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The Dispatch Rider
Link Hayward ( "K Company," "Conroy's First Command") is a mean SOB, who's been busted in rank more times than he can count. He's also the guy you want next to you when things go bad. While carrying dispatches, Link meets Prudence Wainwright, a pious Eastern woman whose husband has been murdered and whose daughter has been kidnapped by a gang of renegade Jayhawkers. Teaming up reluctantly, Link and Prudence must cross hundreds of miles of hostile territory and recapture Hope before her kidnappers sell her to the Comancheros and she is lost to them forever.
- GenresWesterns
363 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 11, 2013
227 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 15, 2014
A broken axle makes the Wainwright family fall behind the wagon train as it wends its way to distant Colorado. In short order, Prudence's husband is killed by outlaws and her daughter kidnapped for sale to the Comancheros. Her only hope is none other than Link Hayward, the grizzled, foul-mouthed trouble-maker of K Company. Link is carrying dispatches when he stumbles across Prudence. Against his better judgment and his orders, Link agrees to track down and rescue the fifteen year old. And so begins an absolutely fantastic story of determination, grit and survival.
I can not imagine two people more ill suited for one another. Link curses. He drinks to excess. He thinks nothing about petty theft. Prudence is pious and reads the bible daily. She is cultured and soft from her upbringing back in the East. To Prudence, Link seems at first blush like some sort of wild man. She spends that first night terrified that he will have his way with her. Over the course of the story these two come together in a way that was compelling, believable, and real. The forge that draws the two together is the journey itself. Link and Prudence are tracking down four outlaws across a thousand miles of trackless plains. They are challenged by one another, the weather, Comanches, outlaws, and more.
The characters across the board shine in this book. Beyond Link and Prudence, there is her daughter, Hope. Hope's efforts to save herself reveal the steel in her own spine, something that at first you think she got from her father. There are the outlaws, Hawk, Jarvis and Colton. I like the fact that the author provides us insight into their backgrounds. Former Jayhawkers who wreaked havoc and mayhem on pro-slavery sympathizers in Missouri and Kansas, at some point their pro-abolitionist sympathies took a back seat to rape and robbery. In particular, Colton, who had left a wife and children behind to fight slavery so many years ago, has a crisis. His daughter would be right about Hope's age. Villains who are not caricatures make for more compelling stories, I think.
Four and a half stars rounded up to five. The book was a bit predictable in terms on the overall arc of the story and I felt that the author intervened to save the main characters at the end. Regardless, I loved this book. Pick it up off of Amazon - only $1.99!
I can not imagine two people more ill suited for one another. Link curses. He drinks to excess. He thinks nothing about petty theft. Prudence is pious and reads the bible daily. She is cultured and soft from her upbringing back in the East. To Prudence, Link seems at first blush like some sort of wild man. She spends that first night terrified that he will have his way with her. Over the course of the story these two come together in a way that was compelling, believable, and real. The forge that draws the two together is the journey itself. Link and Prudence are tracking down four outlaws across a thousand miles of trackless plains. They are challenged by one another, the weather, Comanches, outlaws, and more.
The characters across the board shine in this book. Beyond Link and Prudence, there is her daughter, Hope. Hope's efforts to save herself reveal the steel in her own spine, something that at first you think she got from her father. There are the outlaws, Hawk, Jarvis and Colton. I like the fact that the author provides us insight into their backgrounds. Former Jayhawkers who wreaked havoc and mayhem on pro-slavery sympathizers in Missouri and Kansas, at some point their pro-abolitionist sympathies took a back seat to rape and robbery. In particular, Colton, who had left a wife and children behind to fight slavery so many years ago, has a crisis. His daughter would be right about Hope's age. Villains who are not caricatures make for more compelling stories, I think.
Four and a half stars rounded up to five. The book was a bit predictable in terms on the overall arc of the story and I felt that the author intervened to save the main characters at the end. Regardless, I loved this book. Pick it up off of Amazon - only $1.99!
December 30, 2013
I really liked this book. Great characters and action, excellent pacing and a very satisfying ending. Broomall plays with all the emotions, and every time the action looks like it is going to flag, some other complication surfaces. You are quite often on the edge of your seat with this title. It's hard to believe that new blood can be infused in the Western genre, but this book fits the bill.
January 31, 2017
"I'll NEVER LEAVE YOU"
A great story of people seeking a better life..Wagon train headed west carrying families with great expectations for their lives. Those westward trips were treacherous with all types of killers, maruders, Indians who escaped from the reservations and slavers all roamed the west. This is a love story of a widower and a solder. Read and enjoy, it'll bring tears of happiness and laughter at the candour of the lives.. you won't put the story on hold, until you've finished the book. And hopefully we will read more about Luke and Prudence in the future...keep your bullets dry,,,you never know who you'll meet on that empty trail.....
A great story of people seeking a better life..Wagon train headed west carrying families with great expectations for their lives. Those westward trips were treacherous with all types of killers, maruders, Indians who escaped from the reservations and slavers all roamed the west. This is a love story of a widower and a solder. Read and enjoy, it'll bring tears of happiness and laughter at the candour of the lives.. you won't put the story on hold, until you've finished the book. And hopefully we will read more about Luke and Prudence in the future...keep your bullets dry,,,you never know who you'll meet on that empty trail.....
June 13, 2017
Best for Last
This was the best book of the trilogy. I look forward to enjoying more of the author's westerns, a dying genre save for romance novels.
This was the best book of the trilogy. I look forward to enjoying more of the author's westerns, a dying genre save for romance novels.
March 7, 2023
Excellent story. Most Westerns are shoot 'em ups with a lawman chasing outlaws, and set in a town somewhere in the West. This book was totally different. It's about a soldier who helps a woman traveling west from Pennsylvania in a covered wagon with only a few other people. Her husband died, and her 14 year-old daughter was kidnapped by a gang of killers who want to sell her to Indians. Broomall does an excellent job describing the settings and putting the reader right into the action, feeling what the characters feel: tired, thirsty, scared, etc, as the woman and the soldier search for the missing girl. Broomall has an exceptional knowledge of Old West weapons and how they work, and also a feel for the politics and problems of people living in Kansas and surrounding areas in the 1860's. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
July 10, 2023
Outstanding series!
This whole series is excellent. It skilfully carries one to the third story which raises the tension to almost undesirable heights. What a read! The final book must be one of the finest thrillers I have ever read. Please read the series in sequence, but read it you must!
This whole series is excellent. It skilfully carries one to the third story which raises the tension to almost undesirable heights. What a read! The final book must be one of the finest thrillers I have ever read. Please read the series in sequence, but read it you must!
October 26, 2021
Nothing
Could not get to book , some nonsense from Middle Ages . What happened? Why did this default to that?
Could not get to book , some nonsense from Middle Ages . What happened? Why did this default to that?
November 23, 2023
there
It’s almost like feeling like you’re there, with all the details part of the story. It brings to life some of the tragedies that people suffered back then
It’s almost like feeling like you’re there, with all the details part of the story. It brings to life some of the tragedies that people suffered back then
January 26, 2024
Well written.
Easy read. Broomall kept reader wondering how things would end. Description of characters was vivid. Enjoyable book. I would recommend this book.
Easy read. Broomall kept reader wondering how things would end. Description of characters was vivid. Enjoyable book. I would recommend this book.
December 6, 2016
Think of the African Queen
This was a well paced story that pulls you into it. It made me think of the African Queen in that the two main characters were as different as night and day. Not a lot of fluff to the story just a hard riding tale. Here the bad men are not Indians, but white men with few scruples. If you like a good Western then I highly recommend this one.
This was a well paced story that pulls you into it. It made me think of the African Queen in that the two main characters were as different as night and day. Not a lot of fluff to the story just a hard riding tale. Here the bad men are not Indians, but white men with few scruples. If you like a good Western then I highly recommend this one.
August 30, 2014
A fast read, good characters, good descriptions, not predictable for the most part. I found it a little too unbelievable. Too many situations to list that just wouldn't have been possible. If someone gave me the book I'd read it but wouldn't recommend it.
November 16, 2016
Very Good Book
The book was so good I didn't want to stop reading it. The suspense of what could possibly happen next kept you reading and not wanting to stop.
The book was so good I didn't want to stop reading it. The suspense of what could possibly happen next kept you reading and not wanting to stop.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews