Helpful Score: 1
I'm finding that I'm in the midst of another mini-reading binge of books set in the American West, and one of the best authors to read is Spur Award-winning Larry D. Sweazy. This first Trusty Dawson book, Lost Mountain Pass, takes us from 1860s St. Louis and Trusty's youth to 1880s Indian Territory where U.S. Marshall Sam Dawson has earned the nickname everyone calls him by being utterly trustworthy and dependable.
Sweazy's setting has you slapping off the trail dust, hearing the jingle of spurs, and knowing that your life may very well depend on how observant you are of people and your surroundings. There's more going on than a simple manhunt to put Trusty's life in danger, and as his backstory is woven into the story, the danger he's in becomes palpable. There are two very dangerous men after Dawson, and the shadowy Michael Darby with his reluctance to talk makes you wonder if there's a third. And as far as characters are concerned, Sweazy introduces a female Apache scout named Woman's Clothes that I definitely would love to see more of.
With its fast pace, authentic setting, very real sense of danger, and amusing turns of phrase ("...took to wearing suits like a lizard dancing on ice" and "...face that looked like it had been used to rake gravel"), Lost Mountain Pass is an extremely satisfying read. In the next book in the series, Trusty will be heading to North Dakota, and I think I'll just mosey right along with him.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
Sweazy's setting has you slapping off the trail dust, hearing the jingle of spurs, and knowing that your life may very well depend on how observant you are of people and your surroundings. There's more going on than a simple manhunt to put Trusty's life in danger, and as his backstory is woven into the story, the danger he's in becomes palpable. There are two very dangerous men after Dawson, and the shadowy Michael Darby with his reluctance to talk makes you wonder if there's a third. And as far as characters are concerned, Sweazy introduces a female Apache scout named Woman's Clothes that I definitely would love to see more of.
With its fast pace, authentic setting, very real sense of danger, and amusing turns of phrase ("...took to wearing suits like a lizard dancing on ice" and "...face that looked like it had been used to rake gravel"), Lost Mountain Pass is an extremely satisfying read. In the next book in the series, Trusty will be heading to North Dakota, and I think I'll just mosey right along with him.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
