Mark of the Sire

Larion
Wills
ISBN Number: 
978-1771270427
Genre: 
Historical

Catherine Lincoln traveled west in part to escape the rumors swirling around her and in part to help her Uncle move into his new Colorado ranch home. A spirited woman, she feels oppressed by her Uncle’s and Eastern society’s rigorous standards of propriety. 

When she witnesses a shooting, she puts her father’s medical teaching to good use regardless of the consequences. But the man she saves is not who everyone thinks he is. When the shooters bully a neighbor, Cathy is once again there to lend a hand, only to be surprised to discover a man from her past is only a few miles down the road.  When the fight breaks out, Cathy finds herself in the middle of a dark family history, secrets, murder and emotions she thought she had left behind.

The plot for “Mark of the Sire” is compelling. The pages are full of action, tension and conspiracy. Unfortunately, the story’s execution and timeline inconsistencies leads to a fair amount of confusion. Besides the minor issue of a few misused and misspelled words, there is never a clear character point of view. The reader is thrust from one person to another, without ever establishing actual protagonists within the large cast of characters. Backgrounds and personality traits are given upfront and thoughts and actions are told and explained rather than shown and developed.  Yet despite these issues, “Mark of the Sire” delivers the strong men, tenacious ladies, range wars and shootouts that Western readers will not be disappointed with. 

Stephenia McGee