As soon as I began to read this book, I was captured by the simple elegance of Totten's prose. The book interweaves the stories of a number of characters, but mainly follows Edward Valentine, a somewhat amoral but efficient bounty hunter of sorts. You get a real flavour of what it must have been like, out on the frontiers of the US in the last part of the nineteenth century - violent, corrupt, but in a way simpler than it ever has been since. You wanted a man dead, you went out and shot him. End of story.

The decline of the Indian peoples was portrayed without much overt emotion but with a deep sense of loss and sadness. Totten appears to have done his research - I'm no expert on the Wild West but the characters' experiences and environment certainly came across, even in the fine details, as very true to the time. I enjoyed Totten's portrayals of frontier women, particularly the ladies from 'sporting houses' who were evidently pretty independent - almost feminist - in their attitudes.

The almost deadpan way that the characters relate their histories really enhanced the appeal of the book, for me - nothing was wasted in dramatics or sermonising or irrelevance. Everything was there because it had to be there. In sum - an excellent writer, and I'd love to read more of his work.