The Tall Stranger.

by Louis [Dearborn](1908-1988) L'Amour

2009

Status

Available

Genres

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Standard Shelves

Publication

Bantam Books (2009), Edition: (1st,1957); Thirty-Fifth Printing

Description

Fiction. Western. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:Wagon trains heading west were forced to defend themselves against Indians, cope with injuries and illness, and struggle to find food. The group of easterners Rock Bannon was scouting for faced another problem. They were being deceived. When he warned them to remain on the Humboldt Trail, Sharon Crockett and the others refused to listen. Mort Harper, a stranger riding a beautiful black mare, had dazzled them with his charm and good looks. The southern route was the best way to go, Harper told them. But best for whom? Bannon wondered. That route led straight to the Salt Lake Desert. The conditions would be brutal. And if Harper wasn�t steering them toward those deadly alkali flats, where were they headed? And what would happen once they got there?… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member debnance

Don’t ever say I don’t venture out from my comfort zone in my reading. I finished my first real Western (unless Lonesome Dove counts). And it’s a Louis L’Amour, the John Wayne of Western writers. I knew where this book was going from page one. No doubt about it…it’s a guy book, through

and through. Fellow (Mercy! His name is ROCK Banyon…please!) joins up with a wagon train headed west. The man who’s guiding the wagon train is Mort Harper. Harper has persuaded the train to take a southern route, a route that Rock Banyon knows will lead straight to the Salt Lake Desert. Harper and Banyon both fall for the same girl and they squabble back and forth until they reach a tranquil valley owned by a rancher Banyon knows won’t take kindly to having strangers move in. Banyon can’t quite figure out what Harper’s scheme is, but he lurks around on the fringes as the wagon train decides to appropriate some of the rancher’s land. There’s some gun fights, some fist fights, a saloon, beautiful farm land, and a pretty girl. You feel pretty confident early on that the good guy’s gonna win out. And, apparently, that’s a Western.

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LibraryThing member fuzzi

Settlers heading west listen to a slick sales pitch, and soon find themselves in a land grab war. Standard L'Amour tale, worth a read but far from his best work.

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