cover image Eye of the Hawk

Eye of the Hawk

David William Ross. Simon & Schuster, $21.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-75513-3

From the opening scene of rape and massacre as Comanche warriors sweep down on the Texas horse ranch of Isabelle and Seth Redmond, Ross ( Beyond the Stars ) dishes out unremitting carnage in this tale of the frontier West. Plot and character development give way to relentless bloodshed and stereotypes as Ross explores enmity and violence in the middle decades of the 19th century: Texas Rangers exterminate Comanche winter villages and wage battle with Mexicans; Mexican soldiers fight bandits; Apaches fight Comanches; Rangers fight bandits, etc. On the verge of being tortured to death because their men are away when the Comanches attack, Isabelle and the hired woman Inez are saved when Apache warriors arrive to kill the attackers, but as a result of the rape, Isabelle bears a half-breed son whom Seth refuses to acknowledge. Seth and Isabelle lead soap-opera lives during their struggle to hold onto their land; the rift that develops between them drives Seth into the arms of Elena Maria D'Valya, the well-born wife of a dissolute Mexican general and a woman coveted by a bandit chieftain. An Alamo-like siege by the Comanches on the Redmond ranch, now called Thunder Run, brings the hefty saga full-cirle and may well leave readers exhausted. (July)