Blood Mountain

After having read and reviewed several of Brandvold's novels;I finally got around to this one .It was published in 1999, and as far as I know his second. It follows "Once a Marshal",which was published in 1998,his first,to my knowledge. This story has everything. Fast action,and something new and exciting with every turn of a page. It has 258 pages broken up into 30 chapters. Since the chapters are only about 8 pages long,it gets you hooked.As you are about to put it down,and the suspense is mounting,you decide to read one more chapter,then one more,and then another. Wow,what a time I had trying to put it down once I got into it. Though there is lots of suspense about what's gonna happen next,there is no mystery about who the bad guys are. If you like westerns that are not more like whodunnits,you will like this one. All the way throuh this saga ,I was reminded of Larry McMurtry's "Berrybender Narratives" ,which was published in 4 volumes,starting in 2002 with "Sin Killer" and completing in 2004 with "Folly and Glory". This was also about a wagon train and all its experiences as it crossed the country and fended of Indians and other Renegades. If you liked that, you like this just as much. Brandvold is a master of coming up with the perfect words for the occassion and they tend to stick with you. Here are a couple I really evjoyed; "He was no gunslinger; he hated the breed. But he could be accurate when he needed to be, and he was willing, and that combination almost always counted for more than speed." "Fool",he grated. "You get what ya pay for, and you're payin' now, aren't you?" "It ain't always a gun that decides if you make it," Nordstrom warned. "Trying to make it by a gun will only get you shot." I counld't be more in agreement with the previous reviewer who suggests that this book would make a super movie. It's about time for another great Western.

Peter Branvold has captured the very essence of the old west. The detailed descriptions make you feel like you are on the trail. I can't wait for the next book to emerge from Brandvold's fantastic mind.

Peter Brandvold is one of the best western writers around.Blood Mountain and Once A Marshall kept me well entertained.I can't wait till the next story. Read both,they are better than a Clint Eastwood movie.