Far Bright Star

by: Robert Olmstead

Published by: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill/ Workman Publishing

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

Olmstead is compared by reviewers to Kent Haruf and Cormac McCarthy, and his spare, gritty prose and tough characters are indeed reminiscent of those authors.

Americans Napoleon Childs and his brother Xenophon are in Mexico in 1916, leading a ragtag bunch of misfits in hunting down Pancho Villa. On one hot day during a routine cavalry patrol, the small group of men he is leading is trailed and eventually ambushed by a group of Mexicans, including a woman and some Yaqui Indians. They do not seem to be with Pancho Villa, and Napoleon is not sure why they are so intent on slaughtering his men.

There is an intense battle. He survives, along with his least favorite soldier, Preston, an arrogant dilettante, son of rich parents. The band of renegades brutally torture and kill Preston and leave Napoleon in the desert naked…and he comes through this physical and emotional trauma with the help of his brother. Eventually he connects the revenge on Preston with a brutal act he witnessed–when Preston beat and cut up a local prostitute.

Hot coarse sand, incredible storms, wonderful tough horses who give their all, dangerous situations, odd characters, the great unknowns of survival all combine to make this a riveting, bloody book that you cannot stop reading.

Rattler, Napoleon’s scrappy horse, is my favorite character.

Armchair Interviews alert: This is a powerful read but very violent—with battles and torture scenes.

Author’s Web site: http://www.RobertOlmsteadBooks.com