Reviewer Sandra E. Graham is the author of Amos Jakey and Nicolina published by American Book Publishing. Sandra graduated from Arkansas State University in Joeboro, Arkansas. Many of her articles have been posted on various ezines. To read an interview with Sandra Click Here
Author: Mike Kearby
ISBN: 978-0-9788422-9-1
Publisher: Trail’s End Books
The Last
Renegade is historical adventure fiction at its very best. Mike
Kearby brings realism and chills to his readers in this wonderfully
exciting tale of the Old West. His characters are straight off
the rugged plains of a time all but forgotten.
Author: Mike Kearby
ISBN: 978-0-9788422-9-1
Publisher: Trail’s End Books
The Last
Renegade is historical adventure fiction at its very best. Mike
Kearby brings realism and chills to his readers in this wonderfully
exciting tale of the Old West. His characters are straight off
the rugged plains of a time all but forgotten.
A young Indian boy belonging to one of Texas’ last tribes of Comanche Indians is captured by buffalo hunters when they attack his village and kill most of his people. Nine-year-old Young-Man-Listens is then sold to the devious con man and circus owner, Shelley McDuff. McDuff turns the young Indian boy into his star performer and dubbs him Chief Raging Buffalo, the last Renegade.
Caged and treated as
if he were an animal, Young-Man-Listens, spends the next two years of
his life living only for the day that he will be free and seek the
revenge that is rightfully his. Revenge against the murderous
criminal, McDuff. Confined to his locked cage and fed
only if he performs well or when someone remembers to feed him, the
young boy keeps his mind sharp by focusing on his two goals—escape
and retribution.
McDuff eventually wearies of his life with the traveling circus and leaves it in the charge of his henchman, Skelton Parker. McDuff then strikes out on another get rich quick scheme in the growing Texas metropolis of Redemption. He doesn’t reckon with the antics of two young Redemption residents, Jake and Marty, and Jake’s pesky dog, Walter.
McDuff insinuates
himself into the good graces of the town by becoming its one and only
minister, the exalted Reverend Reid. The dog, Walter, quickly
becomes a thorn in McDuff’s side, as the hyperactive mongrel
continually digs in the good Reverend’s garden where Walter
uncovers secrets that the Reverend would have preferred left buried.
The Reverend’s numerous complaints to the local sheriff ends in
Walter being captured and locked away in the town’s dog pound.
Jake can’t stand to see any of God’s creatures locked in cages and his good-hearted rescue feats get him into more trouble than his young mind had ever dreamed possible. With his best friend, Marty, a young girl of his own age, he breaks the locks that imprison his dog. It doesn’t take long for Jake’s father, the town’s sheriff, to find out about the kid’s escapades. He has a heart to heart talk with his son and extracts a promise from the boy to take the dog back, repair the damage to the pound’s fence, and then earn the money to pay for his dog’s release.
McDuff’s circus
finally makes the Texas circuit and arrives in its full glory on the
main street of Redemption. Marty’s uncle Charley promises to
take the two youngsters to the circus if they finish repairing the
pound’s fence in record time. Charley, a drunken scoundrel in
his own right, sits in the shade of a tree and sips moonshine while
the two children work in the hot Texas sun repairing the fence.
Jake and Marty eventually find that they may have gotten themselves in over their heads when they face the bars that cage the notorious Chief Raging Buffalo. All they were trying to do was corral the elusive Walter and now they may well have placed themselves in grave danger. You will want to read this great novel to find out where the curiosity of two young scions will lead them.
Take a moment and take a trip to 1877 Texas where the hot Texas sun burns into the dust and the dust covers many secrets. Where The Last Renegade is waiting.