Road to Reckoning
A Novel
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- ¥1,400
発行者による作品情報
“Remarkable…A novel about a young man reaching for manhood after the killing of his father and about the invention and selling of Col. Samuel Colt’s revolving pistol, and the way it changed the West. Those who love True Grit will love this” (Michael Korda, author of Hero).
One does not travel the path to vengeance alone
Twelve-year-old Thomas Walker has never left New York City. His father, a traveling salesman hoping to earn money by selling Samuel Colt’s recent invention, the “Improved Revolving Gun,” takes young Thomas with him on the road. But even the world’s first true revolver cannot save them from danger, and what starts as an adventure soon turns into a nightmare.
Thomas soon finds himself alone, and must rely on his own wits, courage, and determination, as well as a wooden replica of the Colt revolver, to protect himself. Luckily, an encounter with a surly ex-ranger, Henry Stands, leads to an improbable partnership, and the two set out in perilous pursuit of vengeance. That is, if they can escape the thieves who lurk around each trail, river, and road—and who have already stolen so much from Thomas.
In the spirit of The Sisters Brothers and True Grit, this spare, elegant, and emotionally resonant story conveys—through a boy’s eyes—a beautiful father-son story, as well as the fascinating history of how the birth of the revolver changed the course of violence in America. Road to Reckoning offers a window into the history of the American West and the heart of a boy yearning for love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Lautner impresses in his debut with a crackling coming-of-age revenge tale set in the lawless wilderness of pre-Civil War Pennsylvania. 20 year-old Thomas Walker is accustomed to riding through the northeastern United States on door-to-door sales errands with his father, an early salesman of revolving pistols. When a gang of robbers shoot his father, leaving Thomas an orphan on the road, he begins a harrowing journey back to New Jersey to cash in his father's unredeemed sales commissions, armed only with his resourcefulness and a wooden sample model of the revolver. He soon meets Henry Stands, a bounty hunter headed toward Philadelphia in search of work. Despite Henry's reluctance, the two embark on a picaresque that eventually sees Thomas escape from a sinister orphanage in daring fashion and confront his father's murderers. Thomas recounts these formative events of his youth through the hindsight of adulthood with wisdom that makes him an appealing narrator with a knack for a poetic turn of phrase. The descriptions of the wilderness and cities of 19th century Pennsylvania feel particularly alive and specific. The grizzled, depressive nature of the Henry Stands character will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Rooster Cogburn, and the arc by which the two protagonists become friends is well-worn territory. Still the story is a comforting pleasure with many rewards.
