In 1874 the western frontier was a fierce and lawless land, home to a new breed of Americans. Men lived by their wits and their guns or died swiftly. One man learned his lessons well and trusted no one. He had only one goal in life, to find and kill the man who murdered his parents. The path he followed was long and bloody.

His name was Theo Belk.

"As a warning to those looking for the Hollywood stereotyped hero, he won't be found in Long Ride Home. This isn't your usual horse opera tale. It's a novel of the post-Civil War frontier by a man who obviously knows a lot about the subject. And as for our hero, Theo Belk is as tough as a boiled owl and sometimes just as unsavory. Like a lot of real people who have a problem trying to figure out the difference between good and evil."

- Douglas C. Jones
author of Gone the Dreams and Dancing

WITH SLEEP CAME THE DREAMS, THE HAUNTING
TERROR OVER AND OVER AGAIN …

… the wagon stood there, the horses snorting and stamping in their traces. The body of his father lay face down in the soft, white dust of the trail.

A big man jumped from the back of the wagon, dragging Theo's mother with him. She struggled to her feet crying and the man slapped her down again. Three other men walked from behind the wagon and jeered. The big man stood above her, grinning. She looked at him, pleading.

Theo heard his mother scream, and while he watched, he whined lowly to himself unable to accept the horrid thing he saw. His security was being destroyed. His father was dead and his mother … Theo was old enough to know rape …

Theo the boy had witnessed horror. Theo the man would stop at nothing to avenge his parents.