First published 2017
William Johnson arrives in the American West in 1876 with little more than Yale privilege and a foolish bet to win. He joins renowned paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on a fossil hunting expedition, but Marsh suspects William of spying for his scientific rival Edwin Drinker Cope. Abandoned in the lawless town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, William must survive among gold rush desperados and hostile Indian tribes. He allies himself with Cope and uncovers a fossil discovery that could change paleontology forever. Now William faces the challenge of protecting this scientific treasure while navigating the treacherous world of the Bone Wars, where two competing paleontologists will stop at nothing to destroy each other. The young student discovers that the Wild West's most dangerous enemies may not be the outlaws and warriors he expected, but the scientists who brought him there.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, adventure, 19th-century
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, underdog
Setting: Cheyenne, Wyoming
Period: 1876
292 pages · Hardcover · Harper