Coyote Summer

Richard Hamilton, the hero of this solid western, rues the day when his father sent him west. Robbed and sold into indentured servitude on a keelboat, this young student of philosophy is forced to forsake his genteel Bostonian manners and breeding. In the harsh Upper Missouri country of the 1820s, it's kill or be killed. Dick learns that early, when he kills a Pawnee to save the life of an Indian woman, Heals Like the Willow. After a raiding party of Crows steals his company's horses, Dick is almost slaughtered himself when he accompanies brutal hunter Travis on a relentless pursuit of the thieves. Gear skillfully intercuts Dick's story with that of Willow. Epigrams from philosophers like Hegel and Hobbes comment on the action and show just how far Dick must descend into savagery in order to survive. In the end, Dick and Willow find love together--and the promise of a new life as their daughter is born. In the story of Willow, who is bedeviled by the old trickster Coyote, Gear (Long Ride Home; and coauthor with his wife, Kathleen O'Neal Geer, of the First North American Series) skillfully weaves in traditional Native myths, as well. At times, Gear's exposition and dialogue can be a bit forced, but he delivers a well-plotted page-turner that distinguishes itself from other westerns in the depth and quality of its historical reconstruction. (Aug.)