In March of 1865, three months after being wounded, Confederate Captain Robert Hester awakens in a Richmond hospital. As one of Major Mosby's rangers, the Union Army now considers him an outlaw, and he has a bounty on his head. As Petersburg falls to the Yankees and Richmond's fall is inevitable, Mosby convinces General Lee to reassign Hester so he can't be taken from the hospital and hanged. Hester's new orders are to assist in guarding President Davis and the Confederate Treasury as they evacuate Richmond.
When Davis stops in Danville, Virginia, Captain Hester and his sergeant, Josiah Turley, decide to ride out to the east to determine if there are Yankee forces there. Being so near his family home, Captain Hester decides to visit his family for the first time in four years. Nearing his family home, they watch as Yankee bummers kill his family and burn his home. He sees his father, his sister, his bride-to-be, and Aunt Callie all murdered. Fueled by grief and rage, Hester vows vengeance. In a vain attempt to reunite with Davis, they ride through the South, witnessing the destruction and devastation. When Davis is captured, they set their sights on Texas to join with General Kirby Smith's Trans-Mississippi army. Together, Hester and Turley navigate a war-torn South and confront loss, moral ambiguity, and the cost of an unrelenting thirst for revenge.
After Kirby Smith's surrender, Hester turns his horse toward Mexico to join Jo Shelby to rebuild a Southern army and continue the fight for the lost cause. The war had taken everything-his home, his family, his cause-and now, his only reason for living was vengeance. All he had left were his horses, his guns, and his sense of honor. So, he pointed his horse toward war-torn Mexico to find his old life-or a new one-or to die with neither. He didn't think he cared which of the three he found.
About the Author :
Burt Tyson almost never takes off his cowboy hat, but he does tip it to the ladies. As a child, he loved historical adventure stories like "Davy Crockett" and other Western TV, including "Hopalong Cassidy," "The Lone Ranger," "Roy Rogers," and "Have Gun Will Travel." As a teenager, his love of history and adventure continued as he read novels of the American Frontier.
Burt continues the tradition of good men and women confronting evil in the 19th-century American West as he writes "The Shadow Appears," the first novel in his The Devil's Shadow series. Readers won't have difficulty identifying the good guys and gals-they'll be the ones who stand tall, saddle up despite the risk, and, if they're men, always respect the ladies. In the remote small South Carolina town where Burt writes, there are a lot of good men and women, but not too much adventure. He has to provide the adventure within his novels.
Review :
"an impressive writer and a master storyteller"
"blends historical detail with excellent character development, dialogue, and plot development"
"a story that quickly draws the reader in and holds their attention"
"it's a "can't put it down" page turner"
