Saffire

Saffire by Sigmund Brouwer   336 pages

The protagonist of Sigmund Brouwer’s new novel, Saffire, is James Holt. He was a member of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and rode with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Rider. He is stranger neither to fear or death.

Currently, in the year 1909, he is quietly living his life in the Dakota Badlands, trying his hand at ranching, raising his eight-year-old daughter, Winona.  His wife had died several years earlier. That’s an interesting story that I wish had been delved further into as a flashback.

The ranch isn’t doing well; in fact, Holt is so far behind in his mortgage payments that he is in danger of foreclosure. His old friend, TR, hires him to do some investigating down in South America at the building site of the Panama Canal, and he jumps at the opportunity. All he has to do is show up to get paid. And that is exactly what Hold plans to do. He travels six weeks to get there, and all he wants is his check, to catch the next streamer home, save his ranch and live the rest of his life watching Winona grow up.

But if the money was that easy to get, Brouwer wouldn’t have been able to write such a fascinating new novel. Holt arrives at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. He strolls a bit, watching the construction. Brouwer does an excellent job in making the reader hear the noise, feel the heat, and see the controlled chaos that was part of such a mammoth undertaking in joining the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Holt’s first order of business is to meet with Colonel George Goethals. On Sundays, Col. Goethals opens his office to anyone who would like to submit a complaint. And on this particular Sunday morning, the room is jammed with people, waiting their turn. Holt becomes fascinated by a young girl, Saffire (because a p and an h are silly letters to form an f sound). All Saffire wants is for someone to investigate her mother’s disappearance.

Soon, Holt is neck-deep in sabotage, political corruption, racism, conspiracies and collusions. He seems to always be in trouble of some kind.

Saffire got off to a slow start for me, which is why I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars. However, by page 51, I was completely engrossed.

I received Saffire from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.