Johnny Quarles

What a great book! If I could give it 6 stars. I would!

The novel follows two main threads:

Alma and Toby Ray, orphans after their mother died, on the run from an abusive uncle. They have no money, no mode of travel and forced to accept the kindness of strangers but not always choosing wisely.

Larkes and Reasa, a black cowboy who drifted into town seeking shelter on a cold night. Reasa a black woman with a young child who had an "working" relationship with a jealous deputy Sheriff. An altercation between Larkes and the deputy results in Larkes and Reasa having to leave town and ostensibly to follow Larkes dream of traveling to Colorado and meeting interesting adventures along the way.

It in the early 1890's, eventually the two threads mix with others to a very satisfying finish. The characters in this book, major or minor, are extremely well drawn and the scenery as well as the dialog well crafted.

If you like westerns, if you like books that are more than just gunfights, If you like a real story that gives you what it is like to live in those times, this is a book you will really enjoy.… (more)

I like the fact that the author served in Special Forces (stationed at Wiessbaden 1966), and had "conservative" values--as a public school teacher and coach while writing TV scripts ("Lonesome Dove") and Westerns.

The story is set in the Oklahoma panhandle -- dusty and not. Holt Flynn is an outlaw without anything to show for it, and no hopes. A dying Cherokee (!) Chief gives him a proposition and speaks of gold hidden in the highlands of Georgia. An band of misfits heads east on what turns into an odyssey.… (more)