It was the young Republic of Texas's worst nightmare come true. The scattered Comanche bands had united into a mighty fighting force under a single great warrior chief, and were sweeping in over the vast Texas plains, avenging a massacre at the hands of the whites with a campaign of carnage.
Sam Houston, who had led the triumphant war of independence from Mexico, enlisted the leadership of the one man who could turn back the Comanche tide of terror: John Henry McAllen., head of the ragtag volunteer troopers known as the Black Jacks. Now McAllen and his fighting men faced their ultimate test as they rode out to meet the greatest Comanche threat of all, while at their backs the weapons of betrayal came out of hiding and took deadly aim....
1997 by Jason Manning Signet Books (New York) 352 pp ISBN: 0-451-19141-2
I was pleased with the result in this the first volume of the Texas trilogy that included Texas Bound and The Marauders. Once again I was writing about my home state's history, and had an opportunity to address the conflict between white man and red from the perspective that there were good people and bad on both sides. McAllen's marital problems and his love for another woman, Gray Wolf's loss of his wife and his treatment of the captive Emily, Singletary and the political intrigue that threatened to destroy the young Texas Republic -- it all came together quite well, I thought.