The Red Ripper
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
To his friends he was Big Foot Wallace and the Wild West Wind. To his enemies he was El Destripedor Rojo, The Red Ripper. Here is the extraordinary story of William Wallace, legendary frontiersman and a direct descendant of William The Braveheart, as portrayed in Mel Gibson's Academy Award-winning movie. An epic adventure of heroism, savagery, and revenge, The Red Ripper is classic historical novel, sure to be read and re-read for years to come.
New Orleans, September 1829. Brothers William and Samuel Wallace board a ship for Mexico with bold visions of wealth and adventure in a new land. But a fool for a captain and a vicious storm land the two on the shores of Mexico, clinging for dear life. And soon a brutal band of freebooters attack the brothers, murdering Samuel in front of William's very eyes. From this day on, William's life has irrevocably changed course-his every waking moment is devoted to exacting bloody revenge upon his brother's killers. This haunting quest will take Wallace from the sun-baked streets of Vera Cruz to the mist-laden bayous of Texas, where his sharp steel blades and burning hatred will earn him the name that strikes fear in the hearts of his enemies...The Red Ripper.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The ornery, pugnacious and legendary William "Bigfoot" Wallace, a sometime Texas Ranger and full-time knife-fighter, strides through early 19th-century Texas history in this rangy, fast-moving historical novel. Wallace--"Bigfoot" to his friends, "The Red Ripper" to his many enemies--carves his way across Mexico and Texas, armed with a pair of big knives (he dubs them "Old Butch" and "Bonechucker") and assisted by an old pirate called Mad Jack. Juan Diego Guadiz, a homicidal Mexican army officer, and his cold-blooded sister, Paloma, have murdered Bigfoot's only brother. Seeking revenge, Bigfoot slices up soldiers, Indians, bandits and anybody else who gets in the way of his cutlery. So far, so violent--but there's a war on, too. It's 1836, and Texas is trying to slice itself right out of Mexico. Bigfoot gets swept up in the conflict, fighting for the Lone Star Republic, and swept off his feet by the beautiful and mysterious Esperanza, who's married to one of Bigfoot's best friends. Though Bigfoot embraces Texas independence, his real nature tells him that "whiskey and sex were as good a reason as any to start a revolution." Bolstered by tequila and hoping to skewer Guadiz, Bigfoot finds himself inside the Alamo. But rather than dying with Davey Crockett, Bigfoot escapes, carries a message to Sam Houston and helps the heroic Anglos win the Battle of San Jacinto. Even that patriotic victory, though, cannot still Bigfoot's wanderlust--much less his passion for Esperanza. Newcomb (Call Down Thunder) clearly enjoys retelling, and amending, the historical Bigfoot's adventures, explaining that "what isn't true, ought to be." Readers entertained by the action-filled plot, the broad-brush sagebrush scenes and the romance of the Texas Republic will probably not object.
