BLOOD GOLD

“Every one of you will look death in the eye,” warns an old schoolmaster, a veteran of the gold rush. Willie Dwinelle and Ben Pomeroy have feared serpents, spiders, jaguars, bandits, and cholera in their jungle trek on the way to Panama City, and from there they will head to the gold fields of California. But Willie isn’t seeking gold; he’s out to find the man who wronged his friend Elizabeth back in Philadelphia. Sure enough, he does face death in California, but the journey that began with a score to settle ends with a new place to settle, and Ben’s future looks good in this rugged new land. In spite of the elements that ought to ensure a thriller—chapters with cliffhanging endings, gold, grizzlies, thieves, murderers, and disease—the first-person narrative distances the reader from the action, too often reporting events rather than involving the reader in the action. The prose is lively, though over-written at times. Still, it’s a spirited introduction to the gold rush for older readers. (Fiction. 12+)