In the Season of the Sun

Newcomb's ( Sacred Is the Wind ) workmanlike tale opens as Coyote Kilhenny, a half-breed guiding white pioneers through the wilderness of early-19th-century Montana, betrays his party to the Shoshoni. The adults are killed or taken captive, and two young brothers become separated. Jacob Milam finds a home among the Blackfoot Indians and learns to distinguish between the renegades who ambushed the pioneers and the honorable people who took him in despite their own fear of the white man. Meanwhile Tom Milam, who witnessed nothing, is casually adopted by Kilhenny and assimilates his foster father's lawlessness. Then the two are reunited, drawn together so that each can exact vengeance for the death of their parents. The brothers' fates are credibly related, though Newcomb burdens his story with subplots that are inadequately integrated and that demand an inordinate amount of attention. The Indian lore is handled respectfully and intelligently, and the ending, if predictable, is quickly dispatched with commendable restraint. (Feb.)