Eagles, No 16
William W. Johnstone
Pinnacle
2011 / ISBN 9780786023493
Western
Amazon
Reviewed
by Bob Walch
In the aftermath of the fight at the Little Big Horn, the Northern
Cheyenne are banished to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) where tribe
members begin dying in great numbers because of the hot weather
and poor conditions.
A small band of Cheyenne abandon their new home and head north,
settling in the Tongue River area in the Montana Territory. Because
they are peaceful, a presidential order allows them to stay on what
is termed the Tongue River Territory. Unfortunately, a renegade
group of Indians begins to cause trouble and with white settlers
being massacred, the army is called in to keep the peace.
Now Falcon MacCallister and his friend Buffalo Bill are asked
to intervene as well. They discover marauding Indians aren’t
the only problem. A land baron is using the situation to further
his own ends and increase his holdings.
It is a story played over and over again in the West where greed
and violence go hand in hand as the wild territory is slowly tamed.
William W. Johnstone understands the formula and has used it to
create his series of successful westerns. That he has such a loyal
audience testifies to the fact that interest in the western novel
hasn’t totally disappeared.
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