The Long Hunter
Don McNair
Medallion, Jun 2006, $19.95
ISBN: 1932815511

In 1770 Matt McLaren watched in horror as Indians attacked his family's Virginia farm killing his parents and kidnapping his sister Mandy. He vows to somehow rescue his sibling as he blames himself for her abduction, but first must recover his health He staggers into a bar where owner Struthers "bounds" him in exchange for food and shelter. When elderly frontiersman Noah Dandridge sees the sickly child, he removes him from the cruel master.

With help of Reverend Ashbrooke, Matt is bound to the caring Noah, which angers Struthers. The innkeeper kills Noah, but Matt kills him. When he flees the crime scene, the law enforcement officials assume he is a murderer. Using the skills he learned from Noah, Matt becomes a hunter still seeking his sibling in Indian Territory though years have passed.

THE LONG HUNTER is a fabulous insightful historical thriller that showcases some of abuses of colonial society. The story line focuses on the adventures of Matt as he tries to survive under laws that offer no protection towards the young similar to Charles Dickens's complaints about Victorian living conditions for the poor and disenfranchised. The support cast though somewhat stereotyped augment the enlightening look back in time. The final twist seems so plausible that it enhances the entire novel adding to the realism of a well written late nineteenth century American tale.

Harriet Klausner