Shadow Warrior: A Novel of the Old West

by J.C. Gotcher

When a deadly encounter between Doc, a young, white hunter, and a band of Apache leads to the deaths of two warriors, he becomes the target of their vengeful brothers and is forced to become the hunter in a struggle that is marked by a growing mutual respect among the adversaries.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Conan Tigard · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the time Doc kills the deer and the Apaches start chasing him, the action is non-stop. Shadow Warrior by J.C. Gotcher is a thriller set in the old west that I did not want to put down. I found this story to be incredibly intriguing and I could not wait to see how this scout, who has the skills of a mountain man, out-witted and out-maneuvered the Indians on his trail.

The book is very well written and excellently paced. I cannot heap enough praise upon this book to tell you how good Shadow Warrior really is. I loved this story! At first, I wasn't sure if an entire tale could revolve around one man on the run from a group of Apaches that just won't give up, no matter how many of the warriors Doc kills. But this story works, and it works well. Doc is a great character and I certainly do hope that J.C. Gotcher continues to write about this interesting, young scout who seems wise beyond his years.

Overall, Shadow Warrior is an excellent western and should not be missed by anyone looking for a thrill ride in the old west.

I rated this book a 10 out of 10.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better westerns that I have read. It is about a wagon train scout on the Santa Fe Trail who encounters a group of Apaches and after an incident the chase is on. This book ranks up there with St. Agnes’ Stand by Tom Eidson which also involves a band of Apaches attacking the hero of the book. I have always had an interest in man tracking and this book was chock full of lessons in man tracking. The pursuit and action have enough realism to be believable. I came across this book in a thrift store and consider it one of my best finds.

[Andrew G · Rating 5 out of 5]

An old-school Western. High stakes chase novel. I love the simplicity of the plot and yet the excitement of the execution. Just a fast-paced, good story. Really wish we’d had more from him.

This is the only published novel by J.C Gotcher. I believe he wrote two more (one of which was polished and finished), but at the time (before digital self-publishing) it was difficult for new authors to find publishers, especially for Westerns. He was able to get this novel published, but not enough engagement and sales for him to be able to publish one of his other two books.

He lived his whole life in West Texas, and wrote his novels while laid off during the oil bust of the late 90s. But with the boom that followed, he went back to work and ended up managing land for a Fortune 500 company. Couple this job with a competitive equestrian daughter and a small horse farm, and he never found the time to get back into writing.

He passed away, after a year-long battle with cancer, in the fall of 2016 at the age of 58.