Aboard a British convict ship bound for the New World, exiled clan chief Duncan McCallum witnesses a bizarre series of murders and suicides among his fellow Highland Scot prisoners. Compelled by the masters of his prison company to resolve the crimes while remaining a prisoner, Duncan soon makes a fearful discovery: the violence on board is somehow linked to the savages of the American wilderness. Realizing more Scots will die if he cannot find answers, he embarks on a trail in the New York colony that thrusts him into the bloody maw of the French and Indian war. Haunted by gilt over the plight of his fellow Highlanders, terrified by the savages who seem to stalk him, Duncan must face down the tyrannical Lord Ramsey, whose frontier estate has become a heart of darkness where British soldiers, rogue Scots, French raiders, and Huron and the Iroquois warriors engaged in physical, psychological, and spiritual battle.
Encountering more murders at the edge of the frontier, Duncan is mesmerized by Lord Ramsey's beautiful daughter whose forbidden knowledge of "heathen" ways becomes a mystery as great as the killings themselves. Finally Duncan plunges into the wilderness alone, fleeing Indians and British who want him dead, knowing he and his friends will never survive unless he can discover the links between the army, renegade Scots, and Indian priests that are driving the violence.
With suspense and style, acclaimed author Eliot Pattison takes is on a unique and rewarding journey into a vital chapter of America's history through a novel that explores the struggle of disenfranchised people to find justice--how conflicting cultures can be bridges with compassion, and ultimately how America's natural world imposed its own morality on those who ventured into it.
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This book is all about this the mysteries between murders and other things. I have found it to be a bit confusing and boring because its so dense. I do come to parts where I get a little curious as to what happen, but other then that I really don't like it much. It does have a lot of mystery to it, so if you really like mysteries and are interested in the French/Indian war, then you might like this book. I don't like this genre of book in general because its harder for me to grasp due to my lack of history knowledge. I do like how this book is written in a story format though because it holds my attention just enough that I can read it without giving up on it.
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