Have you Ever Rode a Train? I Have Always Wanted to...Until...

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  Off The Train


By Stephen Bly




What a fun book to read! Witty, Crisp dialogue from a series of characters that you feel actually lived back in the days... sensitive, touching themes, old-fashion romantic love... Readers will laugh and...cry a little... What more could you ask for! It's not listed as Christian fiction, but it is certainly recommended to that group for their consideration. This delightful book is a western, set in time right after the civil war ended although there's not too much about the west, except as a location toward which a train is going...and oh, yes, there is a saddle as a character, which surely counts toward it being a western, right? And there's really nothing about the war, except about the devastation to families that, in my mind, explains both the actions of the good and bad characters...everybody was trying to survive after so much had been lost...

First, a comment about the book itself. I was privileged to get a hard-back copy which has not only a dust cover but the cover itself contained artwork as well as printing. I got a large print version which was wonderfully easy on my eyes...Thanks go to both the author and the publisher, Center Point Publishing, Thorndike Maine for a truly worthy personal library edition...

Nearly all of the story takes place on the train...

Race Hillyard had just killed a man. Two men were planning on stealing from him, in response to the hard times they were facing after the war. Race would have left them both go, but one of them decided to try again... Race was tired, hungry and in a bad mood when he found his seats on the train--I say seats because he had purchased an extra seat so that he could keep his saddle with him...

So when Catherine Draper came on the train, looking for a seat, she naturally became agitated that a saddle was taking up a place she could use... Needless to say, their meeting was not the greatest way to become romantically involved...

But then again, neither were looking for that possibility. In fact, Catherine was on her way to marry a childhood sweetheart and was already using her married name. Of course that was partly because she was also "getting out of town" and hiding her identity for pulling a gun against a lawyer. That story had been blown out of proportion so using her future husband's name seemed the right thing to do... even if they had not seen each other since they were...12 years old...

Race, on the other hand, was looking for revenge and he had the ability to get it since he had been a sharp-shooter during the war. But when the first conflict started on the train--a man talking crazy and acting as if he was walking in his sleep, Race was immediately on the alert and before long, literally throwing men off the train...  He became a quiet sort of hero...except when riled...

He even acted more friendly after he had gotten some sleep... Or, maybe that was because of Catherine... You just knew right away that sparks were flying between those two!

All types of scams surrounding mining (diamonds, gold, silver) were what the bad guys did back in those times. Race's brother had convinced him to put all of their money into such a plan and, when he had lost it all, committed suicide rather than face Race. There were many who were going to pay! And one of them was on that train...and Catherine knew him. It's hard though getting serious about all those nasty issues like killing, blackmail, kidnapping, and much more that happened, when it's so much fun watching the characters on the train and especially Catherine and Race falling in love. But I promise you there's action and adventure to keep your pages turning...all the way up to the point when Catherine finally meets her "intended..."

You just gotta love this one!

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