SACRED ARROW

A modern cowboy tries to save a kidnapped boy in this fourth installment of a Western series.

Summer 2005. Guy Thornton has been a godsend at the J Bar Ranch, south of Winslow, Arizona. Since arriving six years ago, he’s converted the failing ranch from raising cattle to bison, making it a profitable enterprise in the process. He also discovered some centuries-old rock art on the property, which has increased tourist traffic. Even so, Guy has been drinking more of late and fighting with Jane—formerly Rose—the runaway teen he once worked so hard to locate. Excitement arrives at the ranch in the form of Bane, an introverted Native American whom Kate Crawford, Guy’s boss, stabs after he sneaks up on her. The novelty of Bane’s appearance turns into a nightmare when the man kidnaps Kate’s son, Jack. Guy is tasked with bringing the boy home safely, but is he up for the challenge in his current state? The story alternates between 2005 and the mid-1990s, when a younger Guy has just completed his spiritual training with an O’odham woman in the desert. His career as a horse trainer is over, but he’s finding new purpose on the rodeo circuit while pining for a waitress named Sally Delchay and wondering what became of the missing Rose. Kelly’s prose is simple but infused with the atmosphere and logic of the setting: “The first thing Guy did when Lily finally paid him was buy a hat; back in Prescott, he’d helped one of the neighboring ranchers during round-ups, and the old geezer had told him that before starting a new enterprise a man should always invest in good hat.” The lucid narration is shared by several characters—Jane, Kate, Kate’s daughter, Grace—as well as by a more distant narrator. The author has made use of dueling chronologies previously in the series, but these two storylines—the 1990s and 2005—do not coalesce perfectly into a single narrative. Despite this flaw, there are enough of the familiar Western tropes—brooding cowboys, unspoken feelings, old regrets, and desert landscapes—to please fans of the genre.

A vivid but messy modern Western that examines the ups and downs of a cowboy.