Redemption

By Morgan J. Blake

ISBN-1-59105-203-3 (e-book)

ISBN-1-59105-228-9 (paperback)

Wylie's mother is brutally murdered.  His sister Cara, his friend Jaylene and several others are kidnapped.  As he steels himself to examine his mother's wounds he begins to suspect that blaming Apaches for the raid is much too simple.

                Gus Lundgren an old friend of Wylie and his mother, reacts with a mixture of shock and anger when Wylie tells him about his mother's death and enlists his aid in tracking the kidnapped women.  Lundgren refuses to join Wylie in tracking the raiders but lends him a huge sorrel, his best trail horse.

            Then there's Annie.  She's introduced to Wylie as Lundgren's adopted daughter, but something is not right.  As long as he has known Lundgren, Wylie has never heard of a daughter before.  Even more strangely, when Wylie leaves his ranch Gus signals to a man with sandy-blond hair to follow his young friend.

            Cara, Jaylene and six other women and girls are tired, dirty and often hungry.  Endless hours of riding take them steadily south, closer to Mexico and a life of degradation.  Cara works to help Jaylene and the others keep their spirits up as she watches for a chance to escape.

            Wylie's introduction to the town of Redemption includes the sight of a mutilated dog that has been slashed to ribbons and left to die slowly and miserably.   A few moments later, he has to fight an outlaw named Dossey and an unknown white-haired man to save Maria de la Rosa from their unwanted attentions.

            Redemption is fast moving and riveting but dark.  Blake has created characters full of evil and degeneration.  Some of them have few redeeming human qualities.  Other characters are courageous men and women who fight this evil with all of their might.  Wylie's quest to save Cara and the other women for a miserable life of slavery provides continued suspense.  The reader will find mystery on every page of this action-packed story.  It was hard to stop turning pages until the end to find out who was really behind the murders and kidnapping.

A.H.Holt, editor

WesternFictionReview

June 2004