Slaughter
The title of this absorbing new novel by the author of Honor at Daybreak refers to the extermination of the buffalo, which once roamed the American prairies in herds so vast that they covered miles of territory like carpets. The creature's days are numbered as the book opens, with the Civil War ended and the country again focused on Manifest Destiny. Thrown from a train in Kansas by irate victims of his prowess with cards, English gambler Nigel Smithwick is saved from death in the desert by former Confederate soldier Jeff Layne. The pair team up as buffalo hunters, and inevitably they clash with the Comanche Indians, whose traditional way of life is threatened by white hunters's mass killing. Kelton deftly handles both sides of the conflict, displaying a more-than-passing knowledge of Native American culture and eloquently capturing the post-Civil War tension between erstwhile northerners and southerners now making new lives in the West. Well written and fast-paced, this powerful, moving novel proceeds inexorably toward the extinction of the great herds and of the indigenous peoples' way of life. It will attract readers who enjoyed the epic sweep of such grand western sagas as Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove and Harry Combs's Brules.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.