Dark Trail [Paperback]

Edward Gorman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

When his estranged wife Sarah, leaves him for gunfighter Frank Evans, Leo does not believe that he will ever see her again, but when Frank is offered ten thousand dollars for a gunfight, Sarah begs Leo to bring him back alive, and Leo must make a difficult decision. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Simply one of the best western writers of our time."
-- Rocky Mountain News (Rocky Mountain News, CO ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Forge (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812548264
• ISBN-13: 978-0812548266
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,812,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the darkest novels I have ever read, April 27, 2007

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dark Trail (Evans Novel of the West) (Hardcover)

This is one of the darkest novels that I have ever read. Set in the west, it portrays the roughness of the people. Many are brutal rogues, yet there are repeated acts of nobility, courage and loyalty. Unfortunately, nearly all of that is misplaced; at the end people are dead and for no real purpose other than the dark amusement of an invited crowd.
Tom Adair is a very wealthy man who wants to give his invited guests a dramatic and unusual form of entertainment. His decision is to stage a gunfight between two men. Frank Evans is an aging gunfighter who has "stolen" the girlfriend (Beth) of Ben Rittenauer, another gunfighter. Frank is the husband of Sarah, the ex-wife of Leo Guild, and she left Leo for Frank. Leo has still not completely recovered from the abandonment, so Sarah continues to use Leo when she needs help.
Frank is a vary bad man, the book opens with Leo saving Frank from imprisonment, where he was being kept for the brother of a man Frank had killed. The requests on the part of Sarah and the actions of Leo continue throughout the book. While Sarah is in many ways a good woman, her exploitation of Leo's continued feelings for her are inexcusable. She left Leo for another man and yet continues to ask and beg him to risk his life to save Frank. He always does so, acting out one of the oddest co-dependency relationships ever described in a novel.
The ending is a dark one, people are killed and Leo leaves the area. There is no purpose to the deaths, no sufficient cause, and no real benefits to anyone. It is an end that was somewhat predictable, given the consistent behaviors of the principle characters.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Western Classic, August 2, 2011

By 

Lee Goldberg (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dark Trail (Paperback)

Ed Gorman can always be trusted to put a fresh, almost noir spin on classic western tropes. In this case, several gunfighters converge in a town where a local rancher has a twisted proposition for them...a variation on gladiator games...that takes advantage of old rivalries and broken hearts. This is not your typical western...and plays on some pretty dark themes. I loved it.