The Trail of the Apache Kid

by Lewis B. Patten

When the Apache Kid, a notoriously vicious killer, escapes from jail, he seeks revenge on Frank Healey, the professional Indian scout who captured him, by using Healey's young wife to lure him into a deadly confrontation

Genres: Westerns, Fiction

186 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1979

About the author

aka Lewis Ford, Len Leighton, Joseph Wayne (with Wayne D. Overholser)

Lewis Byford Patten was a prolific author of American Western Novels, born in Denver, Colorado. Often published under the names Lewis Ford, Len Leighto and, Joseph Wayne.

Reviews

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 4 out of 5]

US Army Scout Frank Healy returns home after a local campaign only to find that the two old Mexicans who helped on his small New Mexican ranch have been killed and his wife has been captured by a relentless murderous outlaw known as the Apache Kid. Healy had been the one responsible for capturing the Apache Kid two years prior and having him sent to prison in Florida, so the Kid's return and Nora's abduction set Healy off on a hurried pursuit.

Verdict: An immersive, short, and tense manhunt and chase, "The Trail of the Apache Kid" (1979) escalates from a worrisome investigation and attempt to figure out what the Kid might do next to a scarier trip through perseverance and murder that takes on a modern horror-thriller feel by the time we reach its epic conclusion.

Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[David Braly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank Healy had been an Indian scout for over twenty years, and he's made plenty of enemies. But no one he'd ever sent to prison hated him more than the vicious Apache Kid. When the Kid escaped and kidnapped Healy's wife, the scout realized his woman was the lure and he himself the intended victim. The Apache Kid would decide when and where the pursuit would end, but Frank would be damned if he'd let any low-down sidewinder threaten his woman and live to tell about it.

[Dm32blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

F****ng FANTASTIC!!! I loved this story!! Concise and riveting. From the opening to the end, It.Never.Slows.Down!! If this hasn't been made into a movie than WTF?! lol!! Highly recommend!! Easily one of the very best western stories I've read.

[Lisa Arnett]

Interesting historical read.