Book review - Taggart

Louis L’Amour had a number of great successes with one-name title books, such as Brionne, Callaghen, Catlow, Conagher, Fallon, Flint, Hondo, Kilkenny, Radigan, Shalako, Tucker and Sackett, among others. Taggart is one of them.

Taggart was published in April 1959. Like many of his early 1950s novels, it was based on a short story, this one being ‘Trap of Gold’ (Argosy magazine, 1951).

The original story featured Wetherton, searching for gold in the desert. He has to fight the rock where he discovers a rich vein and his own greed to bring home the treasure to his wife and son.

The book Taggart naturally has more depth. Now it’s Adam Stark who finds the gold, in Apache territory, and living with him under the constant threat of discovery are his wife Consuelo and his sister Miriam. Into this mix comes Taggart, on the run for a crime he didn’t commit. Tracking Taggart is a lawman, bounty-hunter. And nearby, some two dozen Apache…

The conflict between the women, the men and the Apache is told well, even if L’Amour often slips from one point of view to another at the drop of a bullet or two. Both Taggart and Stark are your typical strong, honest men. Miriam is the strong woman and love interest. Consuelo is ambivalent about her marriage, trying to grasp dreams with a hand of open fingers instead of clasping what she has to her heart.

If you want a smooth, fast-paced read, this is guaranteed to deliver. The book was filmed as Taggart in 1964, featuring the film debut of David Carradine, with a screenplay that clearly departs from the book.

 

'Hazard' by Nik Morton is featured in Livin' on Jacks and Queens, an e-book anthology edited by Robert J. Randisi, which can be purchased here

 

Vulture Gold - Review

This was Chuck Tyrell’s debut novel, and he hit the ground running. In fact, his main character embarked on the run of death against fourteen Jicarilla Apache warriors. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The story begins with a gold heist – desperadoes stealing from the Vulture Mine bullion room gold bars totalling $100,000. Vulture City’s town marshal is Cherokee half-breed Garet Havelock, nicknamed Iron Knee because he his kneecap was shot off by his nemesis, Barnabas Donovan some years back. He may have a limp, but he’s rigid in his determination to uphold the law, whether that’s to protect the same Donovan from a lynch mob or to save a group of whites by agreeing to undergo the grueling death run.

Havelock’s life is complicated by the fact that the Governor’s daughter has been kidnapped. Beaten, shot, hurting, he vows to recapture the escaped Donovan, rescue the kidnapped girl, and recover the stolen gold. A tall order for any man. But Havelock isn’t any man. Vulture Gold’s scope is verging on the mythic. Havelock is a believable strong character, whose integrity can’t be bought or twisted.

Throughout this gripping narrative, you believe you’re there, in the heat and dust, mixing with the incorrigible Pappy Holmes, exchanging jibes with the Yavapai Indian, Horn Stalker, and outwitting the enigmatic yet quixotically honourable Juanito O’Rourke. There are characters aplenty in these pages, all fleshed out, not least Havelock’s faithful bucksin horse, Buck and the Apache chief, Puma. And there’s a girl, the half-sister of Donavan, just to create more confusion and send Havelock’s troubled heart beating that little bit quicker.

If you want a fast-paced, literate, authentic page-turning adventure, look no further. It also happens to be a western.

A Numbers Game- 02

This certainly came as a bit of a surprise when I read it on http://blackhorseexpress.blogspot.com/

As the blog says, 'The chart-tastic news this week is that Ross Morton's latest The $300 Man has blasted its way in from nowhere to number 2 while The Tarnished Star is this week's oater-pickers favorite.'
1. The Tarnished Star - Jack Martin
2. The $300 Man - Ross Morton
3. Nightmare Pass - Lance Howard
4. Last Chance Saloon - Ross Morton
5. All Guns Blazing - Douglas Thorne
6. Draw Down the Lightning - Ben Bridges
7. Death at Bethesda Falls - Ross Morton
8. Return to Black Rock - Scott Connor
9. Silver Galore - John Dyson
10. Meredith's Gold - Philip Harbottle
All books available at http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ where worldwide postage is free.
So that's all 3 of my books in this particular top 10. The $300 Man is not out till the end of May so that's on pre-orders alone - as is Jack Martin's The Tarnished Star... Colours seem to be popular in the titles too - black, gold, silver.
Nik