struggling nation will never come together. For liberty and justice for all . . . 

Book one in a series that features both Preacher and Jamie Ian MacCallister, that is billed as them being together for the first time, yet as the story progresses, we are told that they already know each other and there is mention of how they met. Is there a book that tells this story? Perhaps there is in one of their own series, but I wouldn’t know as I’ve not read any of the Preacher books, or the Eagles series which starred MacCallister. I believe some of the Preacher books tell of how he met his son’s mother, rescued the woman who would become his son’s wife, and of where a revenge hungry enemy that has sworn to kill Preacher came from. This foe turning up in this book to create all kinds of deadly problems that Preacher will have to deal with whilst struggling to keep the peace between the Crow and the US Army.

From my previous paragraph you might think Preacher has the larger role to play in this book, but it’s actually MacCallister that takes centre stage. The two main characters don’t meet until just over halfway into the story. 

The author regularly switches between his characters, and it soon becomes apparent that both Preacher and MacCallister will eventually come together on opposing sides. On the Crow side we have the coolheaded leader who doesn’t want war, but will fight if he has to. There are also younger braves who’d like nothing better than to take on the soldiers. The American troopers are led by a glory hunting Lieutenant who sees the Crow as inferior and expects them to do as he wants. It’s his arrogance that will be the cause of violence between the two sides when he discovers that there is a white woman living among the Crow and he decides she needs rescuing. The woman in question is Preacher’s son’s wife, Butterfly. 

There are plenty of exciting, tense scenes and exhilarating, brutal fights throughout the fast-moving story. Two of the most memorable clashes being between the hate filled Sergeant O’Conner and the giant Crow warrior Big Thunder. Even when everything seems to have been resolved there is one more savage battle waiting as renegades lead by Preacher’s long-time enemy attack the unsuspecting Crow. 

I found Frontier America to be a very enjoyable tale that left me eager to read the next book in the series and check out both Preacher and MacCallister’s own series.  

American readers can get a copy here
British readers can get a copy here