William S. Brady

 Comanche!

(Peacemaker #1)

by

William S. Brady

War taught him to kill …to stay alive!

McLain had nothing left in Missouri. His wife was dead, his farm was burned out.

The Civil War taught him the bloody art of killing, and now he was alone. He owned a brace of Colt Dragoons pistols, a Sharps carbine, and a horse. He followed the rebel guerrilla trail south to Texas …

And there, the Nokoni Comanche took his horse and plunged him into violent struggle for survival that was even more savage than the White man’s war.

A brutal fight for life that sent McLain down the killing trail again.

But this time in pursuit of a dream.

John T. McLain headed for Texas after the war with nothing left to his name and the hope of building a new life. Instead, he rode straight into a world of trouble.

Walking Bear and his Comanche warriors were on the warpath, with a small troop of soldiers firmly in their sights. The main body of the small force had been drawn away from a remote outpost, leaving only a handful of men isolated, surrounded, and cut off from help.

The sergeant in command asked McLain to ride for assistance. He agreed, but by the time help arrived, the garrison had been wiped out and the only woman at the post, Alice Patterson, had been taken captive.

Faced with the disaster, the captain leading the relief patrol chose the easiest way to protect his own career: he blamed McLain for everything. Suddenly branded responsible for the massacre, McLain was left with only two choices. He could run for his life, or he could find Alice Patterson, the one person who could clear his name.

McLain was never the kind of man to run.

Published under the famed Piccadilly Cowboys imprint, Comanche is not as relentlessly violent as the Edge series or even some of the Apache adventures. Nevertheless, it is a solid and enjoyable western, with strong writing and plenty of action to keep the pages turning.

I remember reading a number of these books as a teenager, and I suspect I may even have read this one before. If so, I had completely forgotten the story, which was no bad thing. It allowed me to experience and enjoy the novel all over again.

If the ultra-violent excesses of Piccadilly's harder-edged titles, such as Edge, are not to your taste, then Comanche may be just the western you're looking for.

You can pick it up from Amazon or direct from Piccadilly Publishing. 5/5.