Stranger on the Line

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

This third instalment of Steve Garrett’s story picks up where Stranger
on the Run left off. The book’s main weakness is rooted in the
plot’s year-long time span, which sometimes causes the various
happenings to be treated superficially.

Though not divided into parts, the book has three distinct segments.
The first finds Steve, 20, still on the run from his vengeful pursuer,
Carlos Romero, and attempting to illegally enter the United States. An
encounter with a grizzly bear and inclement weather make Steve’s
Glacier Park “hike” a near-fatal experience. The next segment begins
as Steve hooks up with Reece Kelly, an ex-jockey who owns a Montana
ranch stocked with racetrack rejects. Recognizing Reece’s financial
difficulties, Steve suggests entering a chuckwagon in the Calgary
Stampede, and the pair spend three seasons assembling a team from
Reece’s misfit horses. The final segment occurs at the Stampede, where
the wagon piloted by Steve reaches the “final four.” The Stampede
also reunites Steve with his lost love, Lynne Tremayne, and Romero. At
story’s end, other than winning the chuckwagon event, nothing is
really resolved for Steve. For Lynne’s safety, the pair separate, and
Steve is again fleeing Romero.

While Halvorson provides sufficient antecedent action that readers
unfamiliar with the previous titles need not read them, the sudden
reintroduction of Russ Donovan, Steve’s “second worst nightmare,”
in the midst of the Stampede is jarring. Recommended with reservations.