High Lonesome [Hardcover]

Louis L'Amour (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

Considine and Pete Runyon had once been friends, back in the days when both were cowhands. But when Runyon married the woman Considine loved, the two parted ways. Runyon settled down and became a sheriff. Considine took up robbing banks. Now Considine is planning a raid on the bank at Obaro, a plan that will pit him against Runyon…and lead to riches or suicide. The one thing he never counted on was meeting a strong, beautiful woman and her stubborn father, hell-bent on traveling alone through Apache territory to a new life. Suddenly Considine must choose between revenge and redemption—and either choice could be the last one he makes.


From the Paperback edition.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Many a hardcase had died trying to tale the bank and settle an old score at the same time. But he never counted on meeting a beautiful woman and her trail-savvy but reckless father, headed a straight for Apache country. Now Consindine and his gang can either ride like hell for the border just ahead of an angry posse, or join the old man and his daughter in a desperate last stand against blood-hungry warriors. The choice is simple: risk the hangman's noose or an Apache bullet. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Many a hardcase had died trying to tale the bank and settle an old score at the same time.  But he never counted on meeting a beautiful woman and her trail-savvy but reckless father, headed a straight for Apache country.  Now Consindine and his gang can either ride like hell for the border just ahead of an angry posse, or join the old man and his daughter in a desperate last stand against blood-hungry warriors.  The choice is simple: risk the hangman's noose or an Apache bullet. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 183 pages
• Publisher: G. K. Hall & Company; Large Print edition (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0783819471
• ISBN-13: 978-0783819471
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,425,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"I think of myself in the oral tradition--as a troubadour, a village tale-teller, the man in the shadows of a campfire. That's the way I'd like to be remembered--as a storyteller. A good storyteller."

It is doubtful that any author could be as at home in the world re-created in his novels as Louis Dearborn L'Amour. Not only could he physically fill the boots of the rugged characters he wrote about, but he literally "walked the land my characters walk." His personal experiences as well as his lifelong devotion to historical research combined to give Mr. L'Amour the unique knowledge and understanding of people, events, and the challenge of the American frontier that became the hallmarks of his popularity.

Of French-Irish descent, Mr. L'Amour could trace his own in North America back to the early 1600s and follow their steady progression westward, "always on the frontier." As a boy growing up in Jamestown, North Dakota, he absorbed all he could about his family's frontier heritage, including the story of his great-grandfather who was scalped by Sioux warriors.

Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Mr. L'Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs, including seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, and miner, and was an officer in the transportation corps during World War II. During his "yondering" days he also circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies and stranded in the Mojave Desert. He won fifty-one of fifty-nine fights as a professional boxer and worked as a journalist and lecturer. He was a voracious reader and collector of rare books. His personal library contained 17,000 volumes.

Mr. L'Amour "wanted to write almost from the time I could talk." After developing a widespread following for his many frontiers and adventure stories written for fiction magazines, Mr. L'Amour published his first full length novel, Hondo, in the United States in 1953. Every one of his more than 120 books is in print; there are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide, making him one of the bestselling authors in modern literary history. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and more than forty-five of his novels and stories have been made into feature films and television movies.

The recipient of many great honor and awards, in 1983 Mr. L'Amour became the first novelist to ever to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in honor of his life's work. In 1984 he was also awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.

Louis L'Amour died on June 10, 1988. His wife, Kathy, and their two children, Beau and Angelique, carry the L'Amour publishing tradition forward with new books written by the author during his lifetime to be published by Bantam.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Quiet." "Too quiet.", April 16, 2003

By 

Robert S. Clay Jr. (St. Louis, MO., USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Lonesome (Paperback)

Riding the outlaw trail, Considine, Dutch, Hardy, and The Kiowa rob the bank at Obaro, where Runyon, an old partner of Considine's, is sheriff. With the posse hot on their trail, the fugitives encounter Spanyer, the tough old frontiersman, and his daughter, Lennie. Sparks fly between Lennie and Considine, much to Spanyer's dismay. To further complicate things, marauding Apaches stalk the area. Finally, outnumbered and outgunned, the motley crew makes a heroic stand up on High Lonesome. As the rifles fire, the ground is covered with the dead.

This is a good action-adventure story from Louis L'Amour. It's always troublesome to make heroes of killers and thieves, of course, but don't let good taste get in the way of a rousing Western story. The writing is fast-paced and lean. Character development is evident, but limited by the brief 150+ page length, and the emphasis on action. Louis L'Amour breathes new life into the familiar Western cliches. This is good escapism for down time reading. Recommended. ;-)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Blown away by this one., December 30, 2005

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Lonesome (Paperback)

This has to be one of the best in the Western genre I have read. It is short, full of action and packs a real punch. Considine has been a bank robber for the last decade or so and is getting jaded. Together with Dutch, Hardy and the Kiowa they decide to make one last hit, on the bank at Obara which has proved impossible to hit in the past. Everyone in town is prepared to fight for it, and they are all top marksmen.

The four in the gang meet up with a man and his daughter, Lennie, on the trail into town - they are heading west. Considine feels a spark with Lennie and it is reciprocated but her father doesn't want her taking up with a no account gunslinger, even though he was one. So they part ways - Considine and the gang to do the bank, and lennie and her father to 'californy'

The bank job goes ok, but making their escape for Mexico they cut Lennie's trail and see that they are on one horse, and that there are indians stalking them. Considine hears shooting the distance, he knows the town posse is after him, but he has to decide between Mexico and saving the woman who is holed up and making at stand at High Lonesome.

This is a great story about the grey areas of life, of making decisions, of retribution and forgiveness. It moves along quickly and was a great read - highly recommended.

There are some great lines in here.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On my top 10 list of L. L. books, February 27, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Fairbanks, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Lonesome (Paperback)

I've thoroughly enjoyed almost every L'Amour book I've ever picked up (and there are only a couple that I haven't read), But High Lonesome is one of my all time favorites. It's got an even better story and characters than most of his books.