Brand of Brotherhood, The

The Brand of Brotherhood
by T. D. Zummack
Published by Endless Sky Books
Review by Toby A. Welch  
$24.99 ISBN 9781989398784

The Brand of Brotherhood starts off with a literal bang. In the brief first chapter, the Warner family experiences a lifetime of struggle. William Warner moves his wife and two young sons west to Nebraska to forge a better life. But drought, poverty, and illness hit hard. The family will never be the same again. Giving up the unachieved dream of a great life in Nebraska, the Warners – who now number three instead of four – head further west to California. But William doesn’t survive the journey, making orphans of twelve-year-old Colt and ten-year-old Brick. Undeterred, the boys continue the trek to Sacramento as their father had planned to start their new lives. 

Jim Borden, a retired gunfighter, takes the boys into his care as they travel westward by train. Borden sets the boys up with a solid, routine life – school, work, home, bed – and they flourish. Until they don’t. Brick turns to the outlaw life while Colt is a law-abiding citizen. Brick becomes a successful stagecoach robber, joining a gang of thieves called The Brotherhood, while Colt becomes a landowner. On totally different life paths, the brothers grow apart until their story comes to an explosive and satisfying end. 

To keep the story going, Zummack throws in love affairs for the brothers with girls and interesting women. He then adds a father determined to protect his daughter. And since this is a Western, classic gunfights are included. I especially appreciated a secondary storyline about a lady of the night and a bit of her world. 

The pacing of The Brand of Brotherhood is spot on. The action starts on page one and continues at a perfect pace until the end. Descriptions are simple and not flowery and keep things moving. Zummack nailed the prose, that’s for sure. 

I haven’t read a Western in awhile and I’d forgotten how the characters typically follow traditional roles. But I love that in this genre. Women are strong but soft. They are often in the man’s shadow while remaining the backbones of relationships. Men are macho and are the protectors.

The Brand of Brotherhood gives off a Louis L’Amour vibe so I wasn’t surprised to learn that Zummack spent his younger years reading L’Amour as well as Agatha Christie. Likely even without realizing it, Zummack nailed the necessary ingredients for an authentic Western novel. It is not an easy genre to successfully write and pull off but Zummack delivers!

Snag yourself a copy of The Brand of Brotherhood if you are in the mood for a classic Western written in modern times by a formidable writer. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes Westerns, from teenagers to centenarians. 

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