April 25, 1973.
"A machine gun round tore past. Rick Putnam felt the hair on the top of his head suddenly rise up, and in the split-second before he heard the whining thwup of the bullet, he'd already begun his dive to the ground."
Every night, motorcycle courier Rick Putnam battles the phantom gunfire that is the price of his service in Vietnam but this is definitely not a dream. Rick and his girlfriend, Eve Buffalo Calf, have spent the winter hiding out from the assassins who pursued them across Washington DC to cover up an act of High Treason. Now, feeling safe, they are headed back home but first, a quick stop to backpack desperately-needed food in to Eve's legal clients, the American Indian activists under fire in the small town of Wounded Knee.
A fellow veteran sacrifices himself so that they can escape the bloodshed and betrayal that mark the end of this desperate act of resistance and fulfilling his final request results in a motorcycle sprint through the Black Hills with a secretive cult out to kill them at every turn.
Rick learns that the cult is based in Washington DC and so, with the help of their computer hacker housemates, Eve and Rick fight back against this "new crusade"--actually a scam that brainwashes and brutalizes its young converts. In the final battle, Rick must stop the cult leaders from destroying both the sacred lands of the Native Americans and the very souls of the young children in their charge.
KIRKUS REVIEW
Irving’s (Courier, 2015) historical thriller, the second in his Freelancer series, offers a provocative reinterpretation of the infamous Wounded Knee incident.
Irving reprises the picaresque role of Rick Putnam, a motorcycle-riding courier and war-hardened Vietnam veteran. Set in 1973, the story centers on the Wounded Knee debacle in South Dakota, in which members of the American Indian Movement seized and occupied a small town within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In this fictional version, the activists, surrounded and beleaguered by U.S. law enforcement, are increasingly threatened with the possibility of a final, deadly raid that ends the standoff once and for all. Rick joins his Native American friend Eve Buffalo [Calf] in an attempt to sneak badly needed supplies past the blockade surrounding the town. The area is crackling with violence, riddled with various tribal factions all deeply territorial, suspicious of outsiders, and accustomed to spontaneous bouts of violence. Rick, troubled by the political intrigue he encountered (and barely survived) in the previous novel, uncovers yet more subterfuge regarding the collusion of the federal government with corrupt officials within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. What follows is an action-packed adventure that incudes nefarious government forces, intramural tribal conflict, and motorcycle gangs. Rick remains the constant through the two volumes: he’s still a chain-smoking, wisecracking tough guy haunted by memories of service in Vietnam. His character can be a bit overdrawn, flirting with caricature as the wounded but incorruptible warrior with “eidetic memory.” However, his developing romance with Eve humanizes him, adding a layer of complexity and vulnerability. Once again, the story’s pace is torrid, moving from one taut scene to another while the historical drama of Wounded Knee facilitates Irving’s principal strength: rendering the wildly implausible believable. Rick’s irrepressible wit will help readers through the sometimes-dark material. In response to a Native American introducing himself as Pete Talltrees, Pawnee out of Oklahoma, Rick responds, “Rick Putnam, BMW out of Washington DC.”
A brisk, suspenseful adventure nestled in real, historical drama.
"... the growing importance of Terry Irving as a writer, how Terry is making Rick Putnam into a that type of `hero' that calls to mind an image of Liam Neeson type acting - all hellfire and brimstone with just enough of a soft spot to include a bit of romance. And he awakens our awareness of the plight of the American Indian in our history - all with the gusto and places us fully into the action to the point we are dodging the same bullets as Rick and his computer hacker housemates. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, July 15"
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