The Horsemen by Gary McCarthy

I haven't read anything by Gary McCarthy that I remember, but this book, The Horsemen, came in the box set that I am reading now. This is the first book in the Horsemen series and I felt like it had left me in the middle of the stream at the end of it. It begins at the Wildwood Horse Farm owned and run by the Ballou family in 1863 in the midst of the Civil War. The horses are all Thoroughbreds and are bred and trained to race, but their life is severely disrupted with the war. And here comes a Captain Denton of the Confederate Army needing horses for the war effort.

Denton doesn't leave a very good impression with the Ballous even though one of the Ballou sons, Mason, is riding with him. Denton tells them they must let the horses go to help fight the war and two more of the Ballou boys, Rufus (Ruff) and Houston, go with him to deliver the Thoroughbreds, mostly pregnant mares. Ruff and Houston were supposed to oversee the horses and bring 'em back home, but Denton steals a stud and another one comes up missing. The hunt for these animals and keeping track of the others is almost an impossible job, and it gets them mixed up in fighting for their lives as they try to find the missing animals. Their adventures kept me on the edge of my seat, so to speak, right up to the end. The ending left me wondering what was going to happen next as they were at an Aunt's tobacco farm in Mississippi and were going to the Cherokee Nation to escape the desperadoes who were after them.

The story provided entertained aplenty, fun, and excitement and it's getting four stars from me.

Gary McCarthy is a Spur Award winner, too, and has many westerns under his belt.