Customer Reviews

Donovan

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Donovan is dead-or so it is assumed by the inhabitants of tat part of Texas where the notorious outlaw once operated .He was shot while escaping from gaol the night before he was due to be hung for rustling .The man who killed him by discharging a shotgun at the fleeing outlaw was Joe Vickers.

Years pass since that night, when a new outbreak of rustling occurs along with rumours that Donovan has been seen in the area

Soon Vickers is shot and other people connected with the arrest and trial of Donovan receive warning notes that they are marked for death.Chief amomg these are the local judge and the Sheriff of the town ,Webb Matlock .

Matlock assembles a possse to track Donovan down but having strayed into Mexico they are turned back by a corrupt Army officer ,Armendariz ,who is hand in glove with Donovan .

A second posse is assembled to sneak into Mexico and root out Donovan and this one is guided by Donovan's wife ,Ellie .There they make a suprise discovery to do with the identity of the new threat to their range .

There is a sub-plot involving Matlock's clashes with Sandy his impulsive younger brother and the activities of an unscrupulous rancher Bronc Tomlin both of which adroitly feed into the main story .

This is a brisk formula Western which is docked a point only because some of the key action is related " off screen " rather than at first hand and this seves to slighly vitiate the tension and narrative drive .

It is still a good read and one that shows a symapthy with the Mexican population by no means typical of its era .

I would strongly endorse this book to lovers of the Western genre since it is sharply characterised and propulsively written

by a leading light of the Western novel

Elmer Kelton somehow continues to come up with great western cowboy stories; particularly about Texas. This one would make a wonderful movie of the same caliber as his "Good Old Boys".

DONOVAN is a solid actioner from this very dependable Western writer. Clabe Donovan, an outlaw thought long dead, may be alive and killing the citizens of Dry Fork. Sheriff Webb Matlock must journey to Mexico to find Donovan and bring him back to face justice. Complicating matters is Webb's love for Donovan's widow Ellie. Most of the book is a chase, but Kelton has the ability to write tender moments too, and draws all his characters in fine economical prose.
If you like DONOVAN, check out GOOD OLD BOYS, a lamentation for the passing of the Old West. Recommended....