Book Blurb:
A hero lost in battle. A shocking discovery. And a daring odyssey that will put a young man squarely in the crosshairs.
1838. Silas Grant prepares for a future with the girl of his dreams. The resourceful sixteen-year-old is learning the blacksmith trade from his father and frontier skills from Texas Revolution veterans. But when a portrait of David Crockett triggers hope that the famous fighter didn’t die two years earlier at the Alamo, Silas joins a quest for the truth.
Exploring a world healing from the war, Silas and his companions investigate the accounts of Alamo survivors, follow the trail of the Mexican army’s retreat, and pursue a witness to the final moments inside the Alamo. Their journey turns lethal as layers of the last stand’s legend peel away to reveal an astonishing secret.
Will their discoveries stun a nation or ignite a fatal showdown?
Rescuing Crockett is the gripping first book in the Silas Grant historical adventure series. If you like stories that weave fiction and history, coming-of-age tales, and nail-biting twists, you’ll love David Z. Pyke’s thrilling epic.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/ne3df1
Author Bio:
David Z. Pyke has always been a writer. His relationship with words began in elementary school, where he read Beowulf and Dracula by the time he was 10 years old. He wrote his first stories for newspapers when he was 15 and has written professionally for 47 years.
His passion stems from his heritage: Pyke is a native Texan related to one of the Alamo defenders. His great-great-great-great-great-granduncle, Isaac Millsaps, was one of the Immortal 32, the reinforcements from Gonzales who answered William Barret Travis's call for help, rode to San Antonio, and died in the Alamo on March 6, 1836.
In 1991, a mutual friend introduced David to Suzanne, an English literature teacher from Missouri. Their first date was on a Friday the 13th. She later confessed that before that first date, she read some of his stories to make sure he could write. Apparently, he received a passing grade. They were engaged five months later, married four months after that, and in 2022 celebrated their 30th anniversary.
Editorial Review:
“What affairs occupy you in Mexico, Mr. Ellis?” the baron asked, eliciting a sigh from Ellis and a chuckle from Cuevas. “Chasing a wild goose, sir, a wild goose,” Ellis said. “It seems an American, convicted of a crime in Mexico and doing hard labor in a mine in Guadalajara, concocted a story that he is Davy Crockett.”
For most Americans, the story of the Alamo is embedded into history lessons in school, the infamous battle which was a pivotal military event in the Texas Revolution. After a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under Santa Anna stormed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio and killed most of the inhabitants. Santa Anna refused to take prisoners causing many Texians to join the cause for revenge, which led to the ultimate defeat of the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto which ended the rebellion in favor of the the newly formed Republic of Texas. During the battle, many well-known Americans were killed, such as David (Davy) Crockett, William B. Travis, and James Bowie. As a result of the immense chaos, several different versions about what happened to Crockett emerged, all coming from various surviving eyewitnesses to the battle. With this tidbit in history, along with the astounding report years later of a criminal held hostage in a Mexican labor mine coming forward with the news that he was, indeed, David Crockett, and that he had survived the Alamo siege, Mr. Pyke unfurls a remarkable historical novel which tells a vastly different one from recorded history. This is the story of the rescue of David Crockett from his confinement after being taken prisoner by Santa Anna back to Mexico where he is held at one of Santa Anna's retreats known as Manga de Clavo.
While this story centers around the surviving Texians getting to the bottom of the truth of Crockett being alive after the discovery of a drawing of him made years after his supposed death, it also delves into their own lives after surviving the savagery at the Alamo, plus introduces the young sixteen-year-old boy, Silas, who becomes a man while on this quest in more ways than one. Through his eyes, you see and hear Mexico, and the blossoming of the new Republic of Texas as he himself is blossoming as the future of the state.
“I love this town,” Silas said as he, Sam, Henry, and Jacob emerged into a bright San Antonio morning, the streets quickly coming alive. The plaza was a daily iridescent festival. Women moved through the streets in huipils adorned with floral embroidery and ribbon, and in rebozos dyed red, blue, green, yellow, orange, or purple. Rainbows danced on the hems of their skirts. Men strolled in white tailored pants held by wide belts, their shoulders covered by capes with bright geometric patterns. It was if the city couldn't decide on one color, so it took them all.
Along the journey, and as each of the Texians separate to hone in on one of the survivors of the Alamo to investigate the possibility of Crockett's survival, and to question each of them as to what they actually witnessed, the truth reveals itself in various ways.
As the fabulous Fanny Calderon de la Barca seized him with her eyes, every drop of blood drained from Powhatan Ellis's face. He forgot how to breathe. He actually forgot how to breathe. His lungs had apparently seized up, and he wondered if his heart would be next. He very nearly fainted, and he could tell from the wry, satisfied smile that crossed Fanny's amazing face that he had gone pale, white as a bed sheet. His oxygen-deprived brain reeled.
Pyke takes the reader on a very well-researched journey where all your senses are involved in the battles, the landscape, the emotions, and the intrigue of this unfolding mystery. The characters are well-fleshed out, as real as a Texas storm, and the propulsion of the storyline keeps one glued to the narrative until the very end. Without a doubt, any fans of western historical fiction, of the early days of Texas, and the heroic and tragic tale of the Alamo, will love this story.
Crockett ran his hand over the rippled grain in his rifle's fiddleback maple stock. He he was, face to face with Santa Anna, rifle in hand. For two years, he had dreamed of this moment. But McCulloch was right. The Mexicans were out of range.
*****
“Rescuing Crockett” by David Z. Pyke receives five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from the Historical Fiction Company
Award:
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