Ambush in the Foothills

Kristin Butcher writes novels for young adults. Her most recent works
are The Tomorrow Tunnel (shortlisted for the 1999 CLA Book of the Year)
and The Runaways (regional winner of the 1998 OLA Silver Birch Award).

In this ninth Western adventure featuring the Bains family, Jamie and
his younger sister Kate take part in a cattle-buying expedition headed
by their friend, Patrick McNeil, a retired North-West Mounted Police
officer from Fort Walsh, Alberta. The year is 1877, and the demise of
the buffalo has created a major food shortage on the Canadian prairie.
Importing herds of cattle from Montana seems to be the answer, but
achieving that goal isn’t as easy as it at first appears. Lack of
money and experience, cattle rustlers, a hostile Blackfoot nation,
stampedes, treacherous landscape, murder, and vengeful outlaws present
obstacles that must be overcome.

The novel begins sluggishly as Freeman introduces the characters and
sets the stage, but by Chapter 8 the action is underway, and the pace of
the story continues at a good clip from there to the end of the book.
Ambush in the Foothills is primarily plot-driven, providing lots of
excitement and suspense to keep young readers on the edge of their
seats. Character development, however, is minimal. The supporting
players are one-dimensional stereotypes, and the central characters are
not much more. As for historical detail, Freeman has done his homework
well, bringing to life the various aspects of the West in general and
life on the trail in particular. Photographs of the era are inserted
into the centre of the book. Recommended.