Sawbones (Sawbones, 1)

This is one of those books that I wish I'd read the reviews first. Any mention of graphic violence, and I would've steered clear of it. The book not only has it, but is overloaded with it. SPOILERS AHEAD. The story started out interestingly: a female surgeon in the mid-nineteenth century is falsely accused of murder. Then it takes a nose dive. She goes on the run, is the sole survivor of a violent and graphic Indian attack, and believe it or not we get the horrible descriptions (page after page) of what she endures in yet another Indian attack later on. Then page after page of what she endures from the brother. Mixed in between, people who know who she is suddenly make appearances (we don't know how), some conveniently meet tragic ends, and if she suspects they're on to her, she just confesses to them before she's clear of their intentions. Crisis after crisis, endured by an arrogant, and at times unlikeable character who makes bad decisions. The only redeeming light of the whole book (and this is why it gets two stars, and not one) was her relationship with Kindle, yet that wasn't resolved, because the book just ended after the last acts of descriptive, horrible violence. We never learn why she was accused of murder in the first place. It's one of those books that you regret you bought it, but read it anyway because you did; and hope you're not finishing it right before you go to sleep at night, only then to discover it's the first book in what is now a three book series. I won't be purchasing/reading the next two, or any other books by this author.

HISTORICAL FICTION/THRILLERMelissa LenhardtSawbones (A Laura Elliston Novel)RedhookEbook, B0124TQ3Z0, 358 pgs., $3.99March 29, 2016Catherine Bennett is the rare female surgeon in New York City, or anywhere, in 1871. Accused of a murder she did not commit and unable to offer an alibi that would not destroy her career and reputation, she is forced to flee. Landing in Galveston with a bounty on her head, Catherine Bennett becomes Dr. Laura Elliston and sets out to get lost. Elliston embarks on the Western Trail across Comancheria in a wagon train with a small party, recruited by one of the ubiquitous land men, to found a new town in Colorado.Sawbones is Melissa Lenhardt’s second novel—and the first in a new series—of Western historical fiction, with elements of the mysterious thriller, and she’s hit the bull’s-eye with her first shot in this genre. Lenhardt grabs her audience in the opening scene, when Bennett practices new surgical techniques on a corpse she has paid a “resurrection man” to procure, and doesn’t let up until the final scene when Elliston rides off into the dark night with her new knight, on the run again.Bennett/Elliston is a fiercely determined woman who disdains the traditional women’s roles—don’t, you can’t, you mustn’t, what’s wrong with you?—and makes significant sacrifices to practice medicine. She’s “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” but more acerbic and conflicted, less romantic, and believably—forgivably—flawed. Lenhardt’s characters are well developed and provided with diverse backstories that inform their actions and motivations. Lenhardt is particularly skilled at physical descriptions of her characters, invoking them fully formed, like Athena from Zeus’s head.There is the occasional instance of overwrought description, such as Elliston’s equating of a dramatic Texas sunset (“the bloodied sky”) with “God’s anger at man’s idiocy and hubris, at the wanton waste of life,” reminding her that “beauty and destruction are inexorably linked in nature and in the heart of man.” But this is balanced by Lenhardt’s humor. Her Western is funny, too. After an injury to her shoulder, Elliston must get it popped back into place.Full feeling would take time but at least I would be able to use my arm. I sat up. The steward’s eyes were wide. “What? Did I scream?” “Yes, ma’am.” “Sorry.” Four men were standing back from the table, holding oil lanterns, eyes as wide as the steward’s. “What is the matter? Surely you’ve heard a woman scream before.” “Yes, ma’am,” one man said. “Ain’t ever heard one cuss.”Even though the plot is intricate with many moving parts, it races along and the details fall into place like so many puzzle pieces. The plot twists, of which there are so many as to become exhausting, are precisely timed and sprung to maximum effect. Lenhardt has discovered a facility for integrating historical events—the Salt Creek Massacre, General Sherman’s tour of Texas forts, changing Indian policies—and people—Buffalo soldiers, Quanah Parker, Gen. Ranald Mackenzie—into a satisfying, coherent narrative with her fictional characters. I am reminded of Jeff Guinn’s recent novel, Buffalo Trail.Sawbones is a thoroughly original, smart and satisfying hybrid, perhaps a new sub-genre: the feminist Western.​Published in Lone Star Literary Life.

Written in first person by Catherine Bennett, a young woman in the New York of 1871 who has to struggle against bias and patriarchy to become a doctor. Her superior skills earn her the hostility of the medical establishment and make her an easy target when a wealthy socialite needs someone on whom to pin the murder of her husband. Catherine has to fake her own death and head west with her loyal friend and maid — and before long they encounter the West's brutality. I don't want to give more away, except to say the story contains vivid action and a white-hot love story along with its brave, resourceful, admirable and sometimes impulsive heroine. Tightly written but unencumbered with literary flourishes or pretension, this story hooked me from the get-go and I read it in a rush. There is violence aplenty, so if that bothers you, this isn't your book — but in that case you probably wouldn't want to read something set in the Old West anyway!

I bought this as one review said it was feminist - unfortunately I didn’t get to that point as I found the bodice ripping sex right at the beginning too much to bear.