The Shadow Man

by F.M. Parker

With an awesome list of stirring Westerns novels, F. M. Parker has won acclaim as a master story teller. In The Shadow Man, he has achieved a new high of bringing alive the high drama and true-grit realities of the Western past. The time is 1846 with the United States and Mexico poised for war over the American Southwest. The place is New Mexico, where Jacob Tamarron has come after years as a legendary mountain man. Jacob is weary of mountain loneliness and brutal struggle for survival against Indians and fur thieves and comes to Santa Fe and hoping to find a woman and have a family. He finds the new life he is looking for in Petra, the proud and fiery Mexican woman. He woes and marries her. Then with savage suddenness, his new life is ripped apart by two of the most vicious men ever to ravage the West. James Kirker, a professional Indian killer out to make a fortune in blood money, and Simon Caverhill, a Texas senator, who with a handpicked killing crew and a master forger, is carving out an empire from the land of butchered New Mexico ranchers. Thus begins a searing saga of search and vengeance as Jacob turns hunter again, this time hunting the men who destroyed all that he had created. With High Walking, a Comanche warrior whose woman and his children have been slaughtered, he uncovers a trail of murder and terror that leads him to his enemies’ stronghold. With cold savage fury that matches the power and cunning of their enemies, these two unlikely comrades fight to the death to take their revenge against the great odds against him. With extraordinary heroes, and with a cast of characters that encompasses the rich mix of men and women - black and white, Indian, Mexican, and American, law-abiding and lawless – who peopled the frontier, The Shadow Man offers a harsh yet heart-stirring vision of the American past. It combines authenticity with non-stop action and suspense into a thrilling reading experience.

Hardcover

First published November 30, 1988

About the author

As a boy F. M. Parker hitchhiked around the country working as a sheepherder in Montana, a bellhop in Colorado, and a logger in Ohio. He received a B. S. in Geology from the University of Dayton, and did graduate work in Geology at Ohio State University. He worked in the factories of GM and Chrysler at night to put himself through college. After that he went into the U. S. Navy for 5 « years with service in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans aboard the Timbalier, AVP 54, a seaplane tender.

After the navy he was employed as a geologist in the oil fields of Kansas, and as an exploration geologist in the uranium mines of Utah. After four years as a geologist, Parker became a manager in the Bureau of Land Management, part of the Department of Interior. He worked in several western states and Washington, DC, then progressed up through the ranks to become District Manager of the Vale District in Oregon, which is as much as 5 million acres. He was responsible for the management of the multiple resources of the land and its environmental protection. He was responsible for hundreds of grazing permits, several herds of wild horses, wild rivers, wildlife, recreation, timber, fire fighting and other factors regarding such a large land area.

Doubleday published his first book in 1981. The title was Skinner and there was an interesting story behind that title. The chairman of the grazing advisory board was named Skinner and the Skinner of Parker's novel was a drunkard and a pistoleer, while the real Skinner was a rancher and a straight arrow. Parker wasn't sure how the real Skinner would take the use of his name, but he laughed and thought it was a good story.

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jacob is called the Shadow Man by his Mexican in-laws because they don't think he is a REAL man. Of course, their opinion quickly changes after he marries Petra, a beautiful woman with a disfiguring scar, so her options for marriage seem limited, which I felt was a really poor device for the author to use to excuse the mixed marriage between the gringo and the Mexican woman.

The novel does an excellent job of fitting into the historical period of the American-Mexican War of 1846. The author manages to fit some decent western action, but after awhile it seems that the hero shoots just a little too straight.

Eventually, the novel becomes terribly flawed. Tammaran somehow speaks enough Commanche that he joins an Indian on the road to vengeance. Really, where did he learn that much Commanche langauge. As a mountain man, did he live with the Commanches? Later, Petra is wounded and ministered to by an American army doctor who performs plastic surgery to cure her disfigurement. When she and Jacob are reunited at the end, no mention of this repaired blemish is really made. A slave woman hears Jacob and the Indian speaking in Commanche, but knows what they are saying.

There are fine elements of the traditional western here. Some decent villains (that never seem fully developed, but demonstrate their terrible evil) plenty of shooting, and the author manages to demonstrate more than a passing knowledge of the period's weaponry.

However, the flaws detract from the enjoyment of the novel, causing the reader to feel as if the book was almost a total waste.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good and entertaining novel. I enjoyed reading this book and recommend this book to everyone.