The Burning Hills: A Novel

by Louis L'Amour

1985

Status

Available

Genres

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Standard Shelves

Publication

Bantam (1985), 176 pages

Description

Fiction. Western. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:Wounded, dehydrated, and escaping a violent feud with the men of Bob Sutton�??s ranch, Trace Jordan is near collapse when he descends from the heat of the desert into a cool, secluded canyon. He wakes to find a beautiful woman gently nursing him back to health. Strong and proud, Maria Cristina has also suffered at the hands of Sutton and his men. The experience has left her hostile and defiant. Trace, intrigued by Maria�??s grit and determination, can�??t help trying to peel back her layers�??but his attraction makes her a target. Sutton�??s men are watching and waiting for Trace to show himself. If he escapes, Maria will have to face them alone. But if he convinces her to go with him, Trace and Maria will have to survive a heat-blasted, waterless desert. And if that doesn�??t kill them,… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member JBarringer

I really disliked this book. I've read enough of L'Amour's novels to be used to his sexist characters and the role of women in his stories, and sometimes he writes some pretty decent ones. This novel, though, shows a non-white woman in the Mexican border region of California who is forced to accept

an asshole hero gunfighter as her 'protector' and partner, after he rescues her from the bad guys. The hero seems to think that when the woman refuses him, she is simply untamed and needs to be trained, or broken, the way he breaks wild horses. He does 'get' the woman in the end, but not because he wins her over so that she chooses him. He simply forces himself on her and she reluctantly relents and accepts him. This novel does show how awful non-white women's circumstances may have been during the Wild West era, but I was really annoyed at the ending and was rooting for the bad guys or at least for the Apaches by the end. Surely the woman would have been better off if she had hooked up with one of the Indians rather than a white gunman she didn't love and who would never really respect her as a person.

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LibraryThing member fuzzi

Pretty good read about a posse trying to eliminate someone who killed a cattle baron, even though it was done in self-defense. The interesting portion of this story is who comes to his aid, though some of the scenes might cause modern readers a little discomfort.

LibraryThing member lamour

Another page turner from Louis. In this effort, Trace Jordan is catching wild horses with a friend then breaking with the idea of making enough money to start a business that will eventually lead to the purchase of a ranch. While Trace is in town to buy some supplies, two men kill his friend and

steal the horses. When he sees a man riding one of his horses in town, he challenges him and in the ensuing gun fight Trace kills him. Turns out the man is the owner of the largest ranch in the area and he did not know the horse was stolen by his men.

Now the pursuit is on and Trace is wounded and nearly exhausted when he finds a deer trail that leads to a hidden ledge where he hides from the pursuers. Near death he awakens to find an attractive young woman tending to his wounds. The remainder of the story is the chase across the desert with Trace trying to keep his attractive companion out of the hands of the cowboys and the Apaches as well.

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