The Phantom of the River

The year is the early American frontier, when Kentucky was still wild enough to kill any man who made a wrong step. Legendary pioneers Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton are escorting settler families, the Ashbridges and Altmans, through dangerous territory when they learn that a Shawanoe war chief called The Panther has marked these people for death. The pioneers must act fast, racing against time to reach the families before the warriors strike. What follows is frontier fiction at its raw, pulpy heart: tracking through wilderness, defending the vulnerable against overwhelming odds, the constant calculation of survival against enemies who know the land better than any settler ever could. Ellis writes with the urgency of a man who knows these stories are being forgotten, and his respect for Boone and Kenton, real men who really did carve civilization from wilderness with their hands, gives the adventure an undertone of genuine historical weight. The tension never lets up. For readers who grew up dreaming of frontier adventures, or anyone who wants to understand what America looked like before it was America, this novel delivers the goods: action, danger, and two of the most remarkable men who ever lived.