The character of Joanna is a mystery as to why she helps Clay even before she knows him. Why she hates what her uncle does but still supports him is another mystery. How she shows up in the neck of time at the beginning of the book to save Clay a couple of times and then becomes a hinderance to him the rest of the book is grating. The romance between them is very awkwardly written.

Clay is very reckless am seems to have Indiana Jones's luck for getting out of tight spots. He becomes the legendary Captain Swing and it takes quite awhile for anyone to figure out that Captain Swing is him (really?). Even though he has the best horse around, nobody can figure out it is him from his horse. That is like accepting that no one can see that Clark Kent is Superman.

Clay has a servant named Joshua. We are not sure if Joshua was a slave or what and why he stays with Clay. Some of the dialog exchanges are very stereotypical and annoying.

It seems like the author saw The Scarecrow of Rumney Marsh, Batman, Zorro, Indiana Jones, and the Green Hornet and then tried to combine all the plots and make a book.

This is my introduction to Higgins and I understand that some of his other titles are more superior. I do not know what he was thinking when he wrote this one though.