[In the following review, the reviewer describes Mountain Man as powerful and intense reading.]

[Mountain Man] is a stark novel of the western frontier by an author who knows the period well. Based in part on the real life story of a man and a woman, the narrative tells of Sam Minard and the cold, bloody vengeance he took against the Crows who had killed his Indian wife and child, and of Kate Bowden who went insane after losing her family to Indian tomahawks. Written with power and intensity, there is a certain beauty in the simple acceptance of the harsh laws of nature. For the mature reader who enjoyed Guthrie's The Big Sky.