Publisher's Weekly Review
The fates of a newly minted lawman, a former prostitute, and the promise of buried gold collide in Kent's (The Traitor's Wife) gripping third novel. Set in Texas in the 1870s, the novel alternates between the lives of Lucinda Carter and Nate Cannon, both of whom are starting over but under vastly different circumstances. After years in a Fort Worth brothel, Lucinda makes her escape-along with a pouch full of silver from the stingy landlady-to the remote outpost known as Middle Bayou, where she's arranged a teaching position while she waits for her mysterious lover. Meanwhile, Nate, an Oklahoma native in his first year as a member of the Texas State Police, is sent to track down two legendary Texas Rangers, Capt. George Deerling and Dr. Tom Goddard, and alert them that William McGill, a killer they've been chasing for years, has struck again. The men form an uneasy trio, with the experienced Rangers unsurprisingly less than ecstatic to be saddled with a greenhorn, though Nate soon proves his worth. In Middle Bayou, Lucinda bides her time, waiting for her lover's arrival and for him to follow through on his promise of a life made rich with pirates' gold hidden near her new home. That Lucinda and Nate's paths will cross is inevitable, but Kent ditches predictable romance for a tense, unsparing look at the price we'll pay to get what we think we want. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
After two novels re-imagining the history of her own New England ancestors (The Heretic's Daughter, 2008; The Traitor's Wife (originally entitled The Wolves of Andover, 2010)), Kent turns her attention to postCivil War Texas, where law and morality are far more elastic. In 1870, Lucinda Carter steals away (steal being the operative word) from the Fort Worth brothel where she's worked in semi-slavery as a prostitute. But do not expect her to have a heart of gold. Despite the occasional seizures she hides from most of her clients, she is tough, conniving and deadly when necessary. Having procured a teaching position under false pretenses, she heads to Middle Bayou, Texas, where legend has it that the pirate Lafitte buried his gold and where she hopes to meet up with her secret lover. Meanwhile, young Oklahoman Nate Cannon joins the Texas police force and is assigned to work with veteran Rangers George Deerling and Tom Goddard. As Lucinda manipulates her way into the hearts of her new employers, a community of former land and slave owners from the Deep South, Nate and the Rangers track ruthless killer William McGill. Goddard, a former medical student with an intellectual bent, takes Nate under his wing, but Nate finds he needs to prove himself to the more coldblooded Deerling. Shortly after Deerling finally accepts Nate and confides that he once had a daughter he mistreated, the experienced Ranger is killed by one of McGill's henchmen. Goddard tells Nate that he loved and married Deerling's daughter, although, as a child, she was permanently damaged by her father's decision to place her in an asylum for her epilepsy. She ran off while pregnant, and Goddard does not know what happened to their child, but his wife has become Lucinda. After McGill and Lucinda' Middle Bayou plans go awry and Nate and Goddard close in, all hell breaks loose. A cinematic but refreshingly unsentimental take on the classic Western, starring a woman who is no romantic heroine, but a definite survivor.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
