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Overview
With the end of the beaver trade at hand, free trappers like Titus Bass must somehow make their way on a changing frontier. Drawn by the promise of adventure and wealth, Bass joins an expedition to Spanish California, where the ranchos have horses and mules in abundance. Their plan is to steal the livestock and drive it back east across the great Mojave Desert to sell to fur traders for top dollar. But pursuit by formidable Mexican soldiers and an attack by fierce Digger Indians take their toll on Bass and his fellow raiders.Arriving back in the Rockies, the mountain man discovers that even the famous Jim Bridger has abandoned trapping and settled down to trade with overland immigrants plying the Oregon Trail. Wondering where his own trail will lead him, Bass journeys south for a reunion with an old friend in Taos-only to be caught up in the "Taos Rebellion." And in its tragic aftermath, Titus finds himself once again an outsider in a world he no longer recognizes.
Synopsis
With the end of the beaver trade at hand, free trappers like Titus Bass must somehow make their way on a changing frontier. Drawn by the promise of adventure and wealth, Bass joins an expedition to Spanish California, where the ranchos have horses and mules in abundance. Their plan is to steal the livestock and drive it back east across the great Mojave Desert to sell to fur traders for top dollar. But pursuit by formidable Mexican soldiers and an attack by fierce Digger Indians take their toll on Bass and his fellow raiders.
Arriving back in the Rockies, the mountain man discovers that even the famous Jim Bridger has abandoned trapping and settled down to trade with overland immigrants plying the Oregon Trail. Wondering where his own trail will lead him, Bass journeys south for a reunion with an old friend in Taos-only to be caught up in the "Taos Rebellion." And in its tragic aftermath, Titus finds himself once again an outsider in a world he no longer recognizes.
Publishers Weekly
Despite enough realistic action and soft-core sex to keep the pages turning, this latest addition to the life story of frontiersman Titus Bass will disappoint even fans of Johnston's other Titus books, Carry the Wind, Dance on the Wind and Buffalo Palace. No longer the Lothario of the West but still just as macho as they come, middle-aged Titus now moons over one lucky Indian maiden as he battles horse thieves, hostile Comanches and equally hostile terrain, savors the pleasures of friendly camps and engages in a series of predictable adventures that might have been lifted from any number of contemporary westerns (similarities to Michael Gear's recent Coyote Summer are particularly striking). As usual, Johnston lays the period details on thick: describing every activity of the characters in minute detail, his narrative voice shifts from one point of view to another and slips frequently into frontier-speak ("Now, those Injun gals, Fawn and Pretty Water, they had never appeared to worry about the niceties of preliminaries nor concerned themselves with social appearances"). With static minor characters and too many stereotypes, the book wants editingand cutting, by about half. It may be time for Titus to fade off and for Johnston to develop a more believable and interesting protagonist. (Sept.)