GOING OLD WEST: REAVIS Z. WORTHAM'S THE JOURNEY SOUTH

Reavis Z. Wortham operates like a genre version of Larry McMurtry.He delivers suspense and shoot em' up excitement in stories that examine Texas through his characters who are full of lone star grit, heart, and occasionally a touch of eccentricity. He has viewed the state in the sixties in his Red River Mysteries and its modern times with Ranger Sonny Hawkes and agent Tucker Snow. Last year, he came out with The Journey South, his first foray into the traditional western, featuring cowboy hero Cap Whitlach.

We get a great introduction to Cap in the first chapter where he saves a Cherokee couple from a couple of bandits he efficiently dispatches in Oklahoma. He has come up from Texas because his friend Gil,has been arrested for killing a Cherokee. He claims self defense, but the dead man's brothers disagree. Due to the laws at the time, he can stand trail in Texas and Cap agreed to take him to the law there. The journey resembles the template from Forrest Carter's Gone To Texas (aka The Outlaw Josey Wales) as Cap gathers as many to join the trek, including he Cherokee couple and a possible love interest, as there are after him, the three brothers, after Gil, a couple of outlaws after the gold Cap is carrying, and a marshal with a dark sense of justice.

For his first time in the genre, Reavis takes to it like a duck to water. The reader experience the land Whitlach and company travel. There is an authenticity in the guns and handling of horses. He has fun with the history, particularly in the use of the lethal and highly effective Indian Territory law enforcement , The Cherokee Lighthorsemen. His action clear, fast paced, and frequent, The climactic shoot-out is a John Sturges dream.

He has also created a great western hero for our times. Cap Whitlach is a tough yet likable working cowboy, capable in his place and time. The fact he's an itinerant hand gives him so many possibilities. There is already a follow up, The Only Saloon In Town, and hopefully Revis has many more trails for Cap to ride.