MORE THAN A MAN AND HIS DOG THIS TIME: PETER BRANDVOLD'S THE MAN FROM DAKOTA

Last year, I enjoyed Nordic & Finn, the launch of Peter Brandvold's latest western character, Nordic Anders, the towering, traveling hand doing his best to be left alone and of course attracting those to him to protect. In the first book, we see him start his friendship with Finn, a collie who becomes a trusted companion. In trying to save the dog, he ignited a range war. In the latest, The Man from Dakota, both action and human interaction increase.

Nordic, Finn, and his appaloosa Apache have moved to the mountains of Wyoming.doing Tom Horn style work for rancher Garth Devereux. The book opens with him efficiently dispatching several rustlers. The job gets complicated when a family of nesters arrive at his line shack with their pregnant daughter. Her husband was died when they were bushwacked. Nordic refuses to go after nesters, so he assumes Devereux sent his sadistic foreman Wayne Bitterman after them, but soon learns it's men from a rival ranch out to overthrow his boss. Nordic's protection of the family puts him at odds with both warring factions and to complicate matters more, Devereaux's bold and beautiful daughter Alexandra returns and sets her sights on the big man.

Brandvold keeps the story clean, clear, and moving. Few write action as engaging and visceral as he does and he leans into that skill for this tale. Almost every chapter puts Nordic in a shoot out or tight scrape, using them to move the plot forward and deliver reveals as well as sis-gun excitement.

It's the best way to deal with a loner like Nordic Anders, even when he warns up to the likes of Sarah and Alexandra. Ironically, he has better communication with his animal companions than the two women. Cooking plays an important role with the interactions. as they move closer to him and he stumbles into connecting with them. Not only does Nordic struggle to come out of his shell but deal with the emotions that come with it.

The Man From Dakota shows the strength and possible direction for what I hope continues to be a series. It sets him up with many bad bad men to to see his skills in action and confronts him with people ho expand his humanity (or reveal it.) All of it puts him on a trail for further adventures that could take him in several directions, I plan to be there for the next one.