not one of Faust's best
Frederick Faust wrote under at least 16 different pseudonyms, primarily as Max Brand writing westerns. And more Hollywood movies have been based on his stories than by any other author... by far: 80 of them!
Faust was a prolific prodigy who, by the time of his death in WW II as a journalist, had already authored the equivalent of over 525 full-legth novels. And I have myself read about 200 of them.
I will be 70 next year, and by now have read well over 10,000 books, mostly novels. Including many classics. And I would stack up Faust's fifty best novels against ANY author in the history of literature. For Faust was the consummate storyteller, who took a back seat to NO ONE when it came to being able to tell a story that absorbs its reader into it.
And, at his best, Faust's prose is every bit as eloquent as that of Charles Dickens or Victor Hugo. And his ability to acquaint the reader with his characters was sheer psychological artistry. I can still recall how astounded I was, reading my first novel by Faust several decades ago, at how he pulled the reader deeply into THE PSYCHOLOGY OF the main character.
It was Faust's understanding of human nature that earned him the sobriquet, "The Shakespeare of Westerns." But I would take it a huge step further by according him the title of the Shakespeare of the novel itself. For Faust was as adept at writing a novel as was Shakespeare a play.
Although this particular novel by Faust, "Iron Dust," was NOT among his fifty best, or even his top 100, nonetheless, it is still better than the best of most authors.
