DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL —
“McLain deftly describes the sights, sounds and even the smells of this odd couple’s turn-of-the-century odyssey from the big city to the Wild West in a narrative style reminiscent of Caleb Carr’s tense, gloomy murder mystery, The Alienist. McLain’s characters are multi-dimensional and interesting, especially the baseball-card-collecting Crow Indian Albert Redwolf. It should appeal to those who enjoy plenty of action, romance, traditional plot lines and historically accurate fiction with an Old West flavor.”
BOB SPEARS, HEARTLAND REVIEWS —
“ … one of the better historical coming of age books I've read in a while. The author is a very competent writer. The plot was excellent, leaving the reader hanging until the very last sentence. The pace moved quickly and setting, characters and dialogue were most descriptive and unique. This is a good book for lovers of westerns, historical novels, and especially young adults who learn how it's possible to rise above an abusive past and a life of street crime. We rated this book a high 4 hearts.”
AUTHOR PAT MULLAN, Ireland Chair of International Thriller Writers, Inc. and member of Mystery Writers of America, County Galway, Ireland —
“When I was in my teens in Ireland, I devoured every Zane Grey western that I could find. When the movies came to town I was there: riding, in my imagination, alongside Hopalong Cassidy, John Wayne, Rory Calhoun, Alan Ladd, Roy Rogers, Guy Madison. Later in life my reading interests changed. I haven't read a western in years until this one. I won't reprise the story or the plot in this review. No, I just want to convey my satisfaction to John McLain for a most absorbing read, for a Western better than those of my youth, for a real story of The West, truly of the America of my youth and of my imagination ... enough then to have started my romance with America, to lead eventually to my pioneering journey to America, to lead to becoming an American. Yes, it is totally believable, superbly well-written, absorbing to read, a classic of the genre.”
T.D. WALSH, AUTHOR, BOZEMAN, MONTANA —
“I like the people in this novel, and that's one of the main tests of a book for me—whether or not I care what happens to the characters. John McLain has written a very strong story of love, fear, pain, and hope, and he's done so with an extremely strong eye for detail (especially interesting given the time in which the action takes place), as well as a willingness to present the often-brutal sides of reality without flinching. All in all, this is a great read that flows smoothly and quickly, pulling you along to its unexpected climax. Very nicely written.”
WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA, ROUNDUP MAGAZINE “… a beautifully written novel with a strong sense of place and complex characters. A good read for a winter’s evening.”(This & other listed reviews based on my book's working title, The Reckoning, now retitled The Road to Reveille.)
