• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 18

Jim Doolen discovered his father's fate in Written in Blood and met Billy the Kid in Ghost Moon. Now, in the final installment of The Desert Legends Trilogy, he's a scout for the Army in the middle of a brutal war to force Victorio's Apaches onto a reservation far from their traditional lands.
Deeply troubled by the violence he's witnessed and been a part of, and having lost so many friends, Jim feels trapped between the two worlds he's encountered over the past three years. Captured by his nemesis Ghost Moon and forced to flee with an Apache band of warriors, Jim is only saved from a slow and torturous death when his old friend Wellington adopts him as his son. But now he's on the wrong side. Will he be branded a traitor? Or killed in a battle with the 10th US Cavalry or the Mexican Army? Jim finds his loyalties now divided, and he begins to understand the plight of his captors. But as supplies and ammunition run out, Jim's fate is tied to that of the doomed Apache warriors and survival seems unlikely.

John Wilson was born in 1951 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He did his early growing up on the Island of Skye and in Paisley, near Glasgow. From 1969 to 1974, he attended the University of St. Andrews where he took an Honours B.Sc.. in Geology and never played golf once. He took a position with the Geological Survey of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In his two years there, he mapped rocks, dodged land mines and watched the country sink ever deeper into civil war. Shortly before he was due to be called into the army, John retreated back to Britain on his way to the safety of Canada. He settled on Calgary where geology was booming and the only danger was freezing to death in January. In 1979, he moved to Edmonton to take up a post with the Alberta Geological Survey. In 1988 he sold a feature article to the Globe and Mail. This fueled a smouldering mid-life crisis and he took up freelance writing full-time. With some success, John mined the experiences of his travels for articles, journalism and photo essays. He even began to express himself poetically and, with a young family, began writing children's stories. He moved to Nanaimo and then Lantzville on Vancouver Island. John has been widely published by a number of Canadian presses, with his acolades including a shortlisting for the Governor General’s Award.

John Wilson's profile page

• Commended, TriState YA Review Group Book of Note

"This third volume of John Wilson's Desert Legends trilogy is every bit as well done as the first two...Wilson's seeming asides and occasional real historical references merely entice the reader to look further and more closely at what is presented before him...[A] well-paced tale."

Resource Links

"This easy read has a fast moving plot and complex characters making it perfect for reluctant readers, as well as fans of historical fiction and westerns...The themes of right and wrong, discussion of death, and the message of hope will be engaging and rewarding."

VOYA

"Readers will smell the dust, hear the whizzing bullets and arrows, and experience the conflicted loyalties that are all part of Jim's story...An outstanding fast-paced tour of the Old West that will appeal to all ages."

Tri State YA Book Review Committee

"Wilson is a self-confessed history addict, and his enthusiasm for creating believable stories about the past, as well as his attention to detail, has been obvious throughout the series. Victorio's War seems more realistic and authentic than many other novels about this time period, and it keeps the setting lively and entertaining for the (mostly) boys who will fall in love with the idea of a teenager on a momentous adventure. "

CM Magazine

"Wilson is skilled at bestowing upon [his characters] grand, memorable gestures. This is a fine time dodging arrows along the sunbaked trail."

Booklist