TIMBERLINE

(A ROAMER WESTERN)

Pub. Date: May 16, 2018

A high-country train trek turns into a blizzard-bound trainwreck-from-hell for Roamer as a gang of gunmen run roughshod on the rails. They blow the safe, abscond with a mysterious young woman, and torch the train, leaving passengers to burn in the midst of a blizzard. Trailing death in its wake, the gang heads to the high country with Roamer dogging them on foot, the only man bold enough to track them—until he’s joined by his cantankerous old mentor, tough-as-nails mountain man Maple Jack. The men converge on the gang in the mountain valley ghost town of Sapphire City, and drive them beyond . . . deep into the maw of a fresh and vicious blizzard that unleashes its merciless might. With righteous rage and hard justice their only allies, Roamer and Maple Jack prepare for a final showdown at . . . Timberline.

Five Star Publishing: 200 pages, May, 2018, Hardcover

Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Powell’s

“Filled with colorful phrases, touches of humor, and terse descriptions, this white-knuckle novel is hard to put down. Mayo tells the story with authority. He knows mountain survival. And he knows how to spin a tale.”

—Melody Groves, Roundup Magazine

“Veteran author Mayo (The Outfit:Blood and Ashes, 2017) has written a readable and intriguing adventure novel. A train is robbed, a young woman is kidnapped, and the desperados ride off into the night. Roamer, a big man, well-read and articulate but, by his own admission, facially unattractive, sets out on foot to rescue the lovely kidnap victim. The trail leads through blinding snowstorms, avalanches, steep, wind-blown mountain passes, and into unknown territory. As the numbers of dead horses and men start to add up, Roamer comes to understand that the escaping kidnappers are much more than simple thieves. Based in the northern Rocky Mountains at the beginning of the winter months, the tale is an adventure of determination, survival, and surprise. The plot twist at the end only adds to the overall readability of the novel. It is refreshing to read a western where the protagonist is a reader of the classics, has a good vocabulary, and speaks in whole words and sentences. Western fans will enjoy TIMBERLINE.”

—Reg Quist, Booklist

“Mayo is a dab hand at carving out enthralling stories set in the American Old West. In keeping with other Roamer adventures, Timberline is a nimbly told tale of rough justice and frontier survival with fierce action, intense danger, and high-grade excitement. A rousing, first-rate read!”

—Nicholas Litchfield, Lancashire Post