Noteworthy Reads: THE SAVAGE PACK by Fred Blosser

Reading this rousing historical adventure by Fred Blosser made me feel much the same as when I was a kid first discovering books like TREASURE ISLAND, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. It took me to a time and place I knew little or nothing about, introduced me to colorful characters and customs, threw in a mysterious object that everybody seems to want a all costs, then weaves the whole works into a complex, action-packed yarn. I'm talking rugged frontiersman, Indians, damsels in distress, damsels out to cause distress, dastardly villains, spies and counterspies --- even pirates!

The time is 1714 and the settings are the interior wilderness and coastal settlements of North Carolina. The main protagonists are Axtel “Ax” Fannin and his sidekick Jesse Driggs. The action starts one rainy night in the forest when they rescue lovely Sophia Drummond from her kidnappers and from there things propel forward and the pace never lets up.

Author Blosser's writing is clean and straightforward and he lays out the details of the period with a sure hand. The twists and turns and surprises of his plot will keep you entertained and anxious to keep turning the pages to see what happens next.

Highly recommended.