cover image Death Raid

Death Raid

Richard H. R. Harper. Dell Publishing Company, $3.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-440-11685-1

Harper's amalgam of elements of the Old West and the modern day West makes for a rugged, violent thriller. In a case recalling an Indian raid, the well-liked McNeal family has been wiped out and its home hastily burgled. Arizona detective Tom Ragnon is put in charge and a police procedural seems to be in store until Ragnon calls in an Indian tracker and learns that the killers have escaped to Mexico. Despite a lack of jurisdiction, Ragnon crosses the border and teams up with Mexican policeman Jacinto Cruz. Then comes a powerful image of Mexico as a nightmarish, backward morass of corruption, fear and brutality, actively resentful and envious of the rich gringo nation to the north. Tantalizingly for the reader, Harper is also skillful at conveying the frustratingly slow progress of the pursuit. (June)