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 ...
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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?
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The Tall Stranger by Louis L'Amour is well worth reading, but the movie starring Joel McCrea is better. As I have previously stated in other reviews of L'Amour's work, his early novels are his best, with one or two exceptions. In the beginning he was only concerned about telling us a good story, but in later years began to philosophize until it reached a point where it interferred with his story telling ability. I know most authors have something they want to say in their work which they want us to understand and agree with, but they can get carried away, and when there is no editorial advice provided to check this urge it can run amok. But there is none of that in this book; it is story telling at its best.
