Thunder on the St. Johns: A Cracker Western (Cracker Western)

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining, well-paced Florida pioneer adventure.
Review: An excellent read for those who like Westerns or pioneer adventures, Thunder on the St. Johns is written in a style that combines some of Zane Grey's style of word artistry with the concise, to the point structure used by Louis L'Amour. The book is faithful to Florida's geography and history, and is a taut, well written fictional account of early Florida pioneer adventures with a decidedly Western flavor. The plot centers around a gambler, some settlers, and outlaw bands headed to Florida for escape, settlement, and conquest. These conflicting aims lead to deadly confrontations from start to finish. The plot is tense, credible, and written against a picturesque background rich in descriptions of the terrain and typical events in Florida's pioneer days. Florida was "western" before the west was "western", and this book is one of several which give the reader insight into one aspect of Florida's turbulent pioneer days.